Bahnsen's short book (it's more along the
lines of a treatise) captures the content, scope, and biblical justifiability
of postmillennialism. In Chapter One he looks at the Book of Revelation,
advocating that it's not as difficult to understand as we think. Certainly God
didn't give us Revelation to confuse us. Bahnsen emphasizes that the major
prophecies of Revelation are historically rooted within the generation of those
to whom the letter was written, since at both the beginning and end of the
book, it is said that "these things must occur soon" (or some variant
of that phrase); cf. Rev 1.1-3; 22.6, 10. He divides Revelation into three
sections: (1) the things that John has seen,
(2) the things that are, and (3) the things that will be. When these divisions
are given in the Revelation text, John has already seen Christ present,
victorious and sovereign, with his church. The things that are involves the
need for the churches to repent of their errors and strengthen their good
qualities and to overcome persecution and oppression. The things "that
will be" begin in Revelation 4. These future events are further divided
into two prophecies: there's the scroll with seven seals prophesying God's
judgment on faithless and rebellious Jerusalem, and there's the little book
prophesying God's judgment on pagan Rome. Revelation 12 gives a "behind
the scenes" look at the judgment on Jerusalem, and Revelation 19 serves as
the capping of Rome's judgment as Christ goes forth and conquers the nations
not by a sword in his hand (as dispensational premillennialists teach) but by
the sword coming from his mouth (the preaching of the gospel). Revelation 20
gives a "behind the scenes" look at Christ conquering the nations
from the perspective of heaven, and Revelation 21-22 serves as a postscript to
the entire book: the gospel will be victorious, Christ will be triumphant, and
the new heavens and new earth will come to bear on the world. Revelation is
thus all about the triumph of the gospel, of Christ's victory over the pagan
nations, of Christ's subduing of his enemies and putting them under his feet.
Chapter Two hones in on Revelation 20.1-6,
which really is the crux of the matter when it comes to various millennial
positions. The text reads (ESV): Then
I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the
bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and
threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might
not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After
that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on
them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls
of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of
God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not
received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and
reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to
life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the
second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and
they will reign with him for a thousand years.
The above text is the only text in scripture that refers directly to “The Millennium.”
Those who believe that Jesus will return prior
to the Millennium are premillennialists. Those who believe that Jesus will
return after the Millennium are
postmillennialists. Those are the only two positions (amillennialism is a spin
on postmillennialism; while classic postmillennialists see the Millennium as an
era of ever-increasing prosperity for the gospel throughout the world,
amillennialists see no such “kingdom growth” warranted, believing that the
gospel’s progress will be paralleled by the progress of evil or that the
gospel’s progress will be lacking while evil’s progress will increase). Premillennialists
fall into one of two camps: there are historical premillennialists, who believe
that Jesus will come before the Millennium, and the Millennium will be
characterized by unfettered progress for the gospel after Jesus’ return; and dispensational premillennialists believe
that the Millennium following Jesus’ return will be characterized by a renewed
Jewish state and Jesus overcoming the pagan nations by military might.
Bahnsen advocates the classic
postmillennial approach to the Millennium. Revelation 20 states that “the devil
and Satan” is bound, and this binding isn’t a future reality but a present
one. In Matthew 12.28-29, Jesus says to the Pharisees, ‘But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the
Kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house
and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed you
may plunder his house. Jesus says that (a) the Kingdom of God has come
(something he declares quite often, contrary to premillennialists who state
that the “real” kingdom of God won’t come until after Jesus’ return) and that (b) Jesus’ casting out of demons is
indicative of the devil being bound, and thus his house can be plundered. Thus the binding of Satan spoken of in
Revelation 20 happened at Jesus’ advent.
This binding doesn’t render Satan wholly inactive; it renders him unable to
exercise the same amount of influence and sway he exercised prior to Christ.
Jude 6 declares, And the angels who did
not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper
dwelling, God has kept in chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of
the great day… Demonic spirits remain active, but at the same time they are
chained; though we may not know precisely
how much they've been restrained in the present time, especially with the
advent of Christ, I’m sure we’ll see just how much power they have at the end
of the Millennium when they are unbound.
Regarding the “first resurrection” spoken
of in Revelation 20, Bahnsen advocates that this refers to the believers’
regeneration in Christ rather than bodily resurrection. Jesus says in John
5.24-25, 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. Truly, truly, I say
to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice
of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live. Jesus is talking about
regeneration, being “born again,” the “first resurrection” of Revelation 20.
The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2.4-6, God,
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even
when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by
grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… This precisely echoes Revelation 20:
those who are in Christ are regenerated, made alive in Christ (the first
resurrection), and in the present, in some strange way, we are raised up with
Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places.
The “second resurrection” of Revelation 20
refers not to our “spiritual rebirth” but our future, promised bodily
resurrection. In John 5.28-29, Jesus says, ‘[An]
hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear [the voice of the Son of
Man] and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and
those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.’ In the very next
chapter, Jesus says, ‘And this is the
will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given
me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that
everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and
I will raise him up on the last day. (vv. 39-40) He adds in verse 44, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.’ Jesus says in
Matthew 25.31-32 and 46, ‘When the Son of
Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his
glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will
separate people from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats…
And [the goats] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous unto
eternal life. Jesus says that on the “last day,” at the Great Judgment, the
dead will be resurrected; both the wicked and the righteous will be
resurrected, given physical bodies, but only the righteous will be glorified,
partaking in the “second resurrection” which follows the template of Christ’s
own resurrection. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4.16-19, For the Lord himself will descend from
heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the
sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we
who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. This
is no “secret rapture” as dispensational premillennialists claim; it is a loud,
catastrophic, world-shattering event. When will this take place? According to
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.20-28, But in
fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have
fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who
belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the
Father AFTER DESTROYING EVERY RULE AND EVERY AUTHORITY AND EVERY POWER. FOR HE
MUST REIGN UNTIL HE HAS PUT ALL HIS ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET. THE LAST ENEMY TO
BE DESTROYED IS DEATH. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under him.’
But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is
excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are
subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put
all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (all caps
mine)
Bahnsen’s approach to Revelation 20 makes
sense of the binding of Satan, the first and second resurrection, and his
postmillennial (rather than amillennial) slant makes sense of the biblical
promise that before Christ returns to raise the dead and consummate the
kingdom, he will have put under his feet
every rule and every authority and every power. This biblical timeline lies
at the heart of postmillennialism: scripture says that the Christ’s kingdom
will grow to fill the whole earth, and postmillennialists believe scripture.
Scripture says the “last day” (the resurrection of the dead and Great Judgment)
will come only after Christ has
subdued all his enemies.
Postmillennialists affirm this. Bahnsen’s reading of Revelation 20 makes sense of
the text in accordance with the wider
body of scripture, which is the subject of Chapter Three.
Postmillennialists have a wealth of
scriptures throughout the Old Testament to support the conviction that God’s
kingdom will spread throughout the entire world and be successful prior to the
return of Christ. The Abrahamic Covenant is all about God working through
Abraham’s descendants to bring healing to the world; the Davidic Covenant is
all about God establishing a king (whom Christians understand to be Jesus) who
will rule over the world with justice, righteousness, and peace. Bahnsen
focuses on several “messianic” texts promoting the concept of a victorious
gospel. Psalm 22.27-28 reads, All the
ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of
the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he
rules over the nations. Psalm 2.7-9 reads, The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of
me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s
vessel. Isaiah prophecies in Isaiah 2.2-4, It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house
of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be
lifted up above the hills… In Isaiah’s day, pagan shrines were centered on
hilltops; this imagery implies that pagan religions will be overshadowed by the
true religion of God; Isaiah continues, making the point that all the nations will
embrace devotion to God: …And all the
nations shall flow to [the mountain of the house of the Lord], and many peoples
shall come, and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk
in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for
many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. Premillennialists identify this
prosperity of the worship of God to come after
Jesus’ coming; but because the biblical timeline doesn’t allow the
premillennial scheme of things to be true, one is left with either declaring
that these prophecies only refer to a vague spiritualism of Christ’s people (amillennialists)
or that these prophecies will come true
(postmillennialists). Isaiah 9.6-7 reads, For
to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of
peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to
establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this
time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
These prophecies will come true not because man is inherently good or that
humanistic ideals of progress will be realized; they will come true because God
intends that they do, and He will make it happen. Isaiah proclaims in 11.9 that
the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The gospel will spread throughout
the world, converting entire nations to worship and devotion to Christ, and a “golden
age” in world history under the lordship of Christ from heaven will dawn.
Isaiah 65 hints at this coming age in church history: No more shall there be in [the earth] an infant who lives but a few
days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die
a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed… The
wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food. (Isa 65.20, 25)
King Nebuchadnezzar had a famous dream,
which the prophet Daniel recounts to him in Daniel 2.32-35: The head of [the image] was of fine gold,
its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of
iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was
cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay,
and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and
the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of
them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great
mountain and filled the whole earth. God gave Daniel the meaning of the
dream, and Daniel identified the statue and all its metals as representing the
empires leading up to the birth of God’s kingdom. He says in 2.44-45, And in the days of those kings the God of
heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the
kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms
and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a
stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the
iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made
known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its
interpretation sure. And postmillennialists say, “Amen!”
Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God’s
gradual growth in the parables of the mustard seed and leaven: [Jesus] put another parable before them,
saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took
and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown
it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds
of the air come and make nests in its branches. (Matt 13.31-32) It has been
pointed out that “birds of prey” were often used to symbolize wicked, pagan
nations; Jesus could be saying that the kingdom of God will grow so large
through the earth that even the worst pagan nations are dwarfed by its stature;
he could also be saying, even the wretched pagans—even the barbarians and
Scythians!—could find a place in God’s kingdom. He told them another parable. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven,
that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.’
(v. 33) Leaven slowly spreads throughout the loaf; the growth is slow, and
gradual, but the end result is that ‘it was all leavened.’ Jesus affirmed in
Matthew 16.18b, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
While premillennialism advocates a
timeline for Jesus’ return that is foreign to scripture, both amillennialism
and postmillennialism embrace a timeline of Jesus’ return that is faithful to
scripture. While amillennialism seeks to “spiritualize” all the Old Testament
and New Testament texts about the advance of God’s kingdom through the earth,
postmillennialism accepts that God meant what He said and that He will bring it
to pass. Why, then, is postmillennialism no longer in vogue? That is the
substance of Chapter Four. Bahnsen shows how postmillennialism was an orthodox
(if not the orthodox) millennial view
of the church for hundreds and hundreds of years. From John Calvin to the
Puritans and to 18th and 19th century theologians,
postmillennialism held sway. Postmillennial expectations laid the groundwork
for major evangelism and modern missions. Bahnsen quotes De Jong on page 107: “Prior
to 1810… simple chiliasm [i.e., postmillennialism], with its strong emphasis on
the gradual arrival of the promised kingdom through preaching and conversion,
was in vogue… Simple chiliasm had become universal in Anglo-American churches
by this period.” The decline of postmillennialism is rather recent (within the
century or so!), and western Christians have such little understanding of the “history
of theology” that we believe that our current beliefs are indicative of
Christianity’s historical beliefs. For
instance, the conviction that Jesus’ return is imminent, that there will be a
rapture followed by a Great Tribulation, and that there will come a Jewish
state in the Millennium preceded by advancing lawlessness are all relatively
recent ideas in the history of Christianity, yet they are trumpeted as
absolutely certain while orthodox Christian beliefs that have become outdated
(such as postmillennialism) are decried as unbiblical simply because they don’t fit into the new framework for understanding
the End Times. The decline of postmillennialism and the rise of
dispensational premillennialism are attributed by Bahnsen to three factors: “[The]
three factors of liberalism, evolutionary
progressivism, and dispensationalism
came to exert simultaneous pressure on Christendom in the early twentieth
century, resulting in the unpopularity of biblical postmillennialism. People
were now inclined to distrust progressive hopes (if they were fundamentalist)
or discount biblical predictions for history (if they were liberals).
Furthermore, believers and unbelievers alike had been trained to interpret the
Bible in terms of extrabiblical
considerations (secular scholarship for the modernists, world events for the
dispensationalists). The combined outcome was a definite skepticism about the
church’s progress on earth prior to the second coming of Christ in glory…” (58)
Bahnsen adds on page 116, “The recent decline of adherence to postmillennialism
does not stem from advances in Bible scholarship or a strong textual refutation
of it, but rather from the incursions of autonomous rationalism,
secularization, failing faith, new interpretations (based on a faulty
hermeneutic at best, a new ‘vision’ at worst), and newspaper exegesis.
Contemporary accusations against postmillennialism have rested on
misinterpretations of it, and the arguments urged against it have been
nontelling… [Further], postmillennialism has been wrongly rejected on the basis
of unfounded or premature allegations. All and all, no good reason has been
offered in recent years for laying aside postmillennial belief.” (116)
Chapter Five is an excellent chapter on
demonology, the nature of Satan and his binding, and his activities in the
world and against God’s people. Bahnsen shows how the conviction that Satan’s
kingdom is either growing (premillennialism) or in parallel with Christ’s
kingdom (amillennialism) doesn’t hold up to scripture. That Satan is the “prince
of this age” indicates that he is the ruler over “the sons of disobedience,”
but his hold on people is broken so that they can be converted to Christ.
“Victory in Jesus: The Bright Hope of
Postmillennialism” is an excellent little introduction to the tenets of
postmillennialism over against those of premillennialism and amillennialism,
and Bahnsen makes a solid case for its biblical support, shows how it has been
predominant throughout history, and highlights how its decline comes not
because of biblical interpretation but because of various schools of thought
rising to prominence following two world wars and the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in the early
twentieth century. What better way to close a “book review” on
postmillennialism than with a hymn celebrating the victorious advance of the
gospel? Behold William Shrubsole’s 1795 hymn:
Arm of the Lord, Awake, awake!
Put on thy strength, the nations shake,
And let the world, adoring, see
Triumphs of mercy wrought by thee.
Say to the heathen from thy throne:
“I am Jehovah, God alone.”
Thy voice their idols shall confound,
And cast their altars to the ground.
Let Zion’s time of favor come;
O bring the tribes of Israel home:
And let our wond’ring eyes behold
Gentiles and Jew in Jesus’ fold.
Almighty God, thy grace proclaim
In every clime of every name;
Let adverse pow’rs before thee fall,
And crown the Saviour Lord of all.
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