What Are the Four Views of the End Times? (Revelation 20:1-8)

The nature of the thousand years, or millennium, in Revelation 20:1-8, is widely debated. The four views of the end times are postmillennialism, amillennialism, premillennialism, and preterism. Maybe you wonder what each view means. Hopefully, this answers that for you! https://youtu.be/llJDdYqts0U The four views of the end times are postmillennialism, amillennialism, premillennialism, and preterism. Learn what each view means. Table of contentsWhat Is the Millennium?The Four Views of the End TimesPostmillennialism's View of the End Times: Christ Returns After the Millennium and Rules in Believers’ HeartsAmillennialism's View of the End Times: The Church Age Is the Millennium, and Christ Rules Through the ChurchPostmillennialism and Amillennialism Avoid Literal InterpretationsSatan Is Not ImprisonedPremillennialism's View of the End Times: Christ Returns Before the Millennium and Physically Rules on the EarthPreterismFull Preterism: Christ Returned in 70 A.D., and all Prophecy Is FulfilledJesus's Second Coming Is Physically and BodilyFull Preterism Is HeresyPartial Preterism: Christ Will Return and Some Prophecy Is FulfilledHow Preterists Arrive at Their InterpretationAre We Ready for Jesus's Second Coming? If you have been in the church for long, you’ve heard people talk about being amill, post mill, and premill. You probably know these describe people’s eschatology or view of the end times. But maybe you wonder what each view means. Hopefully, this sermon will answer that for you! I'm a premillennialist, but I will do my best to present the opposing views respectfully and share the names of respected people who hold each view. What Is the Millennium? The suffix mill in each view is short for millennium. The most explicit passage describing the millennium is in Revelation 20. Look at verse one: Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit (or abyss) and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, The pit, or abyss, is the temporary prison for demons who sinned by possessing people in Noah’s day and throughout history. You might remember when Jesus cast the demons out of the man in the country of the Gerasenes in Luke 8:31. They begged Jesus not to cast them into the abyss. Demons are locked up here until released as part of the 5th Trumpet Judgment in Revelation 9. The abyss also ends up being the prison for the devil during the millennium. The millennium is named from the repeated use of the phrase “thousand years” six times in verses 2 through 7. Revelation 20:3 and threw him into the pit (or abyss), 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. The devil is imprisoned in the abyss for one thousand years and then released. As we'll see, he isn’t cast straight into hell because God has one more task for him. There’s a real emphasis on the devil deceiving the world because it’s mentioned four times in Revelation 19:20, 20:3, 8, 10. It’s interesting that of all the devil’s evils, this is the reason he’s locked up. Revelation 12:9 says he’s the deceiver of the world. He shows up on the pages of Scripture deceiving Eve, and his final actions before being cast into hell also involve deceiving people. I’m convinced the world will be dramatically different when the devil is locked up and cannot deceive anyone. Please keep that in mind when we discuss each view. Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. After the millennium, the devil is released and returns to deceiving people. His 1,000-year imprisonment didn’t change him at all. Notice that it says he’s released rather than escaped, showing God’s sovereignty in letting him out. It’s all part of God’s plan. The devil deceives all unbelievers into rebelling against God so they can be destroyed after the Millennium in the Battle of Gog and Magog and prevented from entering eternity. The Four Views of the End Times Now, we have a basic understanding of the millennium to discuss the end times. Postmillennialism's View of the End Times: Christ Returns After the Millennium and Rules in Believers’ Hearts The prefix post means after, so postmillennialists believe Jesus’s Second Coming occurs after the millennium. Postmillennialists do not see the millennium as a literal thousand years. Here are three things they don’t view literally: They don’t view Christ physically ruling and reigning on the earth over an earthly kingdom or millennium; instead, they view Him spiritually reigning in believers’ hearts. They don’t view Satan literally imprisoned during the Millennium. Instead, they believe Jesus’s death and resurrection hindered Satan's work so that the gospel could spread. They don’t view the millennium as a literal thousand years. Instead, it symbolizes a golden age of righteousness and spiritual prosperity brought about by the spread of the Gospel during the Church Age. Postmillennialists see the world getting better, and they believe the millennium is established by Jesus’s followers, the church, in His physical absence. This leads postmillennialists to emphasize the church's role in transforming society and often believe this transformation happens through evangelism, social justice, and cultural engagement. I think this is one area where premillennialists can be weak. Christians should be politically active. Postmillennialists believe the Millennium ends when Christ returns to finalize history, judge the living and the dead, and establish God's eternal kingdom. Jonathan Edwards, BB Warfield, Charles Hodge, Gary DeMar, Kenneth Gentry, and Douglas Wilson are prominent postmillennialists. Amillennialism's View of the End Times: The Church Age Is the Millennium, and Christ Rules Through the Church The prefix “a” often means not or without. For example, atypical means not typical, asymmetrical means not symmetrical, and atheist means not believing in God. So, amillennialists believe there is no millennium. But this is almost untrue because it would be better to understand that they think the Church Age is the millennium. Amillennialists would say we are currently in the millennium. Jesus’s First and Second Comings serve as bookends to the Millennium. Christ’s First Coming establishes the millennial kingdom, and His Second Coming concludes it. Like postmillennialists, amillennialists don’t see Satan literally imprisoned. They believe Jesus’s ministry hindered him but didn’t stop him entirely from deceiving. If postmillennialists believe Jesus is ruling and reigning in believers’ hearts, amillennialists believe Jesus is ruling and reigning through the church. RC Sproul, Voddie Baucham, and Sam Storms are prominent amillennialists. Postmillennialism and Amillennialism Avoid Literal Interpretations I hope none of my postmillennial or amillennial friends disagree with this lesson. I think they would acknowledge that there are three ways they don’t hold to a literal interpretation: They don’t believe the millennium is literally 1000 years. Instead, it is symbolic of a long period. They don’t believe that Jesus is ruling and reigning on the earth, literally or physically. Instead, in the postmillennial view, He reigns in believers’ hearts; in the amillennial view, He reigns through the church. They don’t believe Satan is literally imprisoned and prevented from deceiving the earth. Instead, the cross weakened what he could do. Why would they think this? In my effort to best represent postmillennial and amillennial positions, I believe the three primary reasons they don’t take the thousand years literally are: First, Revelation contains symbolism. For example: Revelation 1 and 19 describe Jesus with a sharp sword coming out of His mouth, and we know this symbolizes the Word of God. Revelation 9 discusses locusts coming out of the abyss, or bottomless pit, and they represent demons. Revelation 12 describes the woman and the Dragon, and the woman is Israel versus a literal woman. Postmillennialists and amillennialists believe the thousand years are symbolic, too. Second, they don’t see the millennium as a literal thousand years because “thousand years” is used symbolically elsewhere in Scripture: 1 Chronicles 16:15 Remember [God’s] covenant forever…for a thousand generations. Psalm 50:10 Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. Psalm 84:10 A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. Job 9:3 If one wished to contend with [God], one could not answer him once in a thousand times. 2 Peter 3:8 With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Third, even as a premillennialist, I generally agree with postmillennial and amillennial beliefs to an extent. For example: If an amillennialist asked, “Is Christ ruling and reigning through the church,” I would say, “Yes, He is the head of the church.” If a postmillennialist asked, “Is Christ ruling and reigning in believers’ hearts?” I would say, “Yes. Colossians 3:15 says, ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.’” If a postmillennialist or amillennialist asked, “Is Satan a defeated foe?” I would say, “Yes. He was defeated at the cross.” I have probably said that in sermons before. Jake said as much in a recent communion devo when he quoted Colossians 2:15: “[Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities (referring to the demonic realm) and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them [at the cross].”