Ordination Paper Four
Eric M. White
When I was in middle school, my dad handed me a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The third book in the trilogy is called The Return of the King. As the fantasy narrative winds through the first couple books, the situation growing ever darker and more desperate than its idyllic beginning, Tolkien offers several hints that a king of legend is going to return, claim his throne, and overthrow the darkness. As a young reader, it took me longer than it should have to realize who the king was, but knowing the story was meandering toward the triumphant return of a conquering king kept my nose in the book, devouring every word to expedite the journey toward victory. For those who are in Christ, we have a vivid and potent promise of a returning king, the long-awaited conqueror of darkness who will establish his throne and rule the world in righteousness and mercy for 1,000 years. There’s no mistaking the identity of our coming king. His name is Jesus, and his return is imminent.
Common Viewpoints
The same passages of Scripture that have led some to determine that Jesus will return imminently and before the millennial reign have been misinterpreted or misconstrued by others. Clarity on the reality of Jesus’ return requires a careful examination of the Bible and the terms that describe his return: amillennial, postmillennial, and premillennial. Revelation 20 is the primary source text for these perspectives on the millennial reign of Christ.
Amillennialism rejects the notion that Christ will have a literal 1,000-year reign on earth before the judgment. Instead, the 1,000 years of Revelation 20:4 is the age of the church. John is not referencing a prophetic vision of future events; rather, he is expressing the state of the world. With Christ’s death and resurrection, we entered the church age. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, rules over the earth through his followers, the church. The amillennial view cites several references of Scripture in which the Kingdom of God is referred to as something that has already come, as opposed to something yet to come. In Matthew 12:28, Jesus says that if he drives out demons by God’s Spirit, then the Kingdom of God is present. In Luke 17:20-21, the Pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom of God will come. He replies that it won’t be observable, but that the kingdom of God is already among the people. Once the church age, during which the kingdom of God is already established through his church, is complete, Christ will judge the world.
Similar to amillennialism, postmillennialism holds the Jesus began his kingdom on earth contemporarily with the Gospel accounts. The kingdom was established through the founding and equipping of his church. The millennium of Revelation 20 does not begin with Christ’s return but ends with it. The millennium refers to the golden age of Christianity on earth, an era when the world will be so thoroughly evangelized, the Holy Spirit working so richly in the multitude of believers, that the world will experience harmony and peace through a majority Christian population practicing obedience to Jesus. At the end of this golden age of the church, Jesus will return bodily to administer the resurrection and final judgment of all humanity. Some of A.B. Simpson’s predecessors and contemporaries held this view, asserting that the millennium had recently begun, and would progress through the century and beyond. The myriad evidences of a world in turmoil invalidate the claim.
Premillennialism is the third of the millennial perspectives and holds that Christ will return triumphantly to establish his kingdom on earth. From the holy city of God for his people, Jesus will reign with the resurrected saints for 1,000 years. The millennium of the premillennial view, unlike that of amillennialism and postmillennialism, is a literal 1,000 years during which Christ is present in the flesh on earth. The prima facie difference between these three points is summarized in their answer to these questions: When will Jesus return? And will he personally reign on earth, or will his surrogate? The premillennial viewpoint, drawing from a balanced interpretation of Scripture, answers these questions thusly: Jesus will return before the millennium of Revelation 20 and will personally rule over the earth.
A common argument against the premillennial view is that it only draws on one passage of Scripture to develop its argument: Revelation 20. This is inaccurate. Whereas Revelation 20 provides the most detailed and direct description of the millennial events, several other passages support the premillennial view. In Luke 1:31-33, for example, the angel Gabriel visits Mary, mother of Jesus, to prophesy the immaculate conception and birth of Jesus. Gabriel Says, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:31-33). The throne of David implies firstly an earthly throne over an earthly kingdom, secondly a presence in Jerusalem as a seat of power, and thirdly a rule ordained by God. But as the Gospels record, the nearest Jesus trod to the throne of David was during his triumphant entry into Jerusalem when the people laid their cloaks and branches over the road and shouted “Hosanna.” The closest he came to sitting upon a king’s throne was hanging on a criminal’s cross over which a sign read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19).
Did Jesus fail to fulfill Gabriel’s prophesy to Mary? Did he fail to fulfill the prophesies of the Old Testament that repeatedly state he will be the king to rule on David’s throne forever? Second Samuel 7:12-13, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Isaiah 9:6-7, and Daniel 2:44 all share this prophesy. Based on these prophetic Scriptures, many of the Jews in the Gospels thought Jesus was their long-awaited Mashiach who would lead them in a revolt against the Roman Empire and once-again establish the nation Israel as a dominant kingdom of the earth. He didn’t. These are the very same Jews who declared “Hosanna” as he rode into Jerusalem and soon after saw him nailed to the cross. The prophecies are either wrong, or they predict an event that has not yet occurred.
Jesus came to establish his kingdom on earth, and indeed he does rule in the lives believers, but there is yet no king on David’s throne. To fulfill the Scriptures, Jesus must return bodily to rule from the holy city of God. This is the event Revelation 20 so powerfully depicts and that the aforementioned verses predict. All other Old Testament prophesies about Jesus were fulfilled literally. A consistent interpretation of Scripture yields the premillennial perspective of Jesus literally fulfilling these prophesies with his return.
Christ’s Return
Jesus’ return will be triumphant. He will not come to earth as a baby meek and mild. He’ll not have the bloodied and battered semblance of the wrongfully convicted man suffocating on the cross before his mockers. First Thessalonians 4:16 says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.” Matthew 24 depicts Jesus coming “on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (v. 30). Revelation 19 gives a vivid portrayal of a warrior king coming in glory, accompanied by hosts of angels, with the Word of God as a sword emanating from his mouth. These passages depict the imminence of Christ’s return. First Thessalonians 5:2 says that Jesus will return like a thief in the night. He will come suddenly, without warning, when the world is not expecting him.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul writes to encourage Christians about other believers who have passed away. From his writing, we get the sense that the church was mourning dead believers, thinking they’d somehow miss out on Jesus’ triumphant return or the hope of Christ’s glory. Paul assures them that even the living in Christ will not precede the dead in Christ in meeting Jesus at his return. The passage says that at Jesus’ triumphant return, Christ will call out to those who have died in him, and they will rise from the dead. Then Jesus will call the living church, which will be “caught up with him in the air.”
This is the Biblical theology of the rapture. At Jesus’ return, all those who know Christ, whether living or dead, will be called together with him. Jesus teaches this same rapture theology in Matthew 24. In verse 31, Jesus tells his disciples that when the Son of Man returns in glory, he will send his angels out with trumpet call to gather all the elect of the earth. The elect refers to those covered by the blood of the lamb; that is, believers. The Parousia initiates a series of eschatological events, beginning with the marriage feast of the lamb.
In Paul’s instructions for marriage in Ephesians 5:32, he likens the marital relationship to that of Christ and his bride, the church. This sheds understanding on the marriage feast described in Revelation 19. In verses 8-9, John writes, “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’” Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). This eschatological passage is well understood through the perspective of Jewish wedding traditions, which had three unique phases each paralleling a part of the ministry of Jesus.
In the first phase, the groom pays a bride price or dowry to the bride’s parents. This bride price is akin to a business transaction. Essentially the groom is paying the bride’s parents for the right to marry her, establishing a covenant. Jesus’ ministry of atonement parallels this first phase. In giving his life on a cross, Jesus paid the just penalty for the sins of the world, offering redemption to those who know him. Because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” there is a debt against the life of every person (Rom. 3:23). Jesus pays this debt at Calvary, ensuring his marriage right to the bride.
In the second phase, the groom adds an extension to his father’s house, preparing a place for him and his wife to live. Once the dwelling meets the approval of the groom’s father, he is given permission to go claim his bride as his wife. Late at night, without announcement, the groom and his groomsmen travel in festive processional to the house of his betrothed. The bride, not knowing exactly when the groom will come, must be ever ready, along with her attendants. In this phase, we’re given understanding of Jesus’ parable of the virgins trimming their wicks. Those whose lanterns are unprepared miss the arrival of the Lord, while those whose lanterns are prepared, celebrate the groom’s arrival (Matt. 25:7). This second phase represents Jesus’ triumphant return and grants understanding to the concept of Jesus arriving like a thief in the night. Jesus will come again, when little expected, to claim his bride.
In the third and final phase, once the groom has paraded to his bride’s abode, the two are married, initiating a weeklong celebratory feast. The feast finalizes and solemnizes the marriage of the couple with joyful fellowship. The marriage feast of the lamb is the celebration of Jesus’ final eternal union to his bride. The rapture of believers, resurrection of the dead in Christ, and marriage feast of the Lamb are the foundational end-times events pertaining to the church. The Bible mentions several other significant eschatological events as the end-times impact the whole of creation.
Events of the End Times
The tribulation is a seven-year period of judgment upon the inhabitants of the world. The Old Testament prophet Daniel speaks of the tribulation in 9:24-27. He mentions 70 sevens of years, that is, 490 years, between the command to rebuild Jerusalem and the cutting off of the Messiah. Biblical scholars conclude that 483 years transpired between the command to rebuild Jerusalem and the crucifixion of Jesus, leaving just one seven-year period yet to be completed. Daniel then explains that this final period is the tribulation. This final seven-year period of tribulation is divided in half, the second half being the Great Tribulation. Later in Daniel 12, the prophet calls the coming tribulation the greatest time of distress the kingdoms of Earth have known.
Jesus also talks about the tribulation in Matthew 24. He says that the tribulation will begin with the “abomination that causes desolation,” an action of the anti-Christ. He agrees with Daniel that it will be a time of the greatest distress the world has known. The anti-Christ who introduces the tribulation is most vividly described in Revelation 13. There, the Revelator describes a beast, the anti-Christ given power by Satan to deceive the people of the earth. The anti-Christ speaks blasphemies against God, yet many of earth submit to him, seeing his great power. He makes a covenant of peace with the inhabitants of Earth for the first half of his reign before unleashing turmoil, the Great Tribulation, on Earth. The next several chapters of Revelation go on to describe the trials of the Tribulation and how God will judge the hearts and actions of men accordingly.
In Revelation 20, the tribulation ends with the binding of Satan. An angel of the Lord comes to seize the dragon (Satan) and the beast and bind them in a pit. Satan is bound for 1000 years, during which the resurrected and raptured saints reign with Christ in the city of God on Earth. During this Earthly reign of Christ, the Earth enjoys relative peace and those in Christ dwell in his bodily presence. At the end of the 1000-year kingdom reign of Jesus, Satan will be unleashed to rally the wicked of Earth for a final assault against God. Despite the peace and prosperity of Christ’s reign on Earth, multitudes will still be drawn to Satan’s final battle against Jesus (Rev. 20:8).
In this final battle, Satan rallies the wicked and all his forces around the holy city of God and God’s people. But in the final battle, God devours them all with fire from Heaven. After Satan’s defeat, he is thrown into Hell, the lake of eternal fire, along with the beast and false prophet. There, as John the Revelator says, they will be tormented day and night forever. Once Satan has been judged for his wickedness and punished accordingly, Jesus will administer judgment upon all people.
Revelation 20:11 depicts a great white thrown on which Jesus sits. At Jesus’ presence, the old heavens and earth fade away. Then the dead are resurrected, both the wicked and the righteous, and summoned before the throne of Christ where the book of life is opened. The book of life contains the names of all those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Death itself is then cast into the fire, for there will be no more death after God’s final judgment. But along with death and Hades, all those whose names are not found written in the book of life are also cast into the fire of Hell.
After the final judgment, John describes a new Heaven and a New Earth, in which the full presence of God dwells with his people, all those who are resurrected unto eternal life by the righteousness of Christ through faith. John describes an enormous and beautifully adorned city, the New Jerusalem, which will be the eternal dwelling place of those resurrected in Christ. But the most incredible and glorious facet of this new city is Jesus himself, who outshines even the sun we know on this Earth.
A Perspective on the Rapture
Similar to the differing viewpoints of the millennium, different perspectives have emerged regarding the rapture in relation to the tribulation. The primary difference among those who believe in the rapture as a calling up of the saints by Jesus is when it happens in relation to the tribulation. Some have argued that God would not allow the church to endure the trials of the tribulation, but several key Scriptures indicate that the church will indeed be here for the tribulation, though God may provide divine protection, sheltering the elect from portions of the trials.
Several of the verses we’ve already discussed teach that Jesus’ return will be incredibly apparent to the world. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul says that Jesus will return with a loud command, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call. In the same passage, Paul says that after these noticeable events Jesus will rapture the church. To embrace a pretribulational rapture, one must also embrace two triumphant and apparent comings of Christ; the first to rapture the church and the second to end the tribulation. Yet in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, Paul says that the final trumpet will accompany the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture of the church. At this trumpet, “death will be swallowed up in victory.”
The warning Jesus gives his disciples in Matthew 24 indicates that the disciples will be present for the trials of the end times. In fact, he warns them about the signs of those times and what they will endure. In verse 30 and 31, Jesus says that when he returns, all people of earth will see his coming and mourn him. Immediately after Christ’s return, to which the whole world will observe and react, Jesus will send his angels to gather the elect in the rapture of the church. Jesus’ statement leaves no room for two separate returns of Jesus, one to claim the elect, and another to establish his millennial reign. The return of Jesus is singular, accomplishing what he intends in one event.
An Imminent Return
These Scriptures also portray the imminence of Jesus’ return. The most vivid depictions of Christ’s return imply that Jesus could return at any moment. In Matthew 24:27, Jesus says his return will be like a flash of lightning. Jesus also says he will come like a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:2). Jesus regularly tells his disciples they must be prepared for his return. The parable of the virgins trimming their wicks illustrates this principle, as does the parable of the master returning to examine his servants’ faithfulness (Matt. 25:1-13 and 24:42-51). When asked when he will return, Jesus replied to his disciples that no one knows the day or the hour. In fact, not even Jesus knew the answer to that question, but only the Father. Jesus’ return is imminent, definitive but possible at any moment. This has great implications for the church.
A reporter once asked A.B. Simpson if he knew when Jesus was coming back. Simpson responded that he did, but would only give the reporter the answer if he agreed to write down exactly what he said, as he said it. With the reporter’s consent, Simpson quoted Matthew 24:14, “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached unto the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Simpson’s point, and the point of Scripture, is that the church must deliver the Gospel message to all nations before Jesus will return to establish his millennial kingdom and initiate the end times.
If the commission of Jesus is not compelling enough, the idea that the return of Jesus is contingent upon the church completing its work should be a fire to the hearth of every Christian heart. As Jesus makes clear in his Matthew 24 prophesy, the world will continue in wickedness, yielding ever-increasing suffering on the earth until Jesus returns. Things aren’t getting any better. Yet the blessed hope of every believer is that Jesus will usher in a completely restored existence for the elect, where there is no longer any suffering or pain, where the effects of sin are completely and finally undone. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus gives his great commission to the church, “Go therefore into all the world, making disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the end of the age.”
What commission greater than this has ever been given? The work of the church results in the salvation of the lost through the power of the Holy Spirit of God and the atoning blood of his son. Yet greater still is this greatest of commissions when coupled with Matthew 24:14, for not only does the work of the church make possible the salvation of the lost, but it also makes possible the glorious and triumphant return of Jesus preceding the millennial reign. This will be the greatest era the earth has known since the fall of man.
The Coming Judgment
After Jesus’ millennial reign on earth, and after he condemns Satan and his forces, Jesus will administer the final judgment on mankind. The standard by which God judges mankind is a standard of absolute perfection, yet all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Jesus, having paid the just penalty of our sins as the perfect atoning sacrifice, justifies those who believe in him and confess him with their mouths that he is Lord and God raised him form the dead. Thus by the blood of the lamb, God will find those who are in Christ justified at the judgment, and they will inherit eternal life.
The Bible speaks of several rewards for those who inherit eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 9, while explaining his motivation for doing the work of the Gospel, Paul says that he does so to gain a crown that will last forever. This is the incorruptible crown. A crown indicates status. In Paul’s example, a race winner wears a crown, indicating his status as a champion runner. The spiritual crown of which Paul writes indicates our status with God, that we are completely justified by Christ, made perfect in the image of God.
In his letter to Timothy, Paul also mentions a crown of righteousness (II Tim. 4:5). Paul claims the crown of righteousness as his reward for finishing the race God has called him to run. Again using the illustration of a victorious sportsman, the crown indicates status and achievement. The righteous have achieved righteousness by the blood of the lamb through faith, and not by works.
James mentions the crown of life in James 1:12. The crown of life is the reward of perseverance through trials, awarded to those who love God. The life this crown signifies is eternal life in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The apostle Peter describes a crown of glory in 1 Peter 5:14. Similar to the other crowns, the crown of glory is a reward for perseverance, that is, remaining faithful to the end. Peter contrasts the glory in store for those who love God to the suffering we face in this life. Faithfulness to Christ enduring through life’s hardships results in eternal glory.
Finally, Revelation 4 mentions a crown of gold. This description seems mundane compared to the likes of the incorruptible crowns of glory, life, and righteousness, but the Revelation 4 narrative paints a beautiful portrayal of this crown’s significance. In John’s vision, a group of 24 elders wear the gold crowns. They’re seated in the very throne room of God, which John describes in powerfully vivid language. Consider that these elders, once hopeless sinful men, are now crowned with glory dwelling in the presence of the almighty God. Not only are they crowned with glory in God’s presence, but their existence is one of joyful worship of God. John says in verses 10-11 that the elders lay their crowns before God saying, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to received glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by all things they were created and have their being.” The elders’ crowns are a gift from God, and their great joy is to lay them back before God’s throne in worship and gratitude for the gift they’ve received.
The reality of what awaits the elect at the end times is too beautiful, poignant, and inspirational to fully grasp, yet the reality of what awaits the wicked is terrifying. Righteousness cannot be earned through works; it is only gained through faith. Jesus says he is the way, truth, and life, and no one gets to the Father except through him (John 14:6). Because God is holy and perfectly righteous, He has a just hatred of sin. He could not, in fact, be righteous without hating sin. God’s just hatred of sin means that He must judge the sinful according to what they have done. Only those who are covered by the blood of the lamb will escape the wrath of God upon His judgment of humanity. As indicated by Revelation 20, those who are not covered by the blood of the lamb will be cast into the lake of fire with Satan. The punishment of Hell represents eternal conscious torment and total separation from God, the ultimate end of the wicked.
Personal Implications
Deep theology is merely knowledge if not rightly applied. For too many followers of Christ, the hope of his return is a thinly veiled form of escapism. The woes of this life, the thinking goes, are great, and thus how sweet it will be when Christ returns and saves me from all my present sufferings. Although it is true that Christ will return and deliver his people from all their sufferings, the implication of Scriptural eschatology is far greater. It is also our greatest compeller to missional living for the cause of Jesus.
If Christ will return once the nations have heard the Gospel, I am compelled to center my life on the mission of Christ, expediting his glorious return. The imminence of his coming ought also to inspire every believer toward holy living, lest we be caught like the servant who let the house get out of order. This reality can transform every facet of the believer’s life.
Is my marriage about the personal pleasure of the married or God-ordained teamwork in advancing His kingdom? Is the aim of parenting to raise up productive members of society or to raise up warriors for the Gospel of Jesus? Do we work to pay the bills or to impact coworkers and finance the global missions movement? Eschatology is a powerful tool for analyzing and rearranging the priorities of life to match the call of Christ. Deeply rooted in the reality of Jesus is this pivotal part of his identity. He is our Savior, Healer, Sanctifier, and Coming King. His return is imminent. Are we ready?
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