AMILLENNIALISM – CHRIST’S
HEAVENLY REIGN
Christ’s 1st Christ’s Christ’s Christ’s
2nd
Coming Ascension Heavenly Reign Coming
Kingdom Kingdom Proclaimed [the Gospel] Kingdom Perfected /
Inaugurated
Kingdom Grows
in the Midst of
Resurrection and Judgment of
Tribulation Believers and
Unbelievers
_________________________________________________________________________________________
New Heaven and Earth
DISPENSATIONAL
PREMILLENNIALISM
Judgment Seat of Christ [Believers} Great White Throne Judgment
Marriage
Supper of the Lamb
[Unbelievers and Millennials]]
Ascension Unseen 2nd
Coming Coming
[Rapture]
Great Christ’s Earthly >
Trib.
Reign
Church Age
7 yrs. 1000
yrs.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Partially Renewed > New
Heaven and Earth
Earth
Separate Judgments for unbelieving
and believing
Jews, unbelieving and believing Gentiles
Judgment of Believers
1. Every person
will be judged for what he has done.
Rev.22:12
– “I am coming…to repay everyone
for what he has done.”
2. What man has
done is categorized as either good or evil.
2
Cor.5:9-11, 20 – “We make it our aim to
please him [the Lord] because…we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done
in the body, whether good or evil.
Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…We implore
you on behalf of Christ, be
reconciled to God.” I believe the
Judgment Seat of Christ is not just for and about believers.
(a) Compare the “all” with “everyone” in
Rev.22:12. See also Rom.14:10-11 – “we
will all stand before the judgment seat of God…every knee shall bow to
me.”
(b) Paul, having been given “the ministry of
reconciliation” i.e. the message of the gospel (2 Cor.5:18-19), ends this
passage by appealing to unbelievers to be reconciled to God (5:20).
(c) There is no difference between the judgment
seat of God and the judgment seat of Christ. (Jn.5:22 – “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.”)
3. How do we
define what is good or evil?
Rom.2:6-8
– “He will render to each one according
to his work.” The good work of the
Believer is to persist in seeking after glory, honor, and immortality. How do we do that? “This is
the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn.6:29) Their reward will
be eternal life, glory, honor and peace.
The evil work of the Unbeliever is being self-seeking, not obeying the
truth (a metaphor for unbelief), and obeying unrighteousness (continuing in
sin). Their judgment will be wrath and
fury, tribulation and distress.
4. Each person
is accountable to God alone. Therefore
we should be God-pleasers, not people-pleasers (Eph.6:6).
Rom.14:12 says,”…each of us will
give an account of himself to God.”
The context of this passage is an admonition to stop criticizing fellow
believers, who are God’s servants.
When you stand before the judgment seat, you won’t be able to blame
someone else, or compare yourself to others.
I don’t believe this passage means you will have to “explain” everything
you’ve done.
5. Although we
will stand before the Judge, the believer does not come under “judgment” or
punishment. The overall picture of
“judgment” for the believer is positive.
Jn.5:24 –
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever
hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has
passed from death to life.”
Rom.8:1 – “There is therefore no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus.”
Rev.11:18 – “…the time for the
dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and the
saints, and those who fear your name…and for destroying the destroyers of the
earth.”
6. But not all of what we do produces praise and
reward.
Each one’s
work will be revealed by “fire” (1 Cor.3:12-15). The works that survive are those done with
right motives (1 Cor.4:5)), and which produce fruit in others (1 Thess.2:19 - “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his
coming? Is it not you? For you are our
glory and joy”). Then each will
receive his commendation from God (1 Cor.4:5).
7. There are
hints that there might be degrees of reward.
However, the crowns and rewards mentioned in Scripture are for all
believers: righteousness, life, glory, an inheritance.
Problems with Dispensational Premillennial
Model
The term
“millennium” comes from Rev.20, which speaks of a “1000 years” during which
Christ reigns. Remember that Revelation
if a highly symbolic book. All the
expectations of the character of the Dispensational millennium are found in Old
Testament prophecies. The New Testament
is silent on a semi-renewed earth before the new heavens and earth. The following points are elements which seem
contradictory to New Testament teaching.
(1) Many get a second chance to be saved
after the “Rapture.” Some of the NT is
irrelevant and no longer true for those “left behind.” Example: They’ll know Christ will be returning
in 7 years.
(2) The Millennium requires unglorified people to re-populate the earth. Why aren’t those saved during the
“Tribulation” made like Christ when they see him and are judged at the 2nd
Coming?
(3) Can unglorified
people live in the presence of Christ and his glorified people? Christ had to “empty himself” in order to
come to earth (Phil.2:7). At the
ascension he received back the glory he had previously (Jn.17:5). Jesus prayed for his own to be with him to
see his glory (Jn17:24). When Jesus
comes back, it will be in glory(1 Pt.4:13, 5:1). Think of the reaction of those who have
encountered a glimpse of such glory: Isaiah (“Woe is me! For I am lost”);
Ezekiel (“when I saw it [likeness of the glory of the Lord], I fell on my
face”); John (“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.”)
(4) There is no teaching in the New
Testament about a partially renewed earth before eternity. To the contrary, “the world that then existed
[before the Flood] was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth
that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment.”
(5) What makes the Millennium peaceful
and prosperous - a perfect ruler with better laws? How does a build-up of a rebellious
multitude, “like the sands of the sea,” for a final battle (Rev.20) escape
Jesus’ notice? Zech.14 (a “millennial”
prophecy) says that “if any of the families of the earth do not go up to
(6) To have a future kingdom with a
rebuilt temple and sacrifices, celebrating Jewish feasts, takes the progress in
salvation history and moves it backwards.
Hebrews says that Christ was the end and fulfillment of the temple and
sacrificial system.
The
The
The pattern of the kingdom is seen in
The kingdom was inaugurated with the coming of Christ. (Mt.3:2 - John
the Baptist said, “Repent, for the
During the time between Christ’s ascension and second coming the
Christ is currently reigning in heaven for the sake of his church ( Eph.1:15-22). We
are in his kingdom right now. (Col.1:13
- “he delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom
of his beloved Son.” Rev.1:5 - To him
who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom,
priests to his God and Father…”)
At the same time Scripture is clear that we are to expect
persecution/tribulation. (Rev.1:9 - “I
John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the
patient endurance that are in Jesus...;” Acts 14:22 – “through many tribulations we must
enter the
We are anticipating living forever in a perfect kingdom. (2 Pet.1:11 - “…there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ;”
Mt.25:34 – “Come, you who are blessed by
my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”)
Abrahamic Covenant: The Progression
of Fulfillment in Salvation History
“The Abrahamic Covenant was initially, physically fulfilled by
the physical descendants of Abraham, but it has its true and complete
fulfillment in Jesus Christ and his church.
It will have its ultimate, eternal fulfillment in the new heavens and new
earth.” Rightly Dividing the People
of God by Keith Mathison (p.26)
Example: The promise to Abraham to give him
the
1. A limited physical fulfillment. Josh.21:43-45. “the
Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers…the
Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn. Not one word of all the promises that the
LORD made to the house of
2. The true and complete fulfillment came with Christ.
The spiritual reality that these types pictured belongs to the
church. The Promised Land was called
3. The ultimate fulfillment is in eternity, in the new heavens and new
earth. Hebrews 11 gives us some insight
into Abraham’s faith in God and how he expected the promises would be
fulfilled. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that
he was to receive as an inheritance…By faith he went to live in the land of promise
as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of
the same promise. For he was looking
forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God”
(11:8-10). The passage goes on to say
that all people of faith are “seeking a
homeland”…a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”
Same Verses, Different Conclusions
If we are
reading the same verses, why do we come to different conclusions? Basic presupposition or assumptions determine
where you end up. In the case of the
millennial kingdom, one of the fundamental differences is in what manner you
believe the promises to Abraham and
A.
Dispensational. The prophets
spoke of a future time of great blessing for
A.
Amillennial. Another view looks
at the same verses and says, “How does the New Testament interpret the
Old? Remember that Jesus said all the
Scriptures are ultimately about him.
Before he ascended he “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”
(Lk.24:45); and he spent that time “speaking about the
1. The prophecies and prayers in Luke 1
and 2 say that the promises to Abraham and
2. In one of Peter’s first sermons, he
said, “all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after
him also proclaimed these days.”
3. Galatians 3 teaches that the
promises made to Abraham were ultimately to Christ, and if you belong to
Christ, you are the children of Abraham and heirs of the promises. The people of God are now Jews and Gentiles.
4. Believers have been given all of
5. What about a rebuilt temple? Christ is the meaning for which the temple
existed, and the church, as his body is called his temple and is being built up
as a spiritual house (1 Cor.3:16, 1 Pt.2:5).
6. What about the Promised Land? It was called
So is God
keeping his promises to