Proof Premillennialism is true………as if you needed it!

The debate regarding the current and future state of the kingdom of God has raged for centuries now, dare I say millennia, but I often wonder how men can spill so much ink and waste so much time debating something that is so clear from the word of God. The early church was, by and large, premillennial up the time of Augustine, who himself was of a premillennial persuasion, that is until he associated the state sanctioning of Christianity by the then emperor Constantine as a sign that the kingdom, or millennium, may have been commencing with the legalisation and move to toward a state church.

This however, sowed the seeds of what became the dark ages, exalting the eventual primacy of the papacy with its vice regent (or should we say anti-christ), the pope, standing in the place of Christ on earth. For several centuries Europe was plunged into spiritual darkness under Papal Rome until the Holy Spirit began to fan the flames of reformation and revival with the likes of the Waldensians, the Albigensians, Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Tyndale, Latimer, Cranmer, Calvin and so many more. The Puritans understood the true holiness of God and how to live a life dedicated to holiness, the Anabaptists and Baptists rediscovered the truths of baptism by emersion, the Wesley brothers and Whitefield brought fresh awakening with their powerful preaching and testimony.

However, except for a few individuals, the prevailing eschatological view was Amillennial, meaning that there would be no millennium, or essentially Christ is ruling on David’s throne now. This view essentially makes most of the Old Testament prophecies allegorical and is a hangover from centuries of Romanism. This can of course be excused as these valiant soldiers of the Lord were fighting on many different fronts and it was not in the Lord’s timing for the subject of the last days to be rediscovered yet. Indeed, even the prophet Daniel was told ‘But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end’ Daniel 12:4.

And so, we came to more recent times, the times of the end you might say, when a great revival of interest in the second coming of the Lord was emerging in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Many conferences were held, and books written, and the widespread belief in the church that the return of the Lord was approaching reignited the millennial debate. While there are differing schools of premillennialism, the basic concept that the Lord Jesus will return to earth to establish his kingdom was gaining more and more traction. Men like CH Spurgeon, JC Ryle, JN Darby, Cyrus Scofield, DL Moody and many others were favouring a more literal approach to prophecy and came to believe and propagate the notion the Lord Jesus would be returning soon to gather his church to himself and then to regather and restore the earthly kingdom of Israel for the thousand-year millennium where the world will be governed by both mortal and immortal together.

Many of the Amillennial school mock this concept of a world in which mortals and immortals could live together as carnal and lacking true spirituality, but if we are taking scripture at face value and not spiritualising everything then we must arrive at a premillennial view. Most of the Old Testament prophets speak of this time, and if they were not being literal, then what were they saying? And who gets to decide what is literal and what it is allegorical. Does the virgin birth then become an allegory for something else, or the Genesis account, or the resurrection? Once you start down that path you can end up making the scripture say whatever you want it to say, like so many of the prevailing heretics of our day seem to do with such great success.

My point then in the title of this short blog was proof that the Millennium is true is summed up in the vast majority of scripture if you have eyes to see it. It is, however, I believe, best summed in one part of scripture alone, and I have taken the liberty to paste it below, highlighting the major points.

Zechariah 14

1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

2  For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and

the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity,

and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3  Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem

on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and

toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall

remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

5  And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

6  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

7  But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

8  And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them

toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter

shall it be.

9  And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

10  All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.

11  And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have

fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their

feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume

away in their mouth.

13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among

them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

14  And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.

15  And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.

16  And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

17  And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto

Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

18  And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the

plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of

tabernacles.

19  This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not

up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

20  In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.

21  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

If you are sitting on the fence, or unsure, or even vehemently opposed to premillennialism, then I urge you to read it again, and compare it with other scripture to at least be able to make an informed decision. I have heard all the arguments from the other camps as to why the millennium cannot be, yet I have never read one commentary that contains anything that can explain anything other than a literal meaning of this scripture. Even the great Martin Luther gave up on it…… “Here, in this chapter, I give up. For I am not sure what the prophet is talking about.” I hope if you haven’t already, that you will seek and pray to find the true understanding of the coming Kingdom of God and that you read the scripture with eyes to see what the Lord has planned, for Israel, for his Church, and for our world. The thousand years are just the beginning and if you are like me, you will most certainly want to be a part of it!

Every Blessing

Mark