Postmillenialism Helps Prayer

(Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I ask you to consider with prayer, open Bibles, and open minds whether what I see in the Bible, in the passages below, is truly there; and if so, to adjust our thinking and doing accordingly, to the glory of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost.)

AAl. Eschatology and church unity: how can we agree with God and one another about things to come? How can we agree about what the Bible says?

b1. Dictatorship is not unity, though it may prevent open
conflict. Listen to each other, not just to one source.

b2. Fog is not unity, though it may prevent open conflict. Let's try to know the truth; God has spoken, let's learn.

b3. To reach unity may require open discussion of different views, with patience and love, and more patience, and more love.

b4. Eschatological differences are serious but needn't break
fellowship; we all long to see Jesus Christ our Lord.

AA2.In a way, premillennialism and amillennialism and postmillennialism are ALL true--each has noticed something Biblical. (I learned this from Peter Leithart's book THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER.) Let us learn from each other even while rejecting errors.

b5. Postmillennialism is true: the Gospel will prevail worldwide before the return of Christ. Jesus told us to teach all the ethnic groups to obey all his orders (Matthew 28), and since He told us to, we had better do it, and we can expect to get it done. He didn't tell us he'll do it when he comes back; He told us to get it done, and then pushed off to Heaven and sent the Holy Ghost to flow through the Church.

b6. Premillenialism is true: Jesus came before the millennium at his FIRST coming, which kicked off the millennium.

b7. Amillennialism is true: 1,000 years is not an exact length for the millennium, just as God owns the cattle on 1,000 hills (Psalm 50) and also on all the other hills.

AA3/b8. Some reasons I believe postmillennialism is Biblical
If not, how can it help prayer? But if so -- read on.

These passages give fairly broad reasons, where the Bible appears to have in view the who1e sweep of history. These passages mention things like birth and death, sin, and conflict--features of this present age--yet promise us victory, often gradual or through struggle rather than by sudden overwhelming force as when Jesus comes back.

b9. Genesis 3:15, seed of woman will bruise head of serpent,
applied to saints (i.e. to us) in THIS age in Romans 16:20.

bl0. Genesis 12:3, in Abram will all families of the earth be
blessed. Are they yet?

b11. Genesis 49:10, 'The scepter turns not aside from Judah
until Shiloh come, and his is the obedience of peoples.'

b12. Psalm 2, Jehovah enthrones the Messiah and gives him the
nations his inheritance, the ends of earth his possession; he rules them with a rod of iron. Applied to the saints (!) in Rev 2:26-27 (WE rule with rod of iron.)

b13. Psalm 22 begins "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" but goes on "he is ruling among nations ... before him bow all going down to dust" (22:27-29) repentance by people who are going to die, a situation between the first and second comings.

b14. Psalm 72, paraphrased by Isaac Watts's hymn as "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun;" the Lord's king brings "abundance of peace until (not, after) the moon is not" and reigns "from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of earth."

bl5. Psalm 110, Jehovah says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand till (not, after) I make your enemies your footstool." (Ps 110 is the most quoted Ps in the NT. 2 and 22 are also top hits. 110 was also quoted a lot in the early Church.)

b16. Psalm 149 says that all (!) God's saints have the honor of binding kings with chains and nobles with iron fetters.

b17. Isaiah 2: "in the latter end of the days" nations will come to the Lord's house to learn his ways, receive his law, and make peace according to his decision: REPENTANCE and IMPROVEMENT to the extent of worldwide peace (not a peace brought in by the 2nd coming.)
Micah 4:1-3 quotes Isaiah 2:2-4 almost word for word.

b18. Is 9:6-7 unto us a child is born ... of the increase of his government and peace there is no end. Increase from the child, not interruption by a rider on a white horse.

b19. Is 11:9 The earth will be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.

b20. Is 42:1-9 Jehovah's Servant will establish justice in the earth without breaking the bruised reed; "for his law isles wait with hope." This is tied in with Jehovah's own identity. Mt 12:15-21 applies this to Jesus.

b21. Is 62:6-7 Don't stop praying until God makes Jerusalem a
praise in the earth. Start now; don't stop until He does this.

b22. Is 65:16,17,20; 62:12 '" worldwide fidelity to God, 'new
heavens and new earth,' yet death and sin remain.

b23. Jeremiah 31:31-34, a new covenant (a promise applied to this present age in Hebrews 8), "no longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah, because they will all know Me." You may be able to go somewhere and find unbelievers, but you'll have to look.

b24. Ezekiel 47:8-12, the river from the temple heals the Dead Sea, but not the marshes thereof; and there remains healing for the fruits from the trees by the river to accomplish.

b25. Daniel 2:44, Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statues: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome get destroyed and replaced by God's kingdom, which will never be destroyed, which starts as a stone and grows into a mountain that fills the earth. It may face threats of destruction, and it has to grow, but it prevails.

b26. Zechariah 9:9-10 goes from Palm Sunday to "he has spoken peace to the nations, and his rule from sea to sea . .. "

(The Old Testament tends to describe ACTIONS. The New Testament, with the OT as background, tends to go more for abstractions underlying the actions. For example, the OT uses "believe" '" a VERB - a lot; NT uses "faith" '" an abstract noun '" a lot.)

b27. Matthew 6:10, the "Lord's prayer:" "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," FOLLOWED by "Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our sins."

b28. Matthew 23:18-20, the Great Commission, our marching orders for this age: Teach all nations (including North Korea and Saudi Arabia) to obey all my commandments. ALL nations, ALL commandments (not just the four spiritual laws). (Mk 16:15-20, parallel. Luke 24:47, repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations '" similar. Acts 1:9 similar--worldwide growth.

b29. John 12:32 Jesus, speaking of his death, said, "If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me."

b30. John 17:21 Jesus prays something "so that the world may
believe that you have sent me." If He asked this of the Father, will it come to pass? (Psalm 2).

b31. Acts 4:24-31 God is greater than the nations. 12:21-24 Herod is less than the word of God. Romans 8:38-39 nothing can separate us from God's love. Galatians 1:4 Jesus rescues us from the present evil age. II Thessalonians 3:3 The Lord will protect you from the evil one. James 5:17 Elijah, a man like us, controlled the climate by prayer. I John 4:4 Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. 5:18 He that is born of God '" the evil one cannot harm him. Revelation 1:5 Jesus Christ is 1stborn from the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.

If we believe all these things, how do we pray and conduct ourselves?

b32. Acts 28:23 God's word has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!

b33. Romans 11:11-12 Jewish unbelief leads to Gentile faith leads to Jewish faith leads to Gentile? blessing (a sequence of growing improvement).

b34. I Corinthians 15:20-28 Adam and Christ have heirs IN history; Christ reigns until (not when, until) he puts down all enemies.

b35. II Corinthians 10:3-5 By spiritual warfare we "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Are Tibetans thinking obedient thoughts yet?

b36. Eph 1:19-2:10 The same power which enthrones Christ above all present and future powers has worked and is working in us '" even enthrones us with him.

b37. Phpp 3:12-14 Paul did NOT consider himself to have 'made it,' even after 10-15 years as an apostle and 20-30+ as a saint '" so if you and I aren't aiming to be a better Christians than the apostle Paul, our goal is too low.

b38. Col 1:6 all over the world the gospel is bearing fruit and growing.

b39. I Timothy 2:1-8 "I urge then, first of all, be made requests, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving for all men, for kings and all those who are in over-rule, that untroubled and undisturbed lives we may lead in all Godliness and honesty. For this, good and acceptable before the savior of us '" God '" who wants all men to be saved and into knowledge of truth to come ... for which purpose I was appointed... an apostle ..."

God wants all men to be saved, and wants us to pray along these lines (do we? with "first of all" priority?), and sent out Paul to work along these lines.

b40. Hebrews 4:11 There is a Sabbath-rest which WE should strive to enter. (One theme in Hebrews is that the Israelites died for 40 years in the wi1derness because they were not '˜postmillennial' '" they didn't trust God to give them Canaan, to give them victory if they'˜d go forth trusting Him for it.)

b41. I Peter 4:17 Judgment is already beginning with the church (in Peter's day) and will hit the unbelievers even harder.

b42. Revelation '" throughout, the prayers of the saints, offered as incense in heaven, dominate what God does on the earth. Rev 17: the Lamb, and with him his followers, will overcome the beast (Rome) and the harlot who rides on her (the Christ-rejecting Judaism of those days).

AA4. Postmillennialism and prayer

b43. These and many more are promises we can claim of God in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Ghost.

b44. Since postmillennialism is true (Biblical), most good prayers are in line with the purposes of God '" "You're going to save and sanctify and bless most everyone, so save/sanctify/bless this one." Everything moves in the same
direction.

Given "pessimillennialism" (expectations of trouble, amillennial or premillennial), most good prayers are asking for an exception to the rules: "0 God, we know this is an age of apostasy and things are getting worse, and few shall be saved, but please save/sanctify/bless in this particular situation." God may well graciously answer the request, but the prayer has a kink in it.

b45. Postmillennialism is in line with the nature of God, for He is a history-loving winner; if He weren't, the Bible and history would be a lot shorter. 0ther eschatologies are, in this respect, contrary to the nature of God; they misunderstand Him in this way.

Therefore '" be encouraged to pray boldly and make large requests, for this is in line with who God is (!) and with what He is doing. And, of course, take proper action in line with what we pray. If we are asking for LESS than worldwide conversion and holy living, are we not asking too little? If we are working for less, are we not working for too little?

APPENDIX: some objections; then, some good books

What about texts like "tight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it"? Or "When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Or speak of "This present evil age"?

I take texts that prophesy trouble or the salvation of few to be speaking about particular situations; the side that wins a war may suffer casualties and defeats during an overall victory. One situation, huge for the New Testament church but sometimes forgotten today, was the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70; I think many NT (and perhaps OT) passages prophesying trouble were speaking to that situation and have thus already been fulfilled. When the Son of Man cometh (to judge Jerusalem in A.D. 70 for rejecting Him 40 years earlier), will he find faith in the "land" (of Israel)?

Few find the way to life? Let us pray "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," and let us spread the gospel so God will bring people out of the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son; let us do God's will and teach others to do it. Jesus rescues and protects us from the present evil age; He is in control, the age is not.

My hope in this paper is to show us something of God and his plans. A different God would have different plans. What I see is good and big. We should pray to God, who is big, for big things; He plans to give them to us. Other have dealt so well with the details (I'll list books in a minute) that I see no need to go into them; but a paper like this, setting forth Biblical reasons to expect Gospel victory in history, I have not seen, so I wrote this and send it forth. (A chapter summary in "House Divided" would come pretty close.)

SOME GOOD BOOKS

A book that is exactly what one person needs, or needs at a particular time, may not be what someone else or the same person earlier or later needs. A book may help me grow, and yet, having learned what it has to teach, I may outgrow it; or I may not be ready for a book, or a topic, at one time, yet eventually be ready to read or tackle it. But here are some books I think helpful on "eschatology" (theology of the future)--including clearing up some of the past.

I grew up on Hal Lindsey's THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH and hardly knew, or hardly noticed, that there might be any other view than pretrib/premil. In college I learned that some devout Christians held other views! It looked so complicated that I dropped eschatology for several years.

Then I took it up: I read David Chilton's PARADISE RESTORED. It taught me two things.

(1) The destruction of the Jerusalem/Temple/priesthood/sacrifice system by the Romans in A.D. 70 was an important event in N.T. prophecy; that system, in various forms, had been God'˜s true religion for 1500 years. And it was a very traumatic event for the NT Church: Jesus was a Jew, his first followers were Jews, many early Christians were Jews or near-Jews, and losing the Temple system probably felt to them sort of like having your parents executed as terrorists would feel to you. Jesus had to get his people ready, and He did.

The value of this for eschatology, for understanding our own future, is that it takes many verses out of our future into our past, so that they no longer confuse our understanding of the future. (People who expect a future Messiah, instead of recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah, are expecting Old Testament prophecies that have already been fulfilled to be fulfilled sometime in our future--a similar confusion.) It also reminds us that God keeps His promises, since he has kept these.

(2) PARADISE RESTORED opened up Bible symbolism for me. Hal Lindsey, though emphasizing literalism, wrote somewhere that symbolism from the whole Bible appears in Revelation. But Chilton explained a lot of the symbolism to me.

Chilton convinced me, from the Bible, that Revelation was written before Jerusalem was destroyed, but I knew he hadn't written about all the evidence. (Later he wrote a big fat commentary on Revelation which didn't deal with all the evidence either, though I'd expected it to.)

Try PARADISE RESTORED. (As with this little paper, try to keep an open mind: learn what God wants you to learn.)

Kenneth Gentry's book THE BEAST OF REVELATION satisfied me on the evidence for the date: Gentry did his homework, both with the Bible's details and with what the early Church--first millennium or so--wrote about Revelation and when it was written. I consider that Gentry has proven in a scholarly way that Revelation was written before A.D. 70. (He has about a page listing other scholars who held or hold the same view.)

I have glanced at some newer commentaries that disagree with Gentry; from what I've seen, they hold to mistakes that he has shown to be mistakes, or depend on things he has shown to be uncertain.

Try THE BEAST OF REVELATION, or, for more details, BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL, also by Gentry. You may not need BJF's extra 200 pages, but (unlike Chilton) the added pages are bone and muscle--worthwhile details--not bloat.

Try THE MOMENTOUS EVENT, by W. J. Grier, which though first published around A.D. 1945, and under 150 pages, could hardly have been improved on if written to refute Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye. "Standard amillennial fare," said the friend who loaned me his copy. Short, simple, straightforward, and very effective, though perhaps I didn't need much convincing when I read it. I've given out a few copies. As with all these, compare with Scripture and see whether these things are so. My one disagreement with Grier is his amillennial pessimism, but it only comes up a couple of times.

Some books that helped me along a bit, but not as much as Chilton proven right by Gentry, were THE PURITAN HOPE by Iain Murray, which showed that William Carey, Adoniram Judson, and other Protestant missionary pioneers were motivated by expecting the gospel to prevail worldwide before Jesus comes back: postmillennialism got Protestant missions off the ground. (The Judson biography TO THE GOLDEN SHORE may have been where I learned for sure he was postmillenial.)

Murray also has a great chapter, which I hope has soaked into me, on why we're eager for Jesus Christ to come back, eager for the 2nd coming, even if we expect things to get better rather than worse before then. Resurrected with bodies like his risen body, and not having to struggle against sins!

THE PAULINE ESCHATOLOGY, by Geerhardus Vos (rather technical scholarly theology), seemed to agree with Chilton except on one or two points (I forget what), and on those points I considered Chilton right. I'd read Vos's BIBLICAL THEOLOGY and thought very highly of it, so to have this great scholar confirming Chilton encouraged me that I was indeed making progress.

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, Gary North's best book if you ask me--a great little systematic theology, setting out what the Bible says and making practical application to our lives--was the book that I became a postmillennialist while reading. I think my argument for gospel victory above is stronger than the little bit of this book on that topic (he cited Mt 13:31-33, mustard seed and leaven), but I was ready for this to click for me and UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER was the book that made it click.

North sometimes uses a rather nasty attitude; please forgive him enough to learn from him, and perhaps more from authors like Chilton and Gentry some of whose books bear North's introductions.