Epilogue (Part 1)

Introduction:

Attention/Grabber:

Welcome to part 1 of Epilogue, a series about the end times!!

When I first saw that so many of you wanted to go through a series on the end times, my initial thought was “why is that?”

And the more that I’ve thought about it, I think I have a few ideas, but before I guess what those are...

What is it about the end times that interests you?

I think it is common to start thinking more about the endtimes when you are a teenager

I didn’t think about it too much when I was a kid, but when I became a teenager, that seemed to change.

Why is that?

I think that, for one thing, the thought of the end times as a teen is both exciting and scary

It is exciting in the sense that, some pretty interesting stuff is going to go down

And it is scary because y’all are young, and you kinda want to live the rest of your normal earthly life

I’m sure that you guys have a general idea of what you want your life to look like

The thought of that changing is kinda scary, so that makes us want to know more about it

Today, we are going to start off this series by looking at the main views when it comes to the millennium and to the tribulation

(if you don’t know what that stuff is, don’t worry; we’ll explain it).

Need:”

There are many reasons that having a clear understanding of the different views of the end times is important.

First, this is something that many Christians disagree about

Why is it that they disagree?

What isn’t clear?

This would be helpful to know.

Second, it is important to realize that, when it comes to this topic, there are multiple ways to look at it

Your salvation does not depend on which view you hold

It is important for us to know about views other than our own so that we don’t criticize those that we disagree with on this issue.

Third, it is important to search the Scriptures and come to your own conclusions when it comes to stuff like this

While whether or not you are saved doesn’t depend on which view you hold, I believe that God does want us to try our best to understand what the Scriptures seem to be saying about this subject to the best of our ability

God wants to grow our minds when it comes to thinking through the Scriptures.

So with that in mind, let’s get started!

Body:

Before we talk about the three major views of the end times, we need to define a key term.

What does the word “millennium” mean in general?

A period of a thousand years

When talking about “the millennium” in the Bible, what are we referring to?

Millennium: a period of 1,000 years where Christ reigns on the earth with believers.

The only place in Scripture where it talks about this is Revelation 20, but in this singular passage, it is mentioned six times in 7 verses.

For the sake of time we won’t look at all seven verses, but we will look at 20:4-6, which is the most important part when it comes to understanding what the Christian idea of the “millennium” is.”

Revelation 20:4–6 (ESV)

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.

What sticks out to you about this passage?

It mentions a thousand years twice

Specifically, it talks about a period where Christians reign with Christ for a thousand years

This thousand year period is what we call the millennium, and regarding the millennium, there has been much discussion.

Namely, will Jesus’s second coming happen before the millennium? After? During?

Also, where does the millennium happen? On Earth? Or in Heaven?

There is one more term that we need to talk about before we get to some major views

The Question: Will Christ’s second coming be before the millennium or after the millennium?

In other words, will Christ come back before the 1,000 year reign, or after?

How you answer this question will determine which of the three major views you hold to.

View #1: Postmillennialism

Postmillennialism: Christ returns after the millennial reign.

The idea here is that Christ won’t return until after the millennial reign.

Post = After, so litterally, after millennium.

Just like “post-game,” or something like that

What are some of the specific beliefs of postmillinialism?

First, postmillennialists belief that everybody in the world will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and then Jesus will come back.

Second, the millenium does not happen in the future, but has already begun

Let’s go ahead and look at this on a chart

The first thing we see is the first coming of Christ

After this, the church age AND the millenium begin (they both happen at the same time)

During this time, Christ reigns on the earth through us, and Satan is bound, and history ends up getting better until eventually everybody is saved.

After everybody on the earth is saved, the Second Coming of Jesus happens; we are all resurrected, and the final judgement happens

After this, the New Heavens and New Earth are created, and we live with Christ forever.

Now, a natural problem with this is that it has been more than a thousand years since Christ’s first coming

Earlier postmillinialists thought that the second coming would happen in A.D. 1000. But that year came and went

Thus, postmillinialists now believe that the “1,000 years” isn’t literal and that it is an indefinite period of time.

This opinion is also based in the way that they read Revelation.

To many of them, Revelation isn’t speaking of things to come, but rather of things that have already happened

To holders of this view, The Kingdom of God isn’t a future reality: it is here and now

Overall, this is an optimistic view about the way that the history of this world is going to come to a close

But what about Scriptural support?

Where do they find support for this in the Bible?

Here are a few passages that they would use

Isaiah 45:22–25 ESV

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”

They would argue that this verse indicates that, at some point, all of the earth will be saved.

Here’s another key verse:

Matthew 24:14 ESV

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Here, the end comes after the proclamation, and it is assumed that this proclamation is universally successful.

Doesn’t that sound awesome???

I think that, in a sense, we should all hope that this one is true, because it results in even more people coming to know Jesus

But does it survive scrutiny? Not in my opinion.

One of postmillennialism’s greatest problems is that Jesus seemed to talk about things getting worse for Christians rather than better.

Just look at this:

Matthew 24:3–6 ESV

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

Jesus doesn’t describe the world becoming Christianized; he describes persecution getting worse

Thus, this doesn’t seem to fit well

Another weakness is the absence of a clear description of an earthly reign of Christ without his physical presence.

Like, the reign is on earth… but where’s Jesus exactly?

For these reasons, this isn’t the view that I go with.

Do you have any questions about this view?

View #2: Amillennialism

Amillennialism: Christ returns after the millennium in Heaven

This is the simplest view of all

According to this view: there is no “earthly reign” of Jesus

But rather, the millennial reign of Jesus is something that is happening right now... in Heaven.

Both this view and postmillennialism share the idea that the 1,000 year reign is symbolic.

Let’s look at a chart for amillennialism:

First, the way it starts is the same: you have the first coming of Christ, and then the church age and the millenium start at the same time and continue to this day

A difference, however, is that they don’t view the millenium as something that’s happening on the earth; they think it is a present reality within Heaven.

Also, amillennialists don’t believe that everyone in the world becomes a Christian before Jesus comes back; he can come back whenever

And then after that, we have the new heavens and the new earth.

But what Scriptural support does this view have?

Luke 17:20–21 (ESV)

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

So the Kingdom isn’t coming in a literal period that can be observed; it was already among them

But does this view truly hold up? I don’t think so.

Namely, Revelation 20 makes it sound like Jesus really is gonna come back to the earth; I think it is hard to read it differently.

Do you have any questions about this view?

View #3: Premillennialism

Premillennialism: Christ returns before the millennial reign

Now it is time to talk about the verse that I “loosely” hold to

I fall into this camp, but I am probably less dogmatic about it than many others are

I personally don’t think that this stuff is worth getting into heated arguments over; just friendly discussions

But let’s define the view first before going more into that direction

The general idea of premillennialism is that the second coming of Christ happens before the 1,000 year reign and that the 1,000 year reign is a future event.

Again, Pre = Before, so litterally, before millennium

Think pregame

Let’s look at one last chart!

So here, Jesus comes, and the church age starts… but not the millennium yet.

Then later, you have the Great Tribulation (which is generally considered to be a 7 year period where the antrichrist rules on the earth)

And then, after that, Satan is bound, and Christ returns to the earth

Then there is a millenium where believers reign with Christ for 1,000 years

After that, there is one final battle, a final judgement, and the the new heaven and the new earth

The key verse for this passage is the one that we already read: Rev 20:4-6.

Let’s look at it again:

Revelation 20:4–6 (ESV)

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.

According to this view, what is happening here is literal

Jesus will come to this literal earth and reign for a literal thousand year period

This passage seems to indicate that Christ will come back in the future, and that after this second coming the 1,000 year reign of Jesus here on this earth begins

Again, whether or not this is where you land partially depends on how you interpret the book of Revelation

We’re saying that this stuff is going to happen in the future

There is one other aspect of premillennialism that it is important to briefly mention here

Many premillennialists believe that Christ’s coming happens in two stages: There is the rapture of believers, where we are taken up into Heaven to meet Jesus there

This is believed to happen before the great tribulation; believers are “spared” from the tribulation.

The second stage is where Christ comes back to the earth (and those raptured come back with him as well)

The key passage for this concept is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (ESV)

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.

There are premillennialists that don’t think there are two stages, but rather just one.

In other words, believers aren’t raptured before tribulation, but after, and Christ’s second coming is all one climatic event following the seven year tribulation

Overall, because of this passage from 1 Thessalonians, the view with the rapture is the stronger version of premillennialism

When you take this verse and compare it to Revelation 20, it seems like they are two separate events

In 1 Thessalonians, we meet Jesus in the air, but in Revelation 20, we go down with Christ from Heaven to earth.

The only way that this could all really be one event is if Jesus was like, “hey, you there! Want to run a relay race in the sky? Run up to me here and then we’ll run back to earth together.”

Why would we go up to the air only to come straight back?

Also, when Jesus and Paul talk about Christ’s return, it seems to be immanent, AKA it could happen at any time.

Matthew 24:44 ESV

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Well, if we are pretty confident that the tribulation lasts 7 years… it wouldn’t exactly be unexpected, right?

So it seems like, at least the first phase of Christ’s return could happen at any moment.

Thus, this is the version of premillenialism that I hold to

The two verses that sell me on this are Revelation 20 and 1 Thessalonians 4; I don’t see any other way to reasonably reconcile these verses.

But I encourage you to study this stuff for yourself and come to your own conclusions!

Do you have any questions about this view?

Takeaways:

Alright then...

What are some takeaways that we can garner from this?

How can we condense all of this information into something palatable that we can take with us as we go home?

Takeaway #1: One’s views of the end times does not determine their salvation

If someone isn’t premill or pretrib, that does not make them a non-Christian

One’s exact view on this is not a pillar to the foundation of the Christian faith; saying that the Lord comes after the millennium isn’t the same as saying that Jesus isn’t Lord, or that the trinity isn’t real, or something like that.

There is room for friendly discussion here

Just be careful; Satan loves to use topics like this to get people riled up and angry.

Don’t do that! Speak softly. Listen. Search the Scriptures together.

This is really complicated stuff. Arriving at an opinion about this stuff is not easy stuff. It is really complicated

Takeaway #2: the Bible is really exciting!

There is just something about talking about this stuff that’s a lot of fun

It reminds us of how good God is.

I am so thankful that He has given us this word and that we can talk about deep and complicated subjects like this together.

Takeaway #3: We should live in light of the Lord’s return

This is something that I want to talk a lot more about next time.

But what if the Jesus came back at the end of the week? How would that change what you did throughout the rest of the week?

Who would you share the Gospel with before it was too late?

I think that these are all things that are important to think about, and that the Lord calls us to always have His second coming in mind.

So take that with you! Next time, we will talk about the things about the Lord’s return that we actually can know for sure.

PRAY