This is an old X post…
A🧵 on postmillennialism and a suggestion for guarding against an error some postmil churches fall into
1/17
I am a postmillennialist and have been for many, many years
I believe the kingdom of God will grow, and the nations will be discipled over the course of history
I believe in the renewal and maturation of Christian civilization (Christendom)
2/17
I believe there are a number of New Testament passages that have been fulfilled in 70ad, in the destruction of the temple and the end of the old covenant
I also believe there are clearly some passages that have not yet been fulfilled and will not be until Jesus returns at the last day (1 Cor 15, 1 Thess 4, etc.)
The fact that some of the same language is used for the final coming of Jesus and the destruction of the temple in 70ad may complicate things hermeneutically, but it’s not a surprise since the two events are related typologically
The Bible uses similar language and stock phrases to describe many different major redemptive-historical events
Hyper- or full preterism that says all prophecy is fulfilled by 70ad is heretical – it violates the ancient creeds and has more in common with Gnosticism than creedal Christian faith
3/17
Like all traditional and orthodox postmillennialists, i believe the kingdom will grow to fill the earth but I also believe in a final coming of Jesus at the end of history, the resurrection of the body, and the final form of the new creation
4/17
I have read and studied a lot of criticisms of postmillennialism over the years, and none of them have ever made a dent in my convictions
Some of those criticisms associate postmillennialism with hyperpreterism, which is nonsense
Some of those criticisms put off the fulfillment of kingdom prophecies to a future millennial reign, which creates insuperable problems with the Bible’s eschatological structure
Some of those criticisms spiritualize away the promises of God in an almost Gnostic way
Some of those criticisms simply misread the biblical narrative
5/17
I sometimes get asked, “What exactly do postmillennialists expect the future growth of the kingdom to look like before Jesus returns? As the kingdom advances, will the future be only quantitatively different or also qualitatively different from what we see right now?”
6/17
Obviously, future kingdom growth will bring a quantitative difference
That’s a given: “of the increase of his government there will be no end,” “all the families of the earth will be blessed,” etc.
7/17
But will there be *any* qualitative difference in the way the kingdom exists now compared to 500 or 5000 years from now?
This question is a little trickier
Basically, I would say “no“ — whatever growth in the kingdom takes place between now and the final coming of Jesus will pale in comparison to the radical transformation that takes place when Jesus returns at the last day, and we are given our resurrection bodies
(Older postmils all seemed to know this)
8/17
Qualitatively, no matter how much progress the church makes fulfilling the Great Commission, sin, suffering, and death will still be a part of our existence until Jesus returns
9/17
Classical postmillennialists believe the church has a double hope:
1. We have an historical hope for the growth of the kingdom and the fulfillment of the Great Commission
2. We have an eternal hope for the final return of Jesus and the resurrection of the body
Both of these hopes have to be kept in view at all times, and the latter will always be greater than the former
The growth of the kingdom is not the same as its consummation
10/17
But there *is* a kind of qualitative transformation that takes place within history as the kingdom grows
One way to think about the qualitative growth of the kingdom *in history* is to use Paul’s analogy from Ephesians. Chapter 4
Paul compares the church to a human growing up from childhood to adulthood
The growth of the human person is not just quantitative in the sense that he gets bigger, but it’s also qualitative, as the person grows to maturity
The church of the future in history will be more faithful, more united, more powerful than the church as she exists today
Technology will continue to progress, but more fully grounded in and consistent with a biblical worldview
Civil governments will shrink, as they focus on their God-assigned role of civil justice, maximizing ordered liberty for families
Prosperity will increase under the blessing of God, and the combined resources and brain power of having many, many Christianized nations working together, each making their peculiar contribution, will lead to discoveries, inventions, etc., we can scarcely imagine right now
11/17
In that sense, I would be comfortable with saying that there will be qualitative changes that will take place in the future as the kingdom grows — but again, none of those compare to the qualitative difference that will take place in our experience of God‘s grace, when Jesus returns at the last day, raises us from the dead, and ushers us into the eternal, perfected new heaven and earth
12/17
Here’s one piece of counsel I would give postmil churches to help them keep the historical and eternal hopes in proper relationship and proper perspective:
If your church follows the church calendar, for example, an Advent/Christmas cycle and a Lent/Easter cycle, I would encourage you to consider doing a Protestant/Reformed version of Christ the King Sunday
13/17
You can look up the history of Christ the King Sunday
It is certainly late addition to the church calendar
It does not have a lot of tradition behind it — but that means it’s somewhat malleable
Some churches that have made use of Christ the King Sunday have it treated as a pre-Advent Sunday or fifth Sunday of Advent (since Advent is supposed to be about the final coming of Christ, as well as the first coming of Christ – but the final coming almost always gets lost in the run up to Christmas celebrations)
14/17
The church year starts with Advent, the 4 Sundays before Christmas
The last Sunday of the church year is the Sunday before the first Sunday of Advent
That last Sunday is CTK
I think postmil churches should emphasize CTK Sunday, or add it to their calendar observance if they do not already use it
And CTK should be a Sunday to emphasize the final coming of Jesus
That means we’d have at least one Sunday set aside each year to focus on how the kingdom story ends and how Christ’s final coming consummates the kingdom
15/17
We postmillennialists spend a lot of time focusing on the growth of the kingdom in history, because that’s a very neglected truth in the church today
All Christians know that Jesus will win the ultimate victory at his final coming when he returns again at the last day
Christians are much more confused about what happens between now and then
So the postmillennial emphasis on the historical hope over the eternal hope is understandable – but can also be dangerous if we lose sight of The End
16/17
For many postmil churches, the final coming of Jesus gets eclipsed by so much talk about the growth of the kingdom in history
Christ the King Sunday would be a way to tie off the year with an annual call to look ahead to the final coming, the final victory, the final consummation
For more on CTK Sunday, go here:
trinity-pres.net/essays/tpcctk.…
For more on postmillennialism, go here and scroll down to the “Eschatology of Victory” series:
trinitypresbham.com/sunday-school/…
17/17
P.S. For an example of a postmil CTK Sunday sermon from 1 Thessalonians 4, go here:
trinity-pres.net/audio/11.20.22…
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