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 | The Millennium: Revelation describes an important interval lasting for 1000 years when Christ rules. 1 This is a golden era; a time of universal peace. The concept was first proposed by the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. |
| The Tribulation: This is a 7 year interval when a world religious-political leader called the Antichrist takes power. |
| Armageddon is a terrible war provoked by the Antichrist. Most people on earth will die. God's anger, hatred, and wrath are poured out over mankind and the earth at this time. A series of violent events as prophesied in Daniel 9, Matthew 24, and Revelation 4-19 will occur. |
| The Rapture: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 describes a miraculous event when Christ will descend from the heavens. Conservative Protestants believe that faithful "born again" Christians who have previously died will be resurrected, rise from their graves, and ascend to meet Jesus in the sky. Immediately afterwards, "born again" Christians who had not died will also ascend into the air. They will abandon cars, airplanes, factory jobs, homes, families, friends etc. Since the vast majority of humans are not "born again," most people will remain behind on earth. More details on the rapture. |
Unfortunately, this and various other Biblical passages predicting the future are ambiguous. The events themselves are open to many interpretations. There is no clear indication of either their timing or sequence. This leaves the passages open to many conflicting beliefs about the end times. A lot of intra-denominational and inter-denominational strife has resulted from disagreements about end time prophecy. For example, the Roman Catholic Church and most mainline and liberal denominations do not have expectation that the Rapture will occur. Belief in the Rapture is mostly confined to Fundamentalists and other Evangelicals.
End times beliefs among Protestants:
Various Protestant denominations and para-church organizations promote one of six main systems of prophecy concerning the "end times"
| Historical Premillennialism: This belief was held by a large
percentage of Christians "during the first three centuries of the Christian era,
and is found in the works of Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Hippolytus,
Methodius, Commodianus, and Lactanitus." 2 The Antichrist
first appears on earth and
the seven year Tribulation begins. Next comes the Rapture. Christ and his Church return to
earth to rule for a Millennium. The forces of evil will be conquered. The faithful will
live during this thousand years of peace in Jerusalem, while occupying spiritual bodies.
After this period, all people are judged. The faithful will spend eternity on a new earth,
(not in heaven). After Christianity became the official religion of Rome in the fourth century CE, this was declared a heresy and suppressed. | |||||||||||
|
Dispensational Premillennialism: (a.k.a.
Dispensationalism) Premillennialism, declared a heresy in
ancient times, was reintroduced circa 1830. Most people credit John N. Darby
with its resurrection. He was a minister of the Church of Ireland, a
denomination in the Anglican
communion, and the founder of the Plymouth Brethren. However, author Dave
MacPherson claims that British pastor Edward Irving was the actual person
responsible, and that a conspiracy was organized to give Darby the credit. 14
Premillenialism received general acceptance by most Fundamentalists and other Evangelical
Christians after the
publishing of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. As in Historic
Premillennialism, the
Tribulation is believed to precede the second coming of Christ, and the subsequent establishment of the
millennial kingdom -- a thousand-year golden age on Earth. The Final
Judgment follows the millennium. But, theologians are divided over the timing of the Rapture.
Many Premillennialists search world events and signs in the heavens for some
indication of the Tribulation, which they anticipate will arrive at any time. All of the theories that have been proposed about the timing of the Rapture appear to contradict some passages in the Bible. Current beliefs include:
|
All of the Premillennialist beliefs teach that the Tribulation is followed by 1000 years of peace when all live under the authority of Christ. Afterwards, in a brief, final battle, Satan is permanently conquered.Dispensational Premillennialism contains an internal conflict. Its advocates generally believe "that the moral conditions of the world and the church are destined get increasingly worse. When they get almost unbearably bad, the Lord Jesus will return in the clouds to 'rapture' the living saints up to heaven." 11 However, they tend to be very outspoken and active in their opposition to many behaviors that they consider to be extremely sinful: abortion access, equal rights for homosexuals, same-sex marriage, pre-marital sex, adultery, sex education in schools, access to physician assisted suicide, the use of embryonic stem cells in healing, etc. By their opposition to these "hot" religiously controversial topics, they are delaying Jesus' return to earth, the rapture and the 1000 year millennium.
| Amillennialism: (Also known as Nonmillennialism). Although this
belief system was present from the early days of Christianity, St. Augustine (354 - 430
CE) was largely responsible for the establishment of amillennialism as formal church
belief. It remained the generally accepted system throughout Christianity until the 19th century.
Many mainline Protestant denominations -- including many
Reformed theologians and some Baptists -- still teach Amillennialism.
They believe that the
Kingdom of
God is present in the world today through the presence of the the
heavenly reign of Christ, the Bible, the Holy
Spirit and Christianity. Both good and evil will continue in the world until the current
Church
Age ends suddenly as Christ returns to the sky above the earth. The Rapture follows.
The Redeemed are transported to heaven where they will adopt spiritual bodies. The
majority of humanity will be sent to Hell at this time for eternal punishment. The world
will be abandoned. History is no more. Under this belief system, we are currently living
in the Millennium and in the Tribulation period. Events described in The
Olivet
Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21) and in most of the book of
Revelation are seen as occurrences which have already happened, or which are symbolic in
nature and not to be taken literally. The Antichrist is looked upon figuratively and not
as a real person. Amillennialism has gone out of favor in most conservative
Protestant theological circles. |
| Postmillennialism: (Also known as "Christian Reconstruction",
"Kingdom Now Theology" and "Dominion Theology.") This belief
arose during the early 19th century CE. According to author Loraine Boettner,
Postmillennialism involves "that view of last things which holds that
the kingdom of God is now being extended in the world through the
preaching of the gospel and the saving work of the Holy Spirit, that the
world eventually is to be Christianized, and that the return of Christ
will occur at the close of a long period of righteousness and peace,
commonly called the millennium."
12 The theory is based on the perception of a gradual movement towards social
perfection. They predicted that a massive religious revival, spiritual awakening and
purification would occur. The entire human race is converted to Christianity, including
the Jews. A millennium of peace and righteousness follows. After the
millennium, Jesus returns to
earth, resurrects the dead believers, and conducts the last judgment. The Rapture and Tribulation are largely ignored. This belief is being actively
promoted today by the Chalcedon Foundation and other groups within the Christian Reconstruction movement. |
| Preterism is a belief that the events prophesized in the New Testament
have already happened. The great war of Armageddon in the book of Revelation occurred in
the late 60's and early 70's CE when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, many Jews were
killed and the rest were driven from Palestine. When Jesus talked about the end of the
world, he did not mean that the physical world would be no more. He taught that the old
worldview held by various contemporary Jewish groups was coming to an end, to be replaced
by a new concept, the Kingdom of God. Thus, all of the major elements in the book of
Revelation (Tribulation, Armageddon, Rapture, etc.) actually took place in the first century CE.
8 |
| No Millennialism: Most skeptics and liberal Christian theologians largely interpret the contents of the books of Daniel and Revelation as having no prophetic information for our future. Many regard Revelation as being composed of visions, hallucinations or nightmares of the author, of little meaning for Christians today. Some believe that the purpose of the book of Revelation was to stiffen resolve in the early Christian movement to withstand persecution by the Roman Empire. Thus, its purpose was to predict persecutions and other events that were to happened to the early Christian church. They also reject the apparent prophecies in the Book of Daniel. They believe that Daniel was written early in the 2nd century BCE, long after most of the events had actually happened. It was history recorded, not their future prophesized. |
End times beliefs among Roman Catholics:
Roman Catholics generally follow the teachings of Augustine and the Protestant reformers, and accept Amillennialism. However, they do not generally use the term. They anticipate Jesus coming to Earth and gathering the Church together. But they generally do not use the term "rapture" either According to Catholic Answers, "The Church has rejected the premillennial position, sometimes called 'millenarianism' (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 676). In the 1940s the Holy Office judged that premillennialism 'cannot safely be taught,' though the Church has not dogmatically defined this issue." 13
Related essays on this web site:
| The millennium and the end of the world |
| Will the end of the world happen in our immediate future? |
| The rapture |
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- Revelation 20:1 to 7 from the Christian Scriptures (New Testament)
- Lonnie Kent York, "History of Millennialism" at: http://www.restorent.com/
- Mike Rouse & James Underwood, "Post Tribulation Rapture - Defined and Refined" at: http://208.128.2.3/
- Grover Gunn, III, "Postmillennialism Today" at: http://www.wavefront.com/
- Rev. Ralph A. Smith, "The Biblical and Theological Issues", at: http://www.berith.org/
- Catholic Answers, Inc., "Are You Pre, Mid, or Post?", at: http://www.catholic.com/
- The Bible Prophecy and the Rapture Report lists some weaknesses of the post-trib belief. See: http://www.serve.com/
- The Preterist Archive is at: http://www.preteristarchive.com
- FAS Millennia Monitor at: http://www.fas.org/ This website has many links to Premillennialist, Postmillennialist and Amilennialist resources.
- The Chalcedon Foundation's web site is at: http://www.chalcedon.edu/
- P.A. Smith, "Jerry Falwell's eschatological schizophrenia," WorldNetDaily™, at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
- Loraine Boettner, "The Millennium," P&R Press, (1992). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store.
- "The Rapture," Catholic Answers, at: http://www.catholic.com/
- Dave MacPherson, "The Rapture Plot," Millennium Press, (2000). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store.
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