Sermon Tone Analysis

Who are the Millennials?

In 1982 - or so the story goes, 2 authors, William Strauss and Neil Howe coined the term “millennials”.

While the birth dates for those classified as millennials, Generation Y or Gen Y’ers vary a bit, the thought was these would be the generation that graduated high school starting in the year 2000 and somewhat beyond.

The term millennials as we most often hear the word today, was most likely coined by William Strauss and Neil Howe in a 1987 book they co-authored.

Also know as Generation Y or Gen-Y - they meant it to describe the first generation of those who would graduate High School in the year 2000 and a bit beyond.

In 2006, PSYCHOLOGIST JEAN TWENGE dubbed millennials "Generation Me".

Her book was titled: “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before.”

In 2006, Psychologist Jean Twenge dubbed millennials "Generation Me".

Her book was titled: “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before.”

BUT LONG BEFORE these terms and ideas were coined, Christians have discussed and debated what is called “The Millennium.”

A term taken from this passage in the reference to, The Thousand Years.

A term taken from this passage in the reference to, The Thousand Years.

FOR THAT IS WHAT A MILLENNIUM IS - 1000 years.

If you have been a Christian for very long, and especially if - as virtually all of us here - you were raised in our 20th century brand of American Evangelicalism, the idea of the millennium has probably impacted the entire way you understand Scripture.

More pointedly, it may even define how you understand the book of Revelation and the whole range of end times events surrounding Jesus’ 2nd coming.

Other than a handful of references, our clearest understanding of this millennial period comes from this chapter.

From these 15 verses.

But where it exactly fits in the scheme of the last days or end times, is a place of great disagreement among believing scholars.

So here we need to do a bit of a very brief historical survey.

Now the view of the millennium with which most of us are probably familiar, is what is called: Dispensational Pre-millennialism.

And it has a specific and detailed view of how the last days will play out.

Though there are some variations on it in some groups.

The most common form of Dispensational Premillennialism was made popular by books like Hal Lindsey’s “THE LATE, GREAT PLANET EARTH” and the very successful “LEFT BEHIND” series.

But this view falls within a spectrum of views on the end times.

In reference to the millennium or the 1000 years mentioned in this text the spectrum looks broadly like this -CHART:

Chart

Chart

There are 4 main views on this question of The Millennium - all 4 of them orthodox; and all 4 of them held to by sound Biblical scholars and Bible teachers.

I personally have no vested interest in which one you may hold to.

FOR IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, the BIG, the REAL issue for Christians isn’t our view of the millennium, but the fact that Jesus IS coming back, literally, physically; and that our great hope rests in His return, the resurrection of the dead and His eternal reign in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Beyond the millennium.

As long as we agree on THOSE facts, we can be one.

The order of events leading up to the New Heaven and Earth - including this 1000 years period called the millennium - is interesting, but ultimately not all that important; though arguments over the order of events have at times split both churches and entire denominations.

Much to our shame.

As the writer to the Hebrews emphasized:

Are YOU eagerly waiting for Him?

I hope so.

Or better yet - when the Disciples asked the resurrected Jesus if He was about to restore the kingdom to Israel - Jesus replied:

This of course begs the question for every Christian: Are YOU eagerly waiting for Him?

If not, I would argue, you cannot truly live the Christian life as it is meant to be lived.

It is a most important reality, central to the life of every Christian.

While some in my generation can well be accused of “millennium madness” in trying to nail down every detail of prophecy surrounding Jesus’ return while ignoring growth in the image and character of Christ - so many today can rightly be charged with having very little regard for Jesus’ return, and being woefully unprepared for it; let alone actually yearning for it.

A lack of personal anticipation of Jesus’ return has the exact same effect as does over-preoccupation with the details - we grow lazy and disinterested in making true spiritual progress in our growth in Christ and in preparing to receive Him when He comes.

It becomes more of a far off fantasy than a motivating truth that informs and impacts everyday life.

The Apostle Paul shows how the doctrine of Jesus’ return impacted him when in jail and expecting to be executed for The Faith in his last letter before his death:

In another letter John puts these 2 ideas of looking forward to Jesus’ return as our great hope and living the Christian life like this:

In other words, my hope in Jesus’ return, in wanting to be ready for Him and living in concert with who He is and what He came to do (to take away sins) informs my attitude toward and relationship to - sin; and thus life in this present world.

I cannot be looking forward to His coming with all my heart and at the same time living as though sin doesn’t matter.

His goal is to make me entirely pure as He is pure - and so I begin to seek out how, by His Word and the power of His Spirit to live in accordance with that goal

He appeared the 1st time to take away sins, and there is no sin in Him - so I want to cast off sin as I look to welcome Him back.

Let’s take a very brief look at these 4 views, and then look at the passage itself to see 4 key things.

Can you imagine meeting Him and then saying: “Look, I know you died to pay the price for my sin, to free me from sin’s dominion and to make me holy as you are holy, but to be honest, I just wanted to live my life the way I saw fit, and figured you’d deal with sin once you got here.”

IT REMINDS YOU of Augustine’s confessions reflecting on himself before his conversion; he admits: “But I wretched, most wretched, in the very commencement of my early youth, had begged chastity of Thee, and said, “Give me chastity and continency, only not yet.”

For I feared lest Thou shouldest hear me soon, and soon cure me of the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to have satisfied, rather than extinguished.”

(Book 8, ch.

7)

Do I HAVE to say that doesn’t fly?

No, I didn’t think so.

Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo, The Confessions of St. Augustine, trans.

E. B. Pusey (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).

That said, let’s take a very brief look at these 4 views of the millennium and then look at the passage itself to see 4 key things.

1. Dispensational Premillennialism

CHART: The order of events from this view happen like this - a. Jesus’ 1st coming.

a. Jesus 1st coming.

a. Jesus’ 1st coming.

b.

The church age ()

b.

The church age ()

c.

Rapture of the Church (secret return of Jesus) which those who hold this view are waiting for now.

d.

Then the 7 Year Great Tribulation will come while the Church is gone.

e. Jesus’ 2nd, 2nd coming & 1000 year reign

f.

After the 1000 years, Satan is loosed, there is the final battle called Armageddon & Final judgment.

g.

New Heavens and New Earth.

Of the 4 we’ll look at today, this is the most recent view.

The idea of a secret rapture of the Church was not taught before the mid- 1860’s.

It was popularized by J. N. Darby and codified in the Scofield Reference Bible - the first ever “study Bible”.

It is the view of some very solid men like Chuck Swindoll, James Montgomery Boice, John MacArthur, Harry Ironside, & many, many others.

It is the view I was raised with.

It has some problems though; as EACH of these views do.

It’s biggest problem to me is the idea of a 2nd coming of Jesus at the so-called “rapture” of the Church which is in fact - secret.

Such a secret appearing is hard to reconcile with:

Or:

This sounds like a pretty public and noisy affair to me; not at all secret.

In effect, the view proposes 2, 2nd comings.

One invisible, one visible.

This is also sometimes called a “futuristic” view or “Futurism” because essentially, nothing in the book of Revelation from ch. 4 until ch.

20 has anything to do with the Church at all.

It sees all of what we’ve covered in these past months as events still to come, and all transpiring within the 7 years of the Great Tribulation.

I think our current study has demonstrated that the balance of the book is in fact very Church focused and of great value to the Believer in every age.

The unusual and specific blessing for Christians attached to reading the Revelation would seem to demand that Christians in every age see its importance for them and not assume the bulk of it has nothing to do with them.

In any case, I am not throwing stones at this position.

It is an orthodox view and many of those who I would hold in high regard as the soundest of Biblical scholars take it.

If in fact this is the way the end times unfold - you’ll get no weeping and gnashing of teeth from me.

If in the end, the Church does escape the Tribulation, I will be most happy to be wrong.

But I don’t think so.

2. Postmillennialism