While our beliefs about the end time are important, they are not essential for our salvation. Nor does anyone know the day, hour, or season when it will occur (Matt.24:36, Acts 1:7). We should be spiritually mature enough to discuss the topics without anger or insults. Our differences should not be used to divide us nor be a point of fellowship or disfellowship. Eschatology is the study of end-time events. Within that study, there are several areas covered, which means there are many different viewpoints covered.
TERMS
Millenium = 1000 years.
Premillennial = Jesus’ return is before the Millenium.
Postmillennial = Jesus’ return is after the Millenium.
Amillennial = Millenium is not an actual 1000 years.
In this short article, I will confine myself to just the premillennial positions because there are several variations of them.
No one knows when Jesus will return! Speculation abounds and has for 2000 years. Yet, Christians have been divided over the various viewpoints about His return, and whole denominations have sprung up around varying beliefs about it. My purpose here is to basically define the terms and what is meant by them and perhaps challenge our thinking about some of them.
Premillennial pretribulation – Jesus’ return will be before the millennium and before the Tribulation.
Premillennial mid-tribulation – Jesus’ return will be before the millennium and in the middle of the Tribulation.
Premillennial post-tribulation – Jesus’ return will be before the millennium and after the tribulation.
One can hold either one of these three positions and still be known as premillennial.
The tribulation is a seven-year period often divided into two sections of three and one-half years each. The first three and one-half years is often called the tribulation and the second section is called the wrath of God.
Two Greek words that are often used in referring to Jesus’ return are harpadzo which means to seize or snatch. It is found 13 times in Scripture. The most familiar one is in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds…” This is often referred to as the rapture of the saints.
The other word is parousia which means appearing. It is most often referred to as the Second Coming of the Lord.
The most common belief among the Premillennial pretribulation adherents is that Jesus will come in a secret rapture and then sometime later return with His saints and set up His earthly kingdom.
But, there seems to be a growing trend toward the belief that Jesus will return before the millennium either in the middle or at the end of the tribulation. He will come at the last trumpet (1 Cor.15:52, Rev.11:15) and take up His saints (those who have previously died and those still living) to meet Him in the air and return to the earth to set up His Kingdom. It was a common practice when a victorious king would return from defeating his enemies, the citizens would go out to meet him and follow him home in a victorious procession.
Many are surprised when they discover that many Christian leaders such as Augustine, Luther, and Calvin were amillennial; that Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney were postmillennial, or that most of the early church fathers were premillennial but post tribulational.
All of us are affected by how we were raised and taught at home, church, schools, and experiences. Often, it is difficult to see beyond these teachings. Perhaps looking at the plain statements of Scripture can help us understand what was said to the early church and how they understood it. It has also been said if we lay aside how we have been previously taught and read Scripture as if we were reading it for the first time, it is amazing how we will grasp things that we may have missed before.
I was taught at the church I was raised in, the Bible college I went to as well as seminary that the most Biblical view was a secret rapture before the tribulation and wrath then the second coming. We put a lot of emphasis on the notes in the Scofield and Dakes’ Bibles. But in recent years I have intensely studied the same Scriptures again and have modified my beliefs slightly on His return.
I still believe in the premillenial return of the Lord, which will not be a secret to the believers (1 Thess.5:4) but will be to others. But my beliefs about the timing of the rapture and second coming have changed. I see the rapture and second coming as two parts of the same event. Based on my understanding of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 I see that they occur after the seven-year tribulation. Jesus will return with His saints who have previously died (Jude 14) and raise the dead ones ( 1 Thess.4:17) who will meet the Lord in the air and then immediately land on the earth to fully establish His kingdom!
Immediately the question is raised by many American Christians, “But God has not appointed us to wrath.” I agree there is no condemnation or wrath for the people of God during this time or any other. But if we are here during it He will protect us in the midst of it as He did the Israelites in Egypt! He has not changed nor will He!
Something to think about!