Introduction
Postmillennialism is a belief that Jesus will return following an extended era of righteousness and prosperity on earth. Postmillennialists maintain that the kingdom was inaugurated at Christ's first coming and continues to expand through the progressive, yet successful, dissemination of the gospel, until the point where the majority of people on earth are converted. At that juncture, Jesus will return. This process is anticipated to culminate in a global acceptance of Christ's sovereign rule by the church.
Postmillennialists also anticipate a future era of global peace, prosperity, and spiritual glory accepted by most. This 'millennium' can be lengthy but not precisely 1,000 years, which can begin either gradually or abruptly. Perhaps due to sin persisting and not everyone being converted, a brief resurgence of evil is expected before the final judgment.
Variations
Today few postmillennialists still believe the “thousand year period” will start in the future and continue until the second coming. Most now view the millennium as the period between Christ’s first and second coming (in other words the time we are living in now), a belief that is similar to amillennialism.
Most postmillennialists agree that all of the Biblical prophecies concerning future praise, honor, and worship of God during a period of peace will be realized during the "millennium,” similar to premillennial beliefs (see Psalm 22:27; 86:9; 102:15; 138:4-5; Isaiah 2:2-4; 9:7; 11:5-16; 25:8-9; 26:1-4; 65:17-25; Joel 3:16-21; Micah 4:1-4; Habakkuk 2:14; Zephaniah 3:9-10). But postmillennialism asserts that these events will be fulfilled before Jesus returns. It is also unique in believing that the worldwide elimination of those that hate God, as prophesied in the Bible, will occur gradually due to the successful spread of Christianity into every nation (see Psalm 2:1-9; 110:1-2, 5-6; Isaiah 11:4; 25:10-12; 63:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:24-25, 27-28; Revelation 19:11-21).
Similar to Amillennialism
Amillennialism and Postmillennialism both view the kingdom as the current age. The difference lies in postmillennialists' belief that the world will eventually be converted, whereas amillennialists do not. Postmillennialism, in a sense, is a more optimistic version of amillennialism. Due to their similarity many of the same points used to refute amillennialism can be used to refute postmillennialism.
Click here to view our refutation of amillennialism.
Scriptural Objections
Critics of postmillennialism argue that the Bible, particularly the New Testament, portrays a period before Christ's return marked by apostasy, persecution, and a growing disregard for God, not a period of widespread righteousness and peace (for example see Romans 16:18; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14; Galatians 2:4; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; Titus 1:15-16; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 1 John 2:22; Jude 1:3-4). Critics also contend that the hope for a “golden age” is not explicitly found in the Bible and that postmillennialism often interprets specific passages, like Isaiah 2:2-5 and Micah 4:1-7, out of context. Postmillennialism's concept of the "triumphant church" before Christ's return is seen by some as an oversimplification of the church's historical experience, which has often been characterized by persecution and hardship (see Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Peter 1:6). Some theologians point out that postmillennialism depends on a perceived historical progress that is not backed by Scripture or history, pointing to secularism, major wars, and the threat of mutual destruction, as challenges to its optimistic views.
The Great Commission
Most Christians interpret the Great Commission as being an imperative from Jesus to all believers. We read, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV) The instructions are straightforward, go and make disciples, but the postmillennialists focus more on the nations rather than the individual. They see it as a directive to convert all nations of the world to be Christian. They also like to point out that their position may be the only eschatological view that could obtain the ultimate success of the commission. However, even though it references the end of time, the passage is not eschatological in nature, it contains the task every believer is to be engaged in until the end. The commission is not to “Christianize” nations, it is every Christian’s duty to live and communicate the gospel message.
Then Comes the End
First Corinthians 15:24-25 states, “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” In verse 24 we see that God eliminates His enemies quickly, not over a long period of time or progressively. Postmillennialists defend these two verses by deviating from standard grammatical methods of interpreting the Greek changing the timing from the end to that of being accomplished long before the end.
A Battle at the End
Revelation 19:11-21 is most often interpreted as the final battle between all the unrepentant nations, peoples, kings, and armies of the world waring against Jesus at the time of His second coming. This interpretation poses a problem to postmillennialists, who believe that the Lord will return to a “Christianized” earth where the only remaining enemy is death.
Postmillennialists address this issue in one of two ways: 1) they interpret either the worldwide battle in Revelation 19:11–21 as a spiritual conquest that occurs between Jesus’ first and second coming (the idealist or allegorical approach), or 2) they restrict it to Jerusalem in AD 70 (the preterist approach).
When Satan Gets Out of Jail
In Revelation 20:7-10 we read: “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 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.” (ESV) Here John records that Satan will be successful in deceiving the nations on earth again at the end of the Millennium. This quickly poses a problem for postmillennialists as their beliefs have Jesus returning to a largely Christian society where the only enemy that needs to be conquered is death. In a similar approach to the battle at the end, some respond by embracing a form of idealism where John is not describing an “end of time” event but instead he is describing the progressive history of the gospel message throughout the world. Again there are some postmillennialists that will “slice out” a bit of preterism by asserting that this passage refers to when Jesus came to judge in 70 A.D.
Thy Kingdom Come
Postmillennialism asserts that Jesus Christ established his kingdom on earth in the first century, empowering his church with the gospel and charging it with the Great Commission to disciple all nations. But the Bible states that Jesus will return to judge this world and to establish His kingdom at that time, as taught in the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). Several Old Testament prophets foretold the restoration of the kingdom on earth, and we see that Peter later indicates that those prophecies will be fulfilled at Jesus' second coming (see Matthew 19:28; Acts 1:6, 11; 3:20–21). Postmillennialism claims that the Old Testament prophecies of a restored kingdom on earth will be fulfilled before the second coming rather than during it.
Conclusion
Postmillennialism, while perhaps being the most optimistic eschatological viewpoint, it contains too many vague connections with the rest of Scripture. It requires one to discount or disregard much of the text. It fails to communicate one very important concept, the ultimate goal of spending eternity with Jesus! Pastor Jeremy Sexton summarizes this concept well in an article he wrote, “At every turn, postmillennialism runs aground exegetically. It routinely keeps textual details out of focus, or interprets them tendentiously and naively, in service of an appealing but biblically unwarranted “worldview.” What, then, is the appeal of postmillennialism if it is biblically indefensible? It focuses on this world, to which our hearts are naturally drawn, rather than on the one to come.”[1]
Bibliography
Eckman, G. P. (1917). When Christ Comes Again. The Abingdon Press.
Ice, Thomas D., (2009). The Unscriptural Theologies of Amillennialism and Postmillennialism. Article Archives. 54.
McCown, C. C. (1921). The Promise of His Coming: A Historical Interpretation and Revaluation of the Idea of the Second Advent. The Macmillan Company.
Sexton, J. (2023). Postmillennialism: A Biblical Critique. Themelios, 48(3).
[1]Sexton, Jeremy. (2023). Postmillennialism: A Biblical Critique. Themelios, 48(3), 571.