Let's begin with a thousand years among France and you'll need your handouts because I'll be referring to them throughout. Tonight we'll be referring to the two age chart and the various millennial charts. I will dig mine out here because I'm going to use them. Now, as you know, without a doubt, most American evangelicals are very firmly committed to premillennialism. And that is the belief that an earthly millennial age of 1,000 years duration will begin immediately after our Lord's second advent. And since premillennialism is so dominant in American church circles, many who come to the Reformed faith for the first time are rather surprised. when they discover that all of the Protestant reformers, as well as virtually the entire reform and Lutheran tradition, certainly along with our confessional documents, with a very few notable exceptions on the Lutheran side, there were some historic premillenarians. On the reform side, there are a number of postmillenarians, a very few covenant premillenarians. But with a few notable exceptions, our traditions, by and large, are ah, millennial. Now, we'll be talking about amillennialism throughout, but let's give a brief definition before we go any farther. Amillennialism is the understanding of eschatology that sees the millennial age as the present course of world history between the first advent of Christ and his second advent of Christ. That is to say, the millennium is that entire period of time between Christ's first coming and his second coming. And if you can deduct that rather quickly, you'll Is he saying we're in the millennium now? The answer to that question is yes. The millennial age is ongoing. And of course, that distinguishes us from our premillennial friends who are looking for our Lord's return so that the Lord might begin his millennial reign. So if the millennium is present, it means that the millennial age is the age of the church militant. This is the age of the church struggling against Satan and unbelief during the present period of time. and that the millennium is not a golden age, a future golden age upon the earth, as is taught in pre-millennialism and even in post-millennialism. And I'm going to make the case then, in the case of both pre- and post-millennialism, millennium is thought of as the age of the church triumphant, not the church militant. And as you'll see, one of the great differences between amillennialism and postmillennialism has to do with the nature and character of the present millennial age. Is this a golden age? Is it the age of the church triumphant? Or is it the age of the church militant? And I'm of the opinion it is the age of the church militant. Now, if you look at the first handout that has on millennialism and I'll let you look at the details of this on your own afterwards, I won't use our time to go through the charts, but you'll notice it's a straight line. It's pretty simple. We begin with Christ's first advent, trace the course of the present age to his second advent as we anticipate then a new heaven and new earth. These were prepared by Mark Vanderpol. Some of you may know Mark. Mark works for the White Horse Inn as a student at Westminster Seminary. On the back of that you'll find a chart entitled post-millennialism, and you'll see that there are very great similarities between post-millennialism and amillennialism, and the difference of opinion has to do with the nature and character of the millennial age before Christ comes back. That is to say that all amillennialians are post-millennial, but not all post-millennialians are amillennial. So you can look at the distinctives on your own, and these are really great charts. Mark did a great service by preparing them. You can't talk about Bible prophecy without charts. Finally, we've got some Amillennial charts. Mark did a great job with these. On the next page, we have one that deals with historic premillennialism. This is typical of the position by George Ladd and others. The most famous scholarly representative of this was Theodor Zahn, German New Testament scholar. And you begin with Christ's birth and his ascension. And then the return of Christ notices in the middle, followed by the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, followed by a final judgment, followed by a new heaven and new earth. So the difference in pre-millennialism and amillennialism, the difference between them would be amillennialians tend to push things together and see Christ's first coming, his second coming, new heaven, new earth. Millennialians, pre-millennialians spread these things out. Christ's first coming, his second coming, his millennial reign, final judgment. So you can see the chart is obviously extended quite a bit. On the back of that, you'll find a chart that deals with dispensationalism. Now, there was a time when I knew the seven dispensations from memory. I don't think I can do that anymore. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. The seven dispensations are the seven different periods in redemptive history. And you'll notice that age number five is the age of law. I'll be referring to the dispensation reading of the Old Testament. Keep that in mind when I get to that point, you might pull this chart up and kind of look at dispensation five, the age of law dispensation. Six is the age of the church and we're waiting the kingdom age dispensation seven. This is when Jesus comes back and sets up his millennial kingdom on earth. Jesus will rule from Jerusalem and sitting on David's throne. And then at the bottom here, there's the schematic structure. We have Christ's first coming. We now live in the age of grace as opposed to the age of law. Christ's second coming is preceded by a secret rapture. Dispensationalists take great issue with me when I call it a secret rapture. But Jesus returns in the sky without touching the earth, raptures off his saints, takes them to heaven for seven years during this seven year tribulation period in which I think we can say this without All hell breaks loose on the earth during that seven-year tribulation period as the Antichrist begins to persecute the people of God and the conversion of Israel takes place during that time. Jesus then returns and sets up his Millennial Kingdom. And on a dispensational understanding of this Millennial Kingdom, by and large, is the return to the Old Testament types and shadows related to national Israel. This is why our dispensational friends are interested in the rebuilding of the temple. Growing up in dispensational circles, we heard stories all the time about the Levitical priesthood. Bloodlines have been traced. Someone is preparing the red heifer. There are stones being cut in the quarry someplace to rebuild the temple. This is why our dispensational friends are interested in this, because they anticipate that the Millennial Kingdom will be a return to a redemptive economy, very much like Old Testament Israel. So that's big picture stuff, and we'll get more specific as we go along. Now, I'm convinced that the reason why so many people reject amillennialism is simply because they do not understand the basic end time scenario taught throughout the New Testament. Part of the problem is that dispensational premillennial writers have completely dominated Christian media and publishing for the last 50 years. We're a minority voice. We don't get much air time. It's hard to find a online Bible prophecy conference. I'm privileged to speak at a number of them each year, but it's not a common occurrence. Meanwhile, if you're in the dispensational church world, prophecy conferences drive the whole life of the church. It's a big deal. So part of it is we just get shouted down by the other side. We don't seem to get a hearing. And this has gone on for a number of generations, certainly since the Niagara Prophecy Conferences in the early part of the latter part of the 20th century and on into the new millennium. Now, there are literally hundreds of books going to your local Christian bookstore. There are whole churches and denominations devoted to end times Bible prophecy. There are many parachurch ministries. all of which are devoted to spreading the message regarding dispensational premillennialism and taking this idea of the great hope being the preacher of rapture to the masses. Now, if you've seen a number of these folks on television, they're very compelling. They're very good at what they do. Hal Lindsay's The Late Great Planet Earth, which I read as a Christian teenager with just great expectation. That was the first serious book of Christian theology I ever read. That book was the best selling book in the United States in the 1980s. The best selling book in the United States. Over 140 printings. The sales total last time I looked was something like 12 million. A huge success for that book. Then we have the Left Behind series of novels and all the accompanying videos and journals and games and whatever else. Lehey and Jenkins have cumulatively sold over 50 million units. So she would left behind. So this is big business. And this has a great impact upon the American church scene. And a number of writers have even identified of late, how big an influence this has on American politics, with the interest in what goes on in the Middle East and national Israel and so on. This is this is a significant part of American intellectual life. So after saying all of that, I can only lament how little my own tradition has done to produce popular books that introduce and defend amillennialism. There's some good ones out there. Anthony Hookham's Bible in the Future comes to mind. There are a number of really solid books that do that. But I'm always amazed when I travel around or do white earthen events by the number of people I meet who have never heard the case for the classical position of amillennialism held the version held by reformed Christians about the return of Christ in the millennial age. People just are not familiar with this. Now, one more problem that we have to deal with, and it's kind of the pink elephant in the room when you talk about prophetic matters, and that is there's a lot of heat and very little light associated with this topic, and it gets nasty. One very popular prophecy pundit, Chuck Missler, who is popular in evangelical radio and publishing, has a very prominent taped lecture series in which he argues that people in heaven with the lowest IQs will be amillennial. Well, that doesn't help. It doesn't advance the case very far. Hal Lindsay calls amillennialism anti-Semitic, demonic, and heretical. So while we look at dispensationalists as holding a different position, dispensationalists look at us as though we were teaching heresy. And if you're not convinced, Jack Van Imp called amillennialism, to use his characteristic emphasis upon the A, the greatest heresy in the history of the Christian church. Now, funny me, I thought that might be Arianism or Sassanianism or something, but I guess it's amillennialism. Now, when I was growing up, it was not uncommon to hear our local pastor label Amillennial Christians as theological liberals. They were people who were embarrassed by the bold supernaturalism required to believe in a secret rapture. And furthermore, Amillennial Christians were accused all the time of not taking the Bible literally. They spiritualize everything. They turn Bible prophecy into a wax nose. And they teach replacement theology. And I'll talk a lot about replacement theology tomorrow. Replacement theology is the view that the church replaces Israel. A dispensationalist hears that, sees that, thinks that, and the mind is that is what gave rise to anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany and so on. So it's a big issue for them, and they're greatly concerned about it. And it's important that we at least address it. Now, the result of all this overheated rhetoric is that American Christians cannot help but be prejudiced by such unfortunate comments. And many reject outright, without any due consideration of the amillennial position, they reject outright the eschatology of the reformers. They reject outright the eschatology of classical Protestantism and all of our confessions. An eschatology which, if you just look at the chart, is very simple. It's very biblical, and it's very Christ-centered, and it doesn't get a hearing. So tonight, the rest of our time, I'd like to turn our attention to a once-over-lightly, big-pictured, top-of-the-5000-piece, jigsaw-puzzle, box-top survey of Amillennialism. So at some point, you'll need your Bibles, because we're going to look at a number of passages, three in detail, and you'll also need to kind of have a thumb on your text, which speak of this age and age to come. Now, as you know, it is all too fashionable to interpret the Bible in light of the morning newspaper and CNN or Fox News. It's interesting. to read the Bible through the grid of every geopolitical crisis that arises in the modern world. We're told that this has relevance to the Bible because what we find in our Bibles, what we see in the news is found in our Bibles, to put it in dispensational terms. Now, this most assuredly sells thousands and thousands of books. It provides good programming for Christian television and radio because it allows them to document every move by the European Union, or every move by the political powers in the Middle East. It gives them a way to explain every new technological breakthrough because all of these things might be preparing the way for the mark of the beast. And these sensational end times dramas heighten the sense of urgency regarding the coming of our Lord. Dispensationalists are to be commended for having a zeal for the missionary enterprise because they believe the time of the end is drawing near and they wish to see men and women one to Christ. But however fascinating all that is, and no matter how sincere our dispensational friends may be, these views do not accurately reflect the biblical data. Now, in addition to looking at the Bible through the lens of current events, you end up with a serious hermeneutical problem. The Bible no longer speaks for itself. And I think the irony is our dispensational friends are by and large guilty of what they accuse all millenarians of doing. They twist the Bible in light of current events. And so they will find a passage and use it to prove that the upheaval of the nations in the book of Revelation really doesn't have anything to do with the original audience struggling in a Roman persecution. But instead it speaks to us living at the time of the end and it explains the morning headlines. And so in the minds then of the dispensational prophecy pundit, the book of Revelation tells us what is happening. It didn't say anything to Christians living in the first century, especially Christians in the seven churches identified in chapters two and three of Revelation, to whom this letter was originally written. Remember, John tells us in verse three of the opening chapter of the Apocalypse, he's writing about things soon to happen. Now, another problem. How many times can we tell our hearers that Jesus is coming back soon? No, we really mean it this time. He's coming back soon. We really mean it. And then tie that warning of his imminent return to a passing despot like Saddam Hussein or a political figure like Mikhail Gorbachev. Why did I pull the old guys out? Well, I was raised in a Christian bookstore and I recall our friends at Zondervan a Dutch reform publisher originally, that took a book from John Walvoord, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, and talked about Arabs oil in the Middle East and documenting this pan-Arab-Russian invasion of Israel yet to come. Well, that didn't happen. Walvoord wrote a few updated forwards for it, changed the chapters a little bit. And then when Desert Storm occurred, Zarnoven rushed this thing back to press with all the updated stuff from Walvoord and new art. So instead of showing the Soviet T-72 on the front from the stuff the Soviets were selling to the Arab nations, now all of a sudden there's an M1A1 on the front with Saddam Hussein in big, giant, bold, you know, in all of his glory with his rifle in the air. And it's the same book. And it's back out again, this time related to Persia. So how do we keep those who so desperately need to hear about our Lord's second advent? How do we keep them from becoming increasingly cynical about the message of our Lord's return in judgment? But ironically, that, too, is a sign in the end for Peter warned us that scoffers are going to come and they're going to say, where is this coming that you promised? Now, tragic it is that prophecy speculators actually contribute to the very skepticism that they acknowledge is one of the key signs of the end of the age. How many times can we tell people the Lord is coming back soon? Tie that to some political event, the event passes, and then we turn right around and tell them that the Lord's coming again. The best illustration of this is the famous book by Wisenant. I think it was 98 Reasons Why Jesus Would Come Back in 1998. Well, obviously it didn't happen. So the book was rewritten with a new chapter published again for the year 99. The first book sold one and a half million copies. The second edition sold seven hundred and fifty thousand copies. There isn't, I think, the sum total of reformed writers on Bible prophecy probably have sold 40 or 50 thousand books total. So this just has huge impact. And people just go on without any regard to the fact that we got it wrong. We'll just try it again. People just scarf this stuff up. And it just contributes, sadly, to skepticism regarding the Lord's coming. But take heart, because I think the classical reformed confessional tradition has helpful answers, answers which, if we shout them from the housetops, will clean up a lot of the problems created by so many in the Bible prophecy conference movement. Now, the first thing we have to do to clean some of this up is to briefly consider the question of biblical interpretation. I think part of the problem when we talk about Bible prophecy is we don't identify our presuppositions. Presuppositions are important to identify, to acknowledge what they are so we can continually check them in the light of Scripture. The worst situation is when people don't think they have any presuppositions and they think their view is just if you open the Bible, my position jumps out of it. That's a problem because we all have presuppositions and we have to acknowledge what those are so we can test them. The worst scenario is when people don't think they have any presuppositions. That's when you've got serious problems. So we need to talk about presuppositions. Now, all of the Protestant reformers, should they come back and give us counsel in these areas, would insist that we start with the notion that the Bible must be read in light of the Analogia Fide, the analogy of faith. Holy Scripture must be allowed to interpret Holy Scripture. And so that means we have to do a fair bit of hard work. We have to inductively develop a biblical model of eschatology. We have to utilize all those passages that relate to the return of Christ and the resurrection and the judgment and the millennium and so on. And we should never study eschatology by finding Bible verses often taken out of context that we think are describing current events. No, in utilizing the analogy of faith, we start with the clear declaration of scripture regarding the coming of our Lord. And following this very simple method, we can clear up a lot of the bizarre mysteries that have been created unintentionally by modern prophecy devotees who oftentimes insist upon taking the unclear and difficult passages as the standard by which we interpret clear and certain verses. Now, if this basic hermeneutical principle is followed, we're soon going to find that we can't read the Bible through the lens of dispensational premillennial presuppositions. And our dispensational friends are very clear as to what these are, thankfully. The first is that the Bible must be interpreted literally, especially the prophetic sections, even When the Old Testament writers spiritualized, or the New Testament writers spiritualized Old Testament prophecies. I'm going to spend a fair bit of time on this tomorrow. We talk about why it is so important to have a Christ-centered hermeneutic dispensations. Tell us, no, you have to read the Bible literally. I think that amounts to, in practice, reading the Bible literalistically as opposed to literally. The second presupposition they have is that God has distinct redemptive purposes for national Israel and for the Gentiles. These are their presuppositions. But if you compare scripture with scripture and start to develop an inductive model, looking at all the passages, gathering all the passages, you pretty soon find that's not going to work very well. And so what we have to do is test our presuppositions in light of scripture. For example, let me give you a very simple way how this works. Historic Protestants have always insisted that Revelation interprets the book of Daniel. and not vice versa. Remember, in the book of Daniel, Daniel's told to seal up the scroll until the time of the end. What's John do? Scrolls on the who's worthy to open it? The Lamb. The New Testament tells us what the Old Testament means. Now, that's not particularly difficult. It's not particularly profound. But following this very basic principle of biblical study is going to take us a great distance in coming to a clearer understanding of biblical prophecy. Let me give you a classic example of how this works. John Walbert, who recently has died, a first-rate dispensational scholar, his commentary on Daniel that all of us raised in dispensational churches, you know, this is one of those books you had to have on your bookshelf. The commentary on Daniel is entitled, the subtitle, The Key to Prophetic Revelation. So Daniel is going to tell us what the future holds. And when you get to the book of Revelation, you have to read the book of Revelation light of what Daniel said. That's exactly Bass Ackwards. Because, as you all know, John tells us in the book of Revelation what Daniel was unable to tell us. Why? Because Christ has come. That's why. So it's vital, then, that we allow the New Testament to interpret the Old Testament. So we use the analogy of faith. Number one, scripture interprets scripture. And number two, the New Testament interprets the Old Testament. Now, if we begin with the very clear passages of scripture, we can develop a very simple, brief model that helps us with the tougher passages. And we have to acknowledge there are some tough passages when you talk to Bible prophecy. And one approach that I think is very, very helpful in this regard is the two-age model. This comes from Gerhardus Voss's Pauline Theology, but it's been picked up by George Latta and a number of others. This is a very, very helpful way to look at biblical eschatology. This gives us a sense in which we can look at all these passages and get a really clear grasp of how the biblical writers understood this present age and the age to come. You can look at a chart on your own and look up all the verses. I encourage you to do this. I think you'll find this is a theme you may not have considered before. But when you start looking for passages like that, you're going to see them every place. It's a pretty long list of text, by the way, and that's not all of them. Now, on this two age model, we argue that both Jesus and Paul speak regularly of this age and an age to come as two distinct eschatological periods of time. I'll give you a couple of passages here just to see how this works. In Matthew 12, verse 32, we read the following. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come. Luke 18, 19 to 30, very important passage when it comes to biblical prophecy. No one who left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come." What? What's received in the age to come? Eternal life. What's the contrast? This age has to do with homes, wives, brothers, children. The age to come has to do with eternal life. The contrast is between things temporal and things eternal. Another very important passage, Luke 20, verses 34 to 35. Very key passage. Jesus replied to the trick question posed to him. The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age. And in the resurrection from the dead, we'll neither marry nor be given in marriage. So in the age to come, we're no longer in a natural state. We're in an eternal state. And in that eternal state, there's no longer any procreation, no marriage or giving in marriage. Now that kind of messes up Mormonism on its face. But there are other benefits of this passage as well. For one thing, after Christ comes back, Now, think of this for a minute and what this does for premillennial folk. After Christ comes back, can there be people on the earth and natural bodies procreating? Not according to Jesus. In Luke chapter 20, there's no more marriage or giving in marriage. Why? Because we are raised from the dead. Now, hold that one, because that that'll become a very powerful argument here in just a bit. Now, not only does Jesus speak of two eschatological ages, so does the Apostle Paul. In the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesian churches, specifically verse 21, Paul writes the following, Christ's rule extends, quote, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. Notice the contrast between a present age always related to things temporal, and in the eternal age, always related to things eternal. And so for both our Lord and the Apostle Paul, as seen from the summary of these texts, there are two contrasting ages. Neither Jesus nor Paul are millenarians. And pre or post, I don't want to pick a fight with my post-millennial brothers and sisters, because I don't think the differences between post-millennialism and non-millennialism are all that big a deal. But I do think post-millenarians have a problem with this age, age to come language. And we can talk about that later, if you wish. The first age, spoken of as this age in the New Testament, is that present period of time before the second coming of Christ. A second age is a distinctly future period of time, and it's spoken of and is referred to as the age to come. And if you place these two ages, this age and the age to come, in contrast with each other, that enables us to look at the qualities described by the biblical writers to each of these ages in such a way we're going to be able to answer a whole bunch of questions about the timing of the return of Christ and the nature of the millennial age. This set of verses answers almost every premillennial objection. How do I know that? Because I was premillennial. And the first time I read this in Gerhardus Voss's Pauline Theology, panic set in. Because if that's true, you can start to deduce as a premillenarian, uh-oh. There can't be people on the earth and natural bodies after Christ comes back, right? Yeah. And what happens in Revelation chapter 20? Remember at the end, we'll talk about this in just a bit. There's a revolt. There's evil in the monial age. Oh, so this two age model really gets at the heart of all of those issues. So. As I say, take the time to go look up the verses, think through this, kind of meditate on this a bit. I think you'll find this is a very compelling way to see the quality of the ages in the New Testament that deal with these questions. Now, let's take this one step farther. If you look at the qualities, the things that are mentioned related to this age, homes, brothers, mothers, children, family, persecutions, The people of this age marry, given in marriage. The philosopher, scholar, wisdomer of this age, secular rulers dominate this age. The god of this age, who is Satan, blinds the minds of unbelievers. This age is called by Paul the present evil age. Ungodliness and worldly passions are typical of it. Everything here is temporal. And what will happen to every one of these things when Christ comes back? They'll pass away. They are destined to perish. This age is the age in which we live. This is the age in which we struggle. This is the age in which we long for the coming of Christ. This is the age of the church militant. Now, in more contrast, however, the age to come has an entirely different set of qualities attached to it, as you've seen. There'll be no forgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This age to come is preceded by signs, we read in Matthew 24. It's characterized by eternal life. Mark 10, Luke 18, it's denoted as a time in which there is no procreation, natural life has come to an end. It's an age which is characterized, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 6.19, by life that is truly life. These qualities are all eternal and they're indicative of the state and quality of affairs after the return of Christ. And so, in other words, these two ages, this present age and the age to come, stand in diametrical opposition to one another. One age is temporal. The other is eternal. One age is characterized by unbelief and it ends in judgment. The other is the home of the faithful. It's the home of the redeemed. And it's that conception of biblical history that dominates the New Testament. There isn't a millennial age taught anywhere in the New Testament. In terms of a golden age on the earth, what we have are two ages contrasted, a temporal age destined to perish and the eternal age, an age that is the home of the redeemed. Now, the contrast that Jesus and Paul make between these two ages are in turn related to the one event that forever divides them. Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew chapter 13, and let's begin at verse 37. When you start looking for these passages, all of a sudden you're going to, oh yeah, what about that passage? I remember that one. Let's look at the parable of the weeds explained, beginning at verse 36 of Matthew chapter 13. Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field. And he answered, The one who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age. And the reapers are the angels. Just as weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. Pretty clear here. When is judgment? At the end of the age. Why is it judgment? Christ comes back. The weeds are gathered, burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that very place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Notice the contrast between temporal and eternal. Notice the event that separates them, the second advent and the judgment. Now, such statements by our Lord are clear, they're unambiguous, and they're the kind of text we were talking about early on, working from clear texts to unclear texts. Judgment occurs immediately at Christ's return and not 1,000 years after the millennium, as our premillenarian friends argue. Now, I just want to throw in a little caveat here, but I think it's important to consider. If you run into somebody who's premillennial, They will argue that they're premillennial because they interpret prophecy literally, right? That was my standard argument. I was really nervous that if I became all millennial, I was going to be able to twist the scriptures like a wax nose because I'd always been told I could do that. Where in this passage is the gap between Christ's advent and the final judgment? If you're premillennial, you have to have a thousand years in here between the time Jesus returns the first time and the time He judges the nations, because there's a millennium in there. Now all of a sudden, if you've been arguing, you're premillennial because you're interpreting the Bible literally, a great tension begins to build because you're the one having to insert gaps of a thousand years in these judgment passages. And that's very problematic because you've just said you're premillennial because you interpret the Bible literally. So your own hermeneutic doesn't allow you to insert the gap that you need to be premillennial. And that's the kind of argument that began to really rattle around. Bob Strimple, Dr. Strimple Westminster, used a few of those on me. And that started to rattle around after a while. Your impenetrable armor is just filled with holes. Your own hermeneutic just won't bear the weight that you have assigned to it. So hold that thought. If you ever run into somebody who lays the literal argument on you, remember they can't make good on their own their own stated hermeneutic. Now, let's look at another very briefly ancillary line of biblical evidence, because we can find other statements that kind of come from a different set of categories in the New Testament and see how they fit into this idea of the 2H model. I'm thinking about the resurrection of the just and the unjust that occur on the very same day in Scripture. There are three passages I'd like to consider in four, actually, in John's gospel. Let me just read them to you very briefly. John 6, 40. For the Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and be raised up on the last day." Right down the road, John 6.44, one of our favorite Reformed proof texts. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him. I will raise him up a thousand years after the coming of Christ. I will raise him up when? On the last day. John 6.54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up a thousand years after I come back. No, I will raise him up on the last day. And then Martha, who's probably the best theologian in all of John's gospel when viewed against the disciples, Martha answered about her brother. I know he'll rise in the resurrection a thousand years after Jesus comes down on the last day. So John very clearly tells us of a day in which. The just. And the unjust will be raised, and that is the last day. And in addition, we had one more from Jesus in John chapter 18, John chapter 12, verse 48, when Jesus says there is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words. That very word which I spoke will condemn him on the last day. Judgment Day is the last day. Judgment Day is the day Believers are raised from the dead. It's all the same day Now if you add it to that a number of important passages relate the trumpet of God To the last day and the return of Christ you start to pile passage upon passage up now and the case becomes even stronger Christ will return we read in a flash and the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet For the trumpet will be sound the deadly raised imperishable and we will be changed Friend Ken Jones, you know, from the Whitehorse Inn, always likes to quote the next verse here from 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, where the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command. The voice of the archangel, the trumpet call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. Ken always points out, you know, if you're a dispensationalist and you're taking the Bible literally, the reason why I call this to your attention is because they've argued their dispensations because their literal interpretation, right? Ken Jones makes the point, loud command, voice of the archangel, trumpet call of God. Only believers hear those, if you're a dispensationalist. So it's like a cosmic dog whistle. I don't think the point here is to tell us that unbelievers are going to sleep through this. Three times, loud command, voice of the archangel, trumpet call of God. The trumpet sounds when? At the last day. Where Paul, again, God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you, and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels, and He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Judgment Day occurs when Christ comes back. Now, that's not a problem for us, but it's a huge problem if you're premillennial, because you argued that Christ comes back, but the final judgment's a thousand years later. Paul here tells us it happens at the same time. That's a rather large problem. That was another text that rattled around and penetrated my armor and gave me many a sleepless night. Now, it's vital that we notice there are no gaps of time indicated between the resurrection and the judgment, as premillionaries insist. They're just not there. Now, these texts collectively speak of the resurrection. They speak of the judgment. They speak of the return of Christ as distinct aspects, but of the same event occurring at precisely the same time. Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew 25. Another passage that is very problematic for anybody who's pre-millennial, George Latty even says this passage almost has persuaded him to become an amillenarian. I don't know why it didn't, but you'll see what I'm getting at here in just a second. Look at the parable of the final judgment of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 beginning verse 31. And here we're reading it not for its ethical teaching, but for the timing of the second coming. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. So when Christ comes back, we have his enthronement. He's already, of course, enthroned in his session at the right hand of God in the ascension. But now he has come. He's on his glorious throne. The picture here is that of judgment. Before him will be gathered all the nations. And he will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. And then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This is the pronunciation of blessing upon all of the elect, all of God's people, all of those who believe in Christ. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. And then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And then the king will answer them. Truly, I say to you, as you did to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Then He will say to those on His left, Depart from Me, you cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. When is Judgment Day? The same day believers are rewarded, unbelievers are told to depart. Cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food. I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment. but the righteous into eternal life. Now, why is that passage so problematic for premillenarians? Because there's no what? There's no gap between the coming of Christ and the final judgment. And so this is an especially powerful argument, especially when, as an amillennial Christian, we've been chided by our premillennial friends that we don't take the Bible literally. And those who champion what they call the literal interpretation of scripture must now insert a 1,000-year gap between the second coming of Christ and the resurrection and the final judgment, all of this to make room for the 1,000 years. So it's rather ironic, I think, that the clear declaration of Scripture doesn't allow for these gaps, and when your own hermeneutic insists upon a literal reading of the text. This is where pre-millennials become self-contradictory. Now, we can conclude then that this age, the period of time Luke calls the last days in Acts chapter 2, in which Jesus characterizes as a period of wars and earthquakes and famine and distress, depending on how you read Matthew 24 and Mark 13, Luke 19 and 21, that period ends with the return of Christ and the resurrection of judgment on the last day. Now, Peter, let's add one more apostolic voice here, turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. Listen to what Peter does to this. And see if this doesn't fit with everything else we have. Let's start at verse 3 of 2 Peter chapter 3. Knowing this, first of all that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their sinful desires. And they will say, where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, But the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and by the means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the earthly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. I'm sorry, the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. And since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you be? In lies of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we're waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. So when then do we have a new heaven and a new earth? The day of the Lord, which is when Christ comes back. And so after this, then the age to come now is a present and visible reality. And notice that the focus here isn't on a halfway redeemed and somewhat improved earth, as you find in all forms of premillennialism. That time where premillenarians tell us that, you know, lions become herbivores and children get to play with poisonous snakes. Those are all pictures to us of the new creation, not a halfway redeemed earth. The biblical focus here is on consummation, beloved. It's on the summing up of all things, the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. And so all of that at the end tells us then that Jesus is the key to biblical prophecy. When our Lord Jesus comes, the end of the age, the resurrection, the judgment, the creation of a new heavens and new earth are at hand. And that's what we're looking for as all millennial Christians, the second coming of Christ. We of all people should be shouting Maranatha. This is our hope. This is the message that the apostles give to us to encourage us. And then they tell us to encourage each other with that message. That stands very much in sharp contrast with premillennialism that insists upon a halfway redeemed earth with people and natural bodies still procreating. Something that Jesus has said is an impossibility. And so the two age model, then, is very simple in its structure. It's based upon text that can only be described as clear and straightforward. It enables us, then, to make the following conclusions about the New Testament's teaching regarding the return of Christ and the millennial age. Now, first, the last days, rather, began with the coming of Christ. and will continue until Christ returns. So we know from Acts 2, from passages like Hebrews 1, verse 2, the last days began with the coming of Christ. This period of time, this age, is destined to pass away. It's a time the New Testament tells us is characterized by war and famine, environmental distress, persecution, even the martyrdom of God's people. And while there's every likelihood that this distress will increase in this period immediately before the return of Christ, Nobody knows the day or the hour of our Lord's return. And Jesus' birth pain imagery here most likely means that we should expect alternating periods of peace and intensifying evil that cause many to unduly speculate about the imminent return of Christ. It says, Jesus, these are sharp, stabbing birth pains, but they're not the end itself. And so our preoccupation should not be with the signs of the end, but instead we must be consumed with the task assigned to the church in the last days. And that task is the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. That is our mission. Those are our marching orders. A second thing we can say is that the return of Christ clearly marks an end to the temporal nature of life as we know it, this present evil age. Jesus will raise the believing dead, judge all men, send the wicked into the fires of hell at his return. The elements of this earth we've read burn up, a new heaven and new earth will be established. And that scenario completely destroys so much of contemporary evangelical prophetic speculation that tells us that Jesus comes back secretly and raptures believers off. And what text can we use to teach that? A full seven years before Christ comes back and judges the world. And so does Jesus come back twice? One of them in the heavens without touching the earth, and then again, seven years later, physically? That becomes utter speculation when viewed in light of the clear text we've cited before. Now, this also destroys the idea of a future earthly millennial reign of Christ after he returns in judgment. the eternal destiny. Now think about this. When Christ comes back, what does he do? He judges the world. He separates, as we saw in Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats. We know from elsewhere he separates the weed and the tares, the elect and the reprobate. So who's left? You're either a believer and receive your reward, or you're an unbeliever and receive punishment. That's settled. And when you look at a passage like Luke 20 verse 34, we're like the angels in heaven, we neither marry nor are given in marriage. That whole idea of people on the earth and natural bodies repopulating after Christ comes back is just destroyed by the clear teaching of scripture. If the millennial reign described in Revelation 20, is referring to a future period of time, we've got an even bigger problem. And I want to flesh that out here for just a second as we conclude. Turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20. Let's read the famous millennial passage and see if it actually teaches what we've heard that it teaches from our premillennial friends. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit in the great chain. Do we interpret that literally or is that symbolic language? Angels coming down from heaven, key, bottomless pit, great chain. It's obviously symbolic language. And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it. And sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After this, he must be released for a little while. So right here, we're told what the binding of Satan means. It doesn't mean that Satan is prevented from acting. As a matter of fact, he's like a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour because he knows his time is short. His doom is sealed. He can no longer deceive the nations as he did prior. Yes, there are moments of deception, but how long did Hitler's thousand year Reich last? That's what we're getting at, that the power of the gospel just destroys these satanic kingdoms as long as Satan is found. So he's thrown in the pit, sealed over him, he can't deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended, then he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones and seated on them were those whom the authority to judge was committed. Throughout the book of Revelation, where are the thrones? Are they on earth? In Jerusalem, are we sitting on these thrones with Jesus in the physical city of Jerusalem in the Millennial Age? No, the thrones are where? They're in heaven. This is not an earthly scene at all, it's a heavenly scene. Why? Look at the next line. And 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 worshipped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. When somebody's put to death for their faith in Christ, what happens to them? John tells us. They're raised. They come to life. And where does that soul go? Heaven! Until when? Until Christ comes back. Is this a scene of lions and lambs playing together? Is this a scene of children handling snakes? No, this is a period of warfare and martyrdom. There's not a line of peace anywhere in this. 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. We know from a parallel passage, I take to be a parallel passage in John chapter 5, 23 to 25, that the first resurrection occurs when? When you're converted and when you die and you're brought into the presence of Christ. Jesus said, those who have heard the gospel have already come to life. They already have life. They've already been raised. Blessed and holy, verse 6, is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power. So all those who are born again, who are raised with Christ, who enter His presence when they die, the second death has no claim on them. But they'll be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years. They reign in heaven with Christ until He returns at the end of the age. Now the scene shifts to earth. Verse 7, And when the thousand years are ended, Satan is released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations. Now, the nations. Didn't we read something about the nations in Matthew 25? Remember that Jesus judged the nations and He separated them. And when He judged the nations, there were only two categories, right? Believer and unbeliever. So if the nations were judged when Christ came back, where do the nations come from now a thousand years later? They should be gone. So we have politics in the millennium. So we know now it's not a period of peace and prosperity through politics in the millennium. That wasn't what I was meaning when I said Eve on the millennium. So hold on. Not all politics is bad. When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. And there are numbers like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth. and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city. What's that a picture of? Physical Jerusalem? No, it's a picture of the true Jerusalem. It's a picture of the church. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. That goes right back to the two witnesses in Revelation 11. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Verse 10 is the judgment. So all of that is to say, Revelation 20 is not talking about a future period of time, it's talking about the present age. And it's a word of comfort. When someone is killed because of their testimony for Christ, they come to life and they reign with Christ. Satan thinks he's winning when he kills a saint. The paradox is, by killing the faithful, Satan's losing the battle, he's losing the war. because the dead come to life and reign with Christ. So this is a glorious passage depicting the present age and the glorious triumph of God on the day of judgment when Satan, the beast, and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. That sounds very much like something in the present age. And let me give you a quick parallel. I go a little bit long when we get a quick parallel to the second Thessalonians chapter two. I'm not going to time to address this passage specifically in this weekend, but I do in my book, Man of Sin, and I really want to throw this out at you because this see if you don't see some parallels in this passage and the passage we just read. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 1. And are being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or by spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has already come. Some knucklehead in the congregation was telling everybody that the day of the Lord had already come, that the dead had missed out. Therefore, let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. Didn't we just read about a rebellion in Revelation 20? Yeah. And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. Didn't we read about a beast and a false prophet in Revelation 20? Yeah. Who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God. Unless this passage is the exception, every other reference to the temple in Paul's writings in the New Testament is a reference to what? The church. That's why the reformers identified this passage as referring to the papacy or to a specific pope. He exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that? I was with you. I told you these things. And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. Didn't we just read about Satan being bound and restrained in the present? I think we did. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he's taken out of the way. This is a parallel to Revelation chapter 20. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. So Greg Beal, in his commentary on Thessalonians, does a great job arguing that the lawless one is revealed unto judgment. So this is a picture of the second coming, destroyed by the breath of Christ, brought to nothing. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan, with all power of false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and be saved. Therefore, God sends them strong delusion that they may believe what is false. nor that all may be condemned who do not believe the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." That passage very strongly parallels Revelation chapter 20. So I think we have this more than once in the New Testament. Satan is bound currently by the preaching of the gospel, by the providence of God, until he's released at the end, when things go bad very quickly, and Satan and his henchmen are destroyed by Jesus Christ at his second coming. Now concerning the coming of our Lord, or being gathered to him, Paul says, don't be upset, don't be easily alarmed. Why? Because God has a plan and a purpose in this and that plan, this purpose has not yet come on its course. Now, as we saw here, a great apostasy occurs before the man of sin is revealed. That's just what we found in Revelation 20. Now, let me ask you, if there can be people on the earth and natural bodies after Christ comes back, everybody agree with that? That's pretty straightforward. I mean, that's not a stretch. Can't be on the earth in a natural body after Christ comes back. Suppose for the sake of argument that premillennialism is true. What happens in the millennial age after Christ has come back and after the dead have been raised? They revolt against Christ. Now, think about that for a second. Do you really want to say that after Christ comes back, And Christ has been ruling on the earth from Jerusalem for a thousand years. At the end of Christ's rule, the nations revolt against him. That's a second fall. And it gets real sticky if there are no people on the earth in natural bodies. Who then is left to revolt? This is a gigantic problem for all forms of premillennialism. And it's the one that finally pushed me out of it into amillennialism. The presence of evil in the millennial age is a gigantic problem for anyone who's premillennial. So file that away. Evil after Christ comes back and rules for a thousand years. People on the earth in natural bodies, how did they get there? And what about somebody who's been raised from the dead living next door to somebody who hasn't? Just think about how weird that gets. It's just bizarre. If premillennialism is true, it's just weird. Upon closer investigation, I think it's pretty clear that the events of Revelation chapter 20 don't take place on the earth at all. They take place in heaven. And furthermore, in a book such as Revelation, where numbers are always used symbolically, it makes far more sense to argue that the thousand years are a symbolic period of time between the first and second coming of Christ, rather than saying that's a literal thousand years that forces you to believe in a second fall before Christ comes in judgment. And so the problem of evil and the possible apostasy of glorified believers in a future millennium is a huge problem for all forms of premillennialism. And then last and most importantly, the one thing the two age model does is it places the focus squarely on Christ and his second coming. The expectation isn't with speculation regarding world events. The expectation is squarely upon Christ's return to judge the world, to raise the dead, to make all things new. This is why the scriptures speak of the second coming as the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, as Paul puts it in Titus. And so that's a race through the arguments. I can give you some Bibliography, if you wish to spell this out in more detail, but let me just close by saying that on the classical on millennial model, then the next event on the prophetic calendar is the return of Jesus to Earth. Even though that's paradoxically said to be preceded by science, we can talk about that if you wish. The best news of all is that Jesus may return before our conference is over. Now, wouldn't that be glorious? I like you all very much. Love my wife very much, like my call very much, but the world is a sad place. And wouldn't it be wonderful if we were alive and not have to taste death when the Lord came back? That's the hope of every Christian in every age. And that should be our hope as well, especially if we follow the two age model. That's where we're just shoved right to the glorious anticipation of the return of Christ. The eschatological cry across an orthodoxy of amillennialism, of our reformed confessions, has always been Paul's doxology to the Corinthians. Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Reform writers actually use that once upon a time. It was swiped recently by someone in another tradition. Maybe we ought to swipe it back. Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus. And so, as with many other things in life and theology, the simplest approach might be the best. The two-age model, as I offer to you for your consideration, is clear, it's biblical, it's Christ-centered, and refuses to allow speculation about current events to overturn the clear teaching of Scripture. And it's a crying shame it's been lost to so many Christians, but it won't sell as many books.