- Amillennialism means the denial of a millennium amillennialism is based on an allegorical or figurative interpretation of biblical prophecy.
- Postmillennialism teaches that Christ's second coming is after the Millennium, which postmillennialists define as the Church Age in which we are now living.
- Premillennialism acknowledges that Christ will come to earth before the Millennium to set up His earthly kingdom of 1,000 years.
The terms used in a scholarly study of biblical end-time prophecy can be confusing. There is amillennialism, postmillennialism, and premillennialism. Then the terms get more confusing with pre-Tribulation, mid-Tribulation, and post-Tribulation.
Lets talk about these three shall we?
The Basis of Amillennialism
As we have already noted, amillennialism is based on an allegorical or figurative interpretation of biblical prophecy. Since this interpretation of prophecy began within a few centuries of the death of Jesus, it became the prophecy interpretation of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, both of which retain this position today. The view is held by many liberal Protestant groups and the is the most common view of various evangelical reformed groups today.
Amillennialism teaches that the saints of all ages are members of the church. So the church has replaced national Israel under the New Covenant. There is no end-time role for Israel! Therefore, it applies all the Old Testament prophecies about a restored Israel to the church. Whereas premillennialists consider the 1948 formation of a national Israel in Palestine* a significant event in prophecy, amillennialists claim that the event is irrelevant to God’s end-time plan. But the promises that have yet to be fulfilled cannot be overlooked so easily. Israel will be blessed with peace, prosperity, and its own land, according to the Bible (
Leviticus 26:4-12 and reaffirmed in
Deuteronomy 28:3-12). Israel will be a great nation, blessed more than all other nations, according to the Bible (
Deuteronomy 7:14 and
28:1).
Israel, of course, is expected to listen to and obey the voice of the Lord (
Deuteronomy 28:1 and
Exodus 19:5). But that obedience is also a part of end-time prophecy. “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. . . . They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (
Ezekiel 37:21, 23). The New Testament confirms what the Old Testament promises: “Israel has experienced a hardening, in part, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved” (
Romans 11:25-26). The vast difference between a literal reading and a symbolic interpretation alone here is obvious.
