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Views of the End Times A-Millennialism Post VIEWS OF THE END TIMES A-MILLENNIALISM A-millennialism is the name given to the belief that there will not be a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on the earth. In A-millennialism, the millennium is the spiritual reign of Jesus in the hearts of his followers. A-millennialism teaches that from the ascension of Christ in the first century until His second coming (no rapture) both good and evil will increase in the world as God’s kingdom parallels Satan’s kingdom. When Jesus Christ returns, he will culminate history with a general resurrection and general judgment of all people. It is essentially a spiritualization of the kingdom prophecies. A-millennialism became popular in the fifth century. A-millennialism has remained widespread throughout church history. POST-MILLENNIALISM This view believes that the second coming of Christ will occur at the end of the millennium, defined as a ‘golden age’ of peace. The millennial reign described in Revelation 20:1–6 is not seen as literal 1000-years but represents a long time period when, through the preaching of the gospel, most of the world will get better and will submit to Jesus Christ. During the millennium, Christ will rule the earth through the gospel, through his Spirit, and through the church. He will not, however, be physically present on the earth. During the 1800s, postmillennialism increased in popularity. Some Christians even believed that the increased work of missionaries throughout the world represented the beginning of the millennium. HISTORIC PRE-MILLENNIALISM This view believes that Christ will return before a literal future 1000-year reign of Christ on the earth. Before this millennium, Christians will remain on the earth during the great tribulation. However, they do not view the great tribulation as a 7-year fulfillment of the Daniel 9 prophecy. The tribulation will purify the churches by rooting out false believers, and the second coming of Christ will precede the millennium. Historical pre-millennialism seems to have been the earliest view of the end times among Christians who lived just after the apostles. This view was the predominate view of the church from the second century until the rise of Dispensational Pre-millennialism in the mid/late 1800’s. DISPENSATIONAL PRE-MILLENNIALISM Dispensational Pre-millennialism differs from Historic Pre-millennialism because it sees the coming of Christ in two separate stages: the rapture of the church before a 7-year tribulation period (which fulfills the Daniel 9 prophecy), and the second coming at the end of the great tribulation. In addition, God will fulfill Old Testament promises to Israel. The rapture is understood as the event when Christ removes Christians from the earth before the great tribulation begins so that God can work through the nation of Israel again. This view emerged in the 1800s among the Plymouth Brethren (a group of fundamentalist Bible Churches founded in the 1820s). Dispensational pre-millennialism increased in popularity in the late 1800s and remains widespread today. PARTIAL PRETERISM This view sees many of the Bible’s prophecies as having already been fulfilled in the first century AD, while still holding to a future return of Christ. Prophecies already fulfilled include Daniel 9, Matthew 24, and much of Revelation (with the exception of the last two or three chapters). According to partial preterists, the Bible’s references to “the last days” are speaking of the last days of the Old Covenant age, and passages describing the great tribulation, or ‘wrath to come’ are referring to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. The ‘coming of Christ’ is seen as a ‘coming in judgment’ on Jerusalem. Partial preterists, while holding to a ‘judgment coming’, do however believe in a future literal return of Christ to the earth, a general resurrection, and final judgment. FULL PRETERISM Full preterism differs from partial preterism in that full preterism sees all Bible prophecy, including the Second Coming of Christ, the judgment, and the resurrection as being fulfilled, in a spiritual nature, at the end of the Old Covenant age in the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70. Full preterism precludes a physical second coming of Christ at the end of history. Full preterism declares Christ’s kingdom is here now. Paradise has been restored in Christ (for our afterlife in heaven above). Christ has conquered all His enemies and has given us His Eternal Kingdom, of the increase of which there shall be no end”. .
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