Post Mil
Eschatology (end times) has 3 primary views that have influence from Revelation 20 and your Biblical frame of reference (hermeneutical view).
Revelation mentions a 1,000 year reign of Christ. Is this “millennial reign”
- Pre-Mil. A future literal 1,000 years we are waiting on to be followed by a consummation.
- A-Mil. A spiritual reference where a final consumption is coming.
- Post-Mil. A “1,000” years, referring to a long time like, I was in line for a 1,000 years. This belief includes some prophecies have happened and pending the final consummation.
Within the above primary divisions are many sub-views that can get really weird and throw you off.
Before the 1800s Christians were primarily post-mil. Then, things shifted driven in large part by preachers who saw prophesy in the Bible fulfilled in current events (all were wrong). This preaching in combination with a new hermeneutic, dispensationalism, combined to form a new understanding. In the 1970s-1980s along came all the “left behind” series which solidified the pre-mil position in today’s culture. I mean, how could Kirk Cameron be wrong?
Now we are seeing a resurgence of post-mil believers as it is an eschatology that has been buried by denominational errors for 2 centuries. God is not dependent on people that reject Christ rebuilding a temple to come back. Jesus is Israel and His Church is Israel. The Bible is clear.
Having said all that, no matter your eschatological position, Jesus is coming back in a final consummation. I don’t have to prepare for anything, Christ is in control and Christ in me is greater than he who is in the world. And I especially don’t need to be watching some “watchtower” show to tell me a chip in my hand is bad or that Russia is the Bear in Revelation. We cannot pray that God is pre, ah, or post mil. What we can do is fulfill the great commission and know the signs of the final coming, which are all around.
I was once pre-mil because that’s what everyone around me was. Further, I was told you were a heretic if you didn’t believe in post-mil. They also told me Calvin was a heretic. All of this kept truths of the Bible hidden from me until I was old. Don’t let the same happen to you.
If you want the best post-mil preaching you will ever hear from a young, unbelievably articulate theologian, watch the sermons from Brian noted here.
Brian St. James
- Mark 5:21-24
- Mark 12:35-37
- Mark 13:1-13
- Mark 13:14-23
- Mark 13:24-31
- Mark 13:32-37
Joel Webbon
Dr. Mohler is a Pre-Mil believer and here is his answer to defining the 3 main eschatology positions. Below is my response to his analysis on YouTube.
Dr. Mohler is truly a great scholar to consult on any Biblical doctrine. In this case I think there were some mis-characterizations of the positions he disagrees with. When it comes to eschatology it is best to hear from someone that believes that position and can describe it from the Biblical text. There is a reason Christianity for most of 2,000 years was post-mil. He didn’t mention that. So, omitting church history is a foul here. And, it is true that dispensationalism was the driver behind a rise in pre-mil thinking, yet another foul to have not mentioned that. These combined with every Tim, Dick, and Harry false teacher out there proclaiming some prophecy they saw in the Bible drove more to that position, mostly in false Charismatic movements. Pre-mil was refined in Dispensational seminaries to the point you have preachers seeing Apache helicopters, Russia, and China prophesied in the Bible, which should have been mentioned. If I told you I waited for a thousand years at the Chick-fil-a would you think that was literal? When you read apocalyptic literature, images are used to represent something bigger. So, a monster is not a helicopter. Revelation is all about what Christ did for us to be saved and a final consummation that is coming, and that is it. All this business about Revelation being about current events feeds false prophecy teachers and makes movies about you being in a room and everyone disappears that was elect, and everyone else has to avoid the planes dropping out of the sky. Oh please. But wait, there’s more: https://www.youtube.com/@navigatorsway/about