The Hope of Postmillennialism: The King of the Kingdom

Intro

Hope

Since starting this series on Eschatology someone has asked me, “Why am I teaching this? Why am I teaching on Eschatology and in particular Postmillennialism?”

And that is a good question.

I mean, if this is a Third Tier issue about which Christians can happily disagree, why take a stand and say this is what I believe?

Well, the obvious answer is because I believe its biblical.

I believe that Postmillennialism is the most consistent interpretation of all the relevant passages in the Bible on Eschatology, and it should be our desire as Christians to hold as close to the Word as we possibly can because only when we do will it be profitable for us.

I also believe a Postmillennial eschatology is fundamental for building a robust biblical worldview that can say in every area of life that Jesus is Lord.

But none of that is ultimately why.

Why can be summed up, really, in just one, single word. A word that gives us something we desperately need.

Hope.

If you could only use one word to describe Postmillennialism it would be Hope.

But not the kind of hope we usually talk about.

Usually, when we talk about hope, we are talking about something that we really really want to happen, but are not sure or confident that it actually will.

But that’s not how the Bible talks about hope.

In the Bible, hope is a sure and stable confidence rooted in the promises of God.

And that hope is a steady anchor, a sure foundation because Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

If God has promised it, you can take it all the way to the bank. You can put all of your faith in what He said.

Because even when the night is darkest and all looks lost, our faith is not in what our eyes can see. Our faith is in the promises of God.

Like John Calvin said, “The word hope I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith” (Puritan Hope, xiv).

Foundation of Our Hope

So over the next few weeks we are going to look at the hope of Postmillennialism and ask ourselves, do we believe?

Do we have faith to trust what God has said more than what we see?

Because that kind of hope starts to change how we live. It gives us marching orders for what Christ calls us to do.

Let me give you an Illustration.

Bike Illustration

The Mission of the church is like a bike. And Postmillennialism gives us the two pedals of that bike.

1. Hope and 2. Marching Orders.

Hope that our labor is not in vain. That one day the gospel really will overwhelm the world.

And marching orders that tell us to seek first the Kingdom, make disciples, and live for Christ with all of our life.

Well if that’s the Bike, how do we ride? What do we need to carry out the Great Commission?

1. Faith and 2. Faithfulness. That’s how we pedal.

Faith to believe and hold fast to the hope through all the ups and downs trusting God’s Word more than what we see.

And Faithfulness to get to work and make disciples of all nations baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

And we are going to start with first things first. With the foundational hope of Postmillennialism.

And here it is...

Christ is King and all the promises God has made to Him will surely come to pass.

Our hope for the gospel really does rise and fall on what God promised Christ when He exalted Him to sit at His right hand?

So what those promises? What should be our hope, as Christ reigns on the throne?

Christ is on the throne ruling with all authority over heaven and earth and God has promised that on the throne he will…

Rule over all His enemies.

Rule over all the nations as His inheritance.

And Number 3, bless all the nations.

But first, since so many of God’s promises are tied to the throne of David, we need to establish whether or not Christ sits on that throne as he reigns from Heaven.

So let’s start with point number 1...

I. Jesus Rules the Nations from His Heavenly Throne

Acts 2:29-32 Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

This is from Peter’s sermon at Pentecost.

And I want you to really pay attention to what Peter is saying because it has huge implications for how we understand the reign of Christ today.

Right before this, Peter quoted Psalm 16 where David wrote For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see corruption, and said that when David wrote this was prophesying about the resurrection of Christ because David knew God had promised to set one of his descendants on the throne.

God promised this in the Davidic Covenant first promised in 2 Samuel 7:8-16 but then expanded all throughout the Psalms and the Prophets who looked forward to the Messianic King who would save God’s people and rule with the blessings of God’s Kingdom.

Basically, in this covenant, God promised David that that one of his sons would build God a house. A place for God to dwell with His people and for His people to worship Him.

That this King would bring people into a right relationship with God where the creature worships and serves the Creator.

And that is exactly what Christ is doing brick by brick as he build His Church, the true temple of God.

But that’s not all. God also promised that He would establish the King’s throne forever and ever.

That it would never be shaken or destroyed. But instead conquer all other Kingdoms until it eventually dominated the world.

And that under His reign, all the blessings of life, joy, peace, righteousness, rest and justice would freely flow like the river that went out from Eden to water the whole world.

Because that’s what the Kingdom of God is all about. A New Eden. A New Heavens and New Earth where everything is as it should be like it was before the Fall.

When you read the Old Testament and see all the glorious promises of God’s Kingdom in the Promised Land that is how you should see the Kingdom of Christ.

Because that is the Kingdom that Christ established through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Just look at what it says. God raised Jesus up to sit on David’s throne. The same throne that would rule the world.

The same throne that would shower all the blessings of God on the earth.

Now Some people believe that this Kingdom, the Davidic Kingdom where the Messiah reigns on the throne of David, will not begin until the Future when Christ literally reigns on a throne from Jerusalem.

That today Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, but His Kingdom really only touches the Church and our own individual lives.

We are still waiting for a future day where it will dominate the world.

But what does the Apostle say?

According to Peter’s own inspired interpretation, David’s throne is not in Jerusalem. Its in Heaven at the Father’s right hand, and Jesus sits on that throne today.

Look at what Peter immediately says.

Acts 2:33-36 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

So if you follow the flow of Peter’s thought, God raised Christ from the dead to sit on David’s throne.

And He sat on David’s throne when He ascended into Heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand.

Now here’s what all that means. If Jesus is sitting on the throne of David, then the Messianic Kingdom that was promised to David, along with all the promises and blessings that it bring, began when Jesus ascended into heaven 2000 years ago .

What other Kingdom would Jesus be ruling?

That’s why Peter goes from talking about God raising Jesus to sit on David’s throne to quoting Psalm 110:1. The most quoted verse in the entire NT.

The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.

I think this is one of the biggest paradigm shifts we can make.

This is what shifted it for me. This is what gave me more boldness and hope in the Great Commission than I’ve ever had before.

Christ really is King. And not just of my life. Not just of the church. But of the whole world, and His Kingdom will grow from a stone into a great mountain that fills the whole earth.

Well, now that we’ve established that Jesus ascended to the throne, and specifically the throne of David, we can start to ask, what did God promise David?

What did God promise for that throne?

What was Israel hoping for in their Messianic King?

That takes us to point number 2...

II. Jesus Will Rule Over All of His Enemies

This is where we are going to start jumping around the Bible, and there’s probably no better place to start than the Psalm Peter just quoted. Psalm 110.

Like I said Psalm 110:1 is the most quoted verse in the NT so the Apostles put a lot of weight on what this Psalm said about Christ

It was important in shaping their theology so it should be important for shaping ours as well.

Well what does it say?

What does God say in this Psalm about Christ and His Kingdom that began 2000 years ago when He sat down at the right hand of the Father?

Psalm 110:1-7 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Let’s stop right there.

Notice the time indicator. Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.

In other words, while Christ is reigning at the right hand of the Father in heaven is when God makes His enemies His footstool.

The imagery here is a picture of an enemy king bowing down at Christ’s feet licking the dust for Christ to take His foot and put it on the back of their neck as a sign of complete and absolute domination and submission.

Are you beginning to understand why we call Christ King of kings and Lord of lords?

The Psalm continues...

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Verse 4 is another heavily quoted verse in the NT.

Jesus is our Great High Priest who offered His own life on the cross as a sacrifice to make atonement, or forgive, our sins.

And if verse 4 is true today, and verse 1 is true today, there is good reason to think that the rest of the Psalm also applies to the reign of Christ today because He is the Great Priest-King sitting at the right hand of the Father David was writing about in the first place.

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Notice Christ is ruling in the midst of His enemies. This Psalm is not describing the eternal state where there will be no more enemies.

And that word Rule is a strong word. It means to tread down or dominate.

And the way Christ rules is by leading an army who offer themselves freely clothed in holy garments. Who is that?

Its the church clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Doesn’t the Bible say put on then the armor of God? And the weapons of our warfare have divine power to destroy strongholds?

But what about Mount Zion? Isn’t that Jerusalem?

Mountains in the Bible are symbolic for Kingdoms. So when God talks about Mount Zion, under the Old Covenant it was physical Jerusalem.

But under the New, Mount Zion is the location of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering.

This is talking to the church. And in Revelation 21, John calls the Heavenly Jerusalem the bride of Christ which according to the NT is the church.

So now, because of Christ, Mount Zion is a spiritual Kingdom. Its the Kingdom of God because everyone in the church has come to it.

Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world. Its invading this world.

So here’s what’s happening. God sends forth the mighty Scepter from Zion. He advances the Kingdom as the church, the army of God proclaims the gospel and like a mustard seed, the Kingdom grows and grows and grows.

This is a promise that the Kingdom of Christ, the heavenly Mount Zion, will conquer every other mountain and kingdom through the church and the preaching of the gospel.

Finally...

The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

Notice the shift. Where at the beginning the Priest-King was at God’s right hand. Now God is at His.

This guarantees that Christ will have absolute success in the worldwide conquest that comes in the following verses.

God Himself is carrying out the Battle, but it will end in ultimate victory.

He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

This is a picture of the King pursuing his enemies and on the way to victory being refreshed and strengthened by cold water.

Because it says therefore, because of this drink, he will lift up his head which is an Old Testament way of saying He will have ultimate victory over every enemy. He will bow His head to no one.

Now we flew through that so let me summarize it for you.

Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. And while he sits there, God has promised to put all His enemies under His feet.

That’s the hope.

One day, through the preaching of the gospel, every enemy of Christ will be laid low. Defeated. Dominated with Christ’s feet on the back of their neck.

That’s what the Apostles believed about the Ascension. About when Christ ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:24-25 For He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet and then after that, after destroying every rule and every authority and power, Christ will return to destroy the last enemy which is death.

This is why we should have confidence about the gospel’s victory in the world.

Everywhere an enemy stands in our way is only a matter of time until it comes tumbling down because God has promised to put all of Christ’s enemies under His feet.

The Kingdom of Christ will defeat every enemy, every opposing kingdom until Christ dominates the World.

That’s what God promised Christ in Psalm 110.

He would reign supreme. Over ever enemy, and over ever nation.

And that takes us to point number 3...

III. Jesus Will Rule the Nations as His Inheritance

Another Psalm that was quoted by the Apostles repeatedly about Christ is Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 is a coronation Psalm. It was a Psalm that was sung when a new King ascended to the throne in hopes that God would fulfill all of the promises it holds.

The Psalm begins...

Psalm 2:1-8 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

Could you pick a better description of what we are seeing today.

How the nations rage against Christ. They hate that He is King and they want nothing to do with worshiping and serving Him.

Let us burst their bonds apart.

We won’t be ruled by Christ. We will rule ourselves.

Now I want you to remember that, because that’s what it looks like today.

This Psalm can give us hope when unbelief would grip our heart and we would doubt the gospel’s power to save a nation even as hard as ours.

Verse 4...

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

God says Today, I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

When was this fulfilled? When did the Father say this to the Son to make the nations His heritage?

Paul tells in Acts 13:33. It was when God raised Christ from the dead. Here’s what Paul said...

Acts 13:32-33 “And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “ ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’”

That means we are not waiting for some future day where the nations belong to Christ. They belong to Christ now.

All Christ has to do was ask, and God would give them to Him.

So ask yourself: Did Christ forget to ask? No! How do we know?

Because He said so Himself.

Matthew 28:18-19 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

I am King of kings and Lord of lords in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And in Acts 1:8 he said we would be His witness from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

In other words, Christ was saying, all the nations have been given to me. Go get them. They are my inheritance.

I have bought and paid for them with my own blood, and the only way that they will have life is if they find it in me.

This is why the Great Commission is destined to succeed. The nations have already been given to Christ.

And one day, through the power of the gospel, they will stop raging and trying to burst His bonds apart, and instead, they will worship Him from the heart forgiven of all their sins.

The promise of Psalm 2 says that Christ is the rightful heir to all the nations. That they are His inheritance.

So the Hope of Psalm 2 is that if Christ is the rightful heir, God will not fail to give Him the nations. They belong to Him.

And if Christ has sent us with the Great Commission to receive the nations, how will they not become His disciples?

And I know this is hard to believe. Its so painful to have our hope crush that we are scared to have any hope at all.

So let me show you another promise where its obvious that God will grow Christ’s Kingdom until it covers the entire earth. Until he possesses all the nations and the ends of the earth as His inheritance.

Isaiah 9:6-7 is familiar for everyone.

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Right off the bad notice four different royal titles that define Christ as King.

First, Isaiah calls him Wonderful Counselor.

This means Jesus is a wonderful and wise King who rules according to God’s Law, justice, and righteousness.

Like Proverbs says, when the righteous rules, the people rejoice (Proverbs 29:2).

Next, He is Mighty God.

Literally a hero or champion. The Mighty God who is always victorious and never defeated.

Who will with no doubt, conquer everything He lays His eyes on.

Then Jesus is called Everlasting Father.

Now this usually confuses people because Jesus is the Son.

By Father it means that Jesus is the Head. The Forever Head of the of the New Covenant Kingdom of God.

And finally Prince of Peace.

Jesus’ Kingdom and Rule is one of perfect peace.

He even conquers the nations and grows His Empire through the through the preaching of peace and reconciliation in the gospel.

No earthly king can call themselves the prince of peace because they grow their kingdoms through violence and shedding the blood of their enemies.

The Prince of Peace on the other hand, sheds his own blood to forgive His enemies.

But here’s where we get to the promise.

And of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.

This places the fulfillment of this prophecy before Christ returns.

In Heaven, the Kingdom of God does not increase.

There is no where in eternity that God does not perfectly and sovereignly rule all.

But on this side of heaven, through the preaching of the gospel, Isaiah says that Christ’s Kingdom will increase with no end.

It will cover the earth.

Like Psalm 72 says May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust! May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him! ( Psalm 72:8-11).

Or Psalm 22:27-28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Or last but not least, Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

Its clear that the Bible looks forward to a time where God is worshiped among all the nations.

But how can we be so sure? Look how Isaiah finishes. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

The Lord of hosts is language that tells us God is the commander of heavenly armies.

And the idea here is that God will lead the armies of heaven to conquer all the Kingdoms of the earth out of his zeal, determination, fiery hunger for the glory of His Name and salvation of the world.

Who could stop the armies of heaven from accomplishing God’s will?

So not only will Christ conquer all His enemies like Psalm 110 says, but Psalm 2 tells us He will also conquer all the nations until His Kingdom rules over all other kingdoms because God has given Him the nations as His inheritance.

You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.

Finally, I want to look at one last promise that will really do two things.

One. It will reinforce the worldwide victory of the gospel and Christ’s Kingdom before Christ returns.

And two. It will give us a clear picture of just what kind of blessing Christ’s Kingdom will bring as more and more people repent and believe the gospel.

Number four...

IV. Jesus’ Rule will Bless All Nations

Let’s go to Isaiah 2:2-4

Is. 2:2-4 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

First, don’t skip over it shall come to pass in the latter days.

That single phrase squarely puts this prophecy before the eternal state.

No matter what Eschatology you have, everyone things that last days means before Christ returns.

Also, we will see in just a few minutes that part of this prophecy is that Christ decides disputes between the peoples. There are no disputes in heaven.

All of this prophecy is talking about what God will do in Human history through the power of the gospel.

And here’s what that is. The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the highest of mountains.

Remember how we said mountains are symbolic for Kingdoms so god is saying that His Kingdom will be over every other Kingdom.

And all the nations shall flow to it.

To can also be translated up.

So its this picture of God drawing the nations, like water, up to Himself, up the mountain of His Kingdom.

But water only flows down hill so this is a miraculous work of God’s Grace. Its not accomplished by human wisdom, will, or strength. Its not human effort.

Its entirely by God’s grace.

And notice its all the nations. This is talking about worldwide dominion.

And as all the nations flow up to God’s mountain, to the house of the Lord, what is that? The church. What do they say?

Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

This only happens through the gospel. Through new hearts that love God and love God’s law.

Without the gospel the nations rage. But with the gospel all the nations want to obey.

And what’s the result? What happens when God saves the nations?

The gospel has a real life tangible impact on the world. Look what Isaiah says.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

So here’s where we are. In the latter days, the gospel will be so successful in the world that all the nations will want to be governed by God’s Kingdom.

They will want to worship Him and follow His ways. Obey His Law.

And in Christ’s Kingdom they will take all their weapons all their swords and spears and beat them into gardening tools.

What was once used for war, death, and destruction is now used for fruitfulness and life.

And don’t miss this. Because if you read over this too quick, you’ll miss the glory of what God is saying happens as the gospel bears fruit in the world.

When God placed Adam in the Garden, what did He give Adam to do? Work the ground and keep it.

In other words, tend the garden.

So when Isaiah says they will beat their swords and spears into gardening tools, you can’t miss the echoes of Eden.

The Kingdom of Christ is a brand new New Garden of Eden.

Its the beginning of a new creation, and everywhere the gospel goes, the curse is reversed and the blessings of God flow again.

Instead of thorns, fruit.

Instead of death, life.

Isaiah 2 is a picture of everything Israel hoped the Messiah would be.

He would rule the nations and lead them to worship God and keep His commandments which is only possible through the gospel because God takes out our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh that love God and love God’s Law.

And in the Messiah’s Kingdom, life, peace, and fruitfulness would dominate the world just like it did in Eden before the Fall.

That’s the radical transformation. the impact the gospel will have on the world. There is simply no other way for there to be world peace in the Latter Days.

Conclusion

Christ is King and all the promises God has made to Him will surely come to pass.

Like the great Puritan theologian John Owen said “Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious” (Puritan Hope, xiv).

That is the foundational hope of Postmillennialism.

Because if He is really the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He really is sitting at the right hand of the Father reigning and ruling on the throne of David, then our hope for the future is as simple as looking at the promises God has made to the Son.

And God never lies.

This is probably the biggest shift Postmillennialism has done for me because when you really believe that Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords over everything, your whole worldview starts getting dangerous for all the demonic strongholds that are out there in the world. .

Because listen, all of us say Christ is King. Every Christian believes Christ is King.

But what tends to happen is that we fall into thinking He’s really just King of our life, our family and the church.

We start to flinch when someone starts talking about Christ being King of the World.

We know we objectively is.

And we know objectively the nations really should worship and obey Him. But we buy into the secularization of our culture when we start to think, “Well, that’s religion and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the world out there.”

But if Christ is King and God has promised that all His enemies will be His footstool and He will rule all the nations with a dominion that will have no end, that’s the kind of hope that can put a fire in our belly.

The fire that we need to not just play church, but take the gospel out into the world. To offer ourselves freely on the day of Christ power clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Psalm 110:3).

Because when we take it to heart that Christ is the King, and the right side of history belongs to Him, that gives us all the freedom, confidence, boldness, hope, call it whatever you want, that we need to bring the gospel to bear on every aspect of life, everywhere sin dominates and not apologize for it, because the King has spoken in His Word and to Him belongs the obedience of the peoples (Genesis 49:10).

Here’s the lie Christians fall into today because we let man’s wisdom is set the conversation.

We almost feel guilty calling the world to obey Christ because we buy the lie that Christ is just one God competing with all the other gods for a voice in the culture.

Just one King, competing with all the other kings for His Kingdom to reign.

But we don’t serve a King who’s fighting for relevance, trying to get a spot at the table. We serve the King of all Creation.

Maker of Heaven and Earth.

The One exalted far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Eph. 1:21).

No. He’s not fighting for a spot at the table. He’s ruling over the table.

And all the other would be gods and would be kings, every other man centered philosophy and enemy of the gospel, all nations that are and ever will be are commanded to get in line and worship Him for his wrath is quickly kindled, but Blessed are all who take refuge in Him (Psalm 2:12).

You see why I said this is worldview building type stuff?

I mean this changes everything.

If Christ is King, then all of our life really belongs to Him - there is nothing that is left untouched by the gospel of which Christ doesn’t say “Mine.”

And so do the nations. The same nations Christ told us to go get.

And with all of these promises in hand, how can we not.

What can stop us? Is not the gospel the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes?

Why are would we ever be afraid of intimated of the giants of the world? We are not grasshoppers, we are more than conquerors.

We cannot fail. Christ has given us the Holy Spirit and has even promised that He would be with us to the end of the age.

He will see it through.

That’s the biggest thing Postmillennialism has given me. A sure confidence that everything we are doing all of our labor for Christ and His Kingdom is not in vain.

Everything we do for Christ, no matter how small, from giving our life to the mission field, going to church, or making another PB&J for our children to the glory of the Lord, its all just another brick in the road on the way to the Kingdom.

Another brick in the road to all of Christ enemies being put under His feet.

That’s what He is waiting for at the right hand of the Father.

Hebrews 10:12-13 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

That Word waiting can also be translated as expecting. And if that’s Christ’s expectation, if that’s His Eschatology, shouldn’t it be ours as well?

Do we believe? And will we believe with the constancy of faith that gives birth to hope?

I want to leave us with a longer quote from another puritan, J. H. Thornwell that tells us of the importance of this hope for carrying out the work God has given us to do.

“If the Church could be aroused to a deeper sense of the glory that awaits her, she would enter with a warmer spirit into the struggles that are before her. Hope would inspire [enthusiasm]. She would even now arise from the dust, and like the eagle, plume her [wings] for loftier flights than she has yet taken. What she wants and what every individual Christian wants is faith - faith in her [glorious] vocation, in her Divine resources, in the presence and efficacy of the Spirit that dwells in her - faith in the truth, faith in Jesus, faith in God. With such a faith there would be no need to speculate about the future. That would speedily reveal itself. It is our unfaithfulness, our negligence and unbelief, our low and carnal aims, that [delay] the chariot of the Redeemer. The Bridegroom cannot come until the Bride has made herself ready. Let the Church be in earnest after greater holiness in her own members, and in faith and love undertake the conquest of the world, and she will soon settle the question whether her resources are competent to change the face of the earth” (Puritan Hope, xxiv-xxv).

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Phil 2:5-11 Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”