by Vern
S. Poythress
[English version of "Millennio," in Dizionario di teologia evangelica, ed. P. Bolognesi, L. De Chirico, A. Ferrari (Marchirolo [Varese]: Edizioni Uomini Nuovi, 2007), pp. 451-452. Used with permission.]
In theology "the millennium" has become a convenient designation for a long period of great spiritual and material prosperity, to be expected in the future. Over the centuries Bible students have held three main views about the millennium, premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism.
Premillennialism expects the following series of events. (1) The present age continues to be a mixture of good and evil, believers and unbelievers. (2) Christ returns (the Second Coming). Christians living and dead receive resurrection bodies. There is a judgment on the unbelievers who are alive. (3) Christ inaugurates a visible reign over the nations, a time of great peace and prosperity (the millennium). (4) Shortly before the end of this period, Satan instigates a great rebellion (described in Rev 20:7-10). (5) God puts down the rebellion, and there is a final judgment of those alive and of the wicked dead. (6) The final eternal reign of God begins (the consummation).
Postmillennialism expects the present age to become better and better as more people become Christians and the blessing of God is poured out on them. There will come a long time of spiritual prosperity when Christian faith will dominate in this world. The Second Coming will follow this time (hence "post"-millennial), and will issue in the consummation.
Amillennialism looks for the Second Coming, followed by the consummation. It does not find in the Bible firm evidence for a future long period of prosperity that is distinct from the consummation.
In addition, since 1830 dispensational premillennialism has arisen. It adds to earlier versions of premillennialism the expectation of two distinct future comings of Christ. In the first, called the "rapture," true Christians are taken up to heaven, but Christ does not appear visibly to the world. In the second, seven years later, Christ appears visibly to bring this age to a close. After his visible appearance the millennium begins. The Jews and their land have a special place in this millennium.
The issues separating these views are complex. How do we understand the fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies that envision final salvation and an era of peace and blessing accompanying salvation? Amillennialists say that fulfillment takes place either in the church age, or in the consummation, or in both. Premillennialists and postmillennialists look for fulfillment in the millennium. And if in a millennium, does this millennium involve the invisible reign of Christ over a more prosperous version of this age (postmillennialism), or the visible reign of Christ over a greatly transformed earth (premillennialism)? In addition, dispensational premillennialism thinks that in the millennium the Jews and their land again play a unique role similar to that in the Old Testament.
The word "millennium," meaning "a thousand years" in Latin, sends us to the main passage in the Bible referring to a thousand-year period, namely Revelation 20:1-7. During the thousand years, Satan is bound (20:3) and the saints reign with Christ (20:4). Since the Book of Revelation is full of visions and symbolic pictures, people disagree about the interpretation of the passage.
Does it refer to a period that is literally 1000 years long, or does it symbolically represent a long period, without indicating its length in clock time? Premillennialists usually think that the passage predicts a future period of spiritual and material prosperity on earth, subsequent to the Second Coming. Amillennialists think it describes either the present reign in heaven of those who have died in Christ, or the spiritual prosperity of saints on earth who have received the new life of regeneration (John 3:1-16). Postmillennialists differ among themselves as to whether the passage refers to the distinctive future time of prosperity, or whether it refers more broadly to the entire age between the First and Second Coming.
Bibliography
Clouse, Robert G., ed. The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1977. George Ladd, Herman Hoyt, Loraine Boettner, Anthony Hoekema. Each gives a response to the others’ views as well as his own presentation.
Erickson, Millard J. Contemporary Options in Eschatology: A Study of the Millennium. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977. A fairly unbiased survey of millennial and tribulational options.
Gundry, Stanley N. “Hermeneutics or Zeitgeist as the Determining Factor in the History of Eschatologies?” JETS 20 (1977) 45-55.
Hill, Charles. Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Future Hope in Early Christianity. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992. The second century shows a mixture of premil and amil views.
Kline, Meredith G. “The First Resurrection,” WTJ 37/2 (1974-75) 366-75.
Poythress, Vern S. “2 Thessalonians 1 Supports Amillennialism,” JETS 37/4 (1994) 529-38.
White, R. Fowler. “On the Hermeneutics and Interpretation of Revelation 20:1-3: A Preconsummationalist Perspective,” JETS 42/1 (1999) 53-66.