Blessings of Covenant and Kingdom / Greg Bahnsen /An Eschatology of Optimism Part 4 of 4

As we have explored them in a hurried fashion this afternoon, the sacrificial death of our Savior Jesus Christ has instituted the new covenant in his blood, as we see in Luke 22:20, the same covenant that was announced by Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 31 verses 31, 34. The Bible teaches us that by his victorious resurrection and his ascension, that which was anticipated in all of the Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus said in Luke 24 verses 26 and 27, by this resurrection and ascension, Jesus is entered into the glory and into the rule of His Messianic kingdom. And so in Matthew 28 he says, all power and authority in heaven and on earth is mine. In Romans 1:4, Paul says he is now appointed Son of God with power. He is the Lord over all. In Ephesians 1, verses 20 to 23, Paul says he now is head over all things for the sake of the church. And in First Peter 3, 18, 22, we see that he is ruling as the King. Hebrews tells us he has now sat down at the right hand of God. It's interesting how the book of Hebrews connects Christ sitting at the right hand of God with the coming in of the new covenant as we find them in Hebrews 8 and 10. On the day of Pentecost after His ascension, Jesus the King, the one who was anticipated in the Davidic covenant, as Peter says in Acts 2 verses 24 to 32, poured out the promise and power of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, even as he said that he would. And thus the church is distinguished from the days of the old covenant. The Church fulfills the prophecy of Joel because in the Church we see the last days of God's prophetic work. Acts 2 verses 28 to 32 Excuse me. Acts 2 verses 16 to 21 Even as we read in Luke act going to get this right in Joel 2:28,32 so Christ comes, brings the new covenant, brings the kingdom, gives the Pentecostal power of the Spirit, and now is reigning at God's right hand. At this point I would like to give you some reason from God's Word why the post millennial understanding of biblical prophecy is the one that we should affirm and in terms of which we should live. Post millennialism has been defined by me at the end of this book by this standard in the following way. Postmillennialism is the eschatological view that Christ will return after the millennium. Christ has established his messianic kingdom on earth. It is growing in numbers, area and influence by means of the preaching of the Gospel. And Christian nurture. And it will have visible, worldwide and blessed success before Christ returns at the general resurrection and final judgment. Post millennialism says Christ comes. We've already seen there's no place to put a millennium in after Christ returns. So pre millennialism cannot be correct. Post millennialists say Christ has now established his messianic kingdom on earth. This kingdom is growing numerically, it's growing in its area and its influence, but it's not growing by military might. The kingdom does not come with swords, loud clashing and stir of rolling drums, but with deeds of love and mercy. The kingdom comes. As the hymn says, the kingdom is growing, but not in a military way. It's growing by the preaching of the gospel and Christian nurture. This kingdom is destined to have visible, worldwide, blessed success before Christ returns. All of those prophecies that we find in the Old and the New Testament about the glorious victory of God's kingdom on earth are prophecies that must be fulfilled prior to the return of Jesus Christ. For when he returns, the postmortalist says, there will be a general resurrection and a day of final judgment of all men. Now this is what I'm going to be trying to encourage you to see in this last session of our prophecy conference today. In order to see the prosperity of the gospel, though, it will be helpful to set it over against two of the major errors as I see it in the amillennial understanding of biblical prophecy. And so I'm going to introduce my concept of post millennialism in a negative way by saying I disagree with the amillennialist two very important points, the first of which is the otherworldly conception of the kingdom that you find in most amillennial authors. All millennial otherworldliness misses that this world is the kingdom of God. Secondly, I would set my view over against the pessimism of all millennialism, a pessimism that does not affirm the victory of God's kingdom, that the fulfillment of those prophecies we're talking about in time on earth prior to Christ's return. Now, virtually all Reformed believers maintain that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is at least a matter of Christ spiritually reigning within the hearts of those who are Christians. Everyone should agree with that. The kingdom of Jesus Christ pertains to the heart of man, Christ ruling in man's heart. The Westminster Larger Catechism teaches that Christ executes the office of a king by, among other things, bestowing saving grace upon his elect. The Bible puts it this way. Acts 5:31 him has God exalted to his right hand to be prince and a savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And so the internal spiritual reign of Christ as Savior and Lord, the mustn't be overlooked. It mustn't be minimized in its importance. I don't want you to hear me as saying anything like that. One cannot enter the kingdom of God apart from spiritual rebirth. Jesus said, truly, truly, I say unto you, except one be born from above. He cannot see the kingdom of God, John 3, verse 3. And so those who are redeemed have already been transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved son, says Colossians 1:13. And as such they appreciate what Paul says in Acts 14:17 excuse me, Romans 14:17, that the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Post millennialists have always affirmed that foundational doctrine that the kingdom of God is an internal spiritual reality. You look at J. Marcellus Kick, for instance, and his interpretation of Revelation 20, verse 4. He there says, the thrones spoken of in Revelation 20 stand for the saints spiritual dominion within themselves and over the world. Through the grace of Christ they reign in life, over the flesh, the world and the devil, Kick tells us. And so without in any sense diminishing the tremendous biblical truth that the kingdom of God is an internal spiritual reign of Christ within our hearts, I want to go on and ask this question. I want to go on to ask whether this perspective completely expresses all that the word of God has to say about the reign of Christ. Does it tell us everything we need to know about God's kingdom? Is it accurate to say that the reign of Christ extends beyond the heart of the believer? Does Christ reign in any external, visible, and this worldly fashion as well? All millennialists are categorically hesitant to affirm that the present reign of the Messiah is visible and this worldly. I think some examples will show that that is the general rule among amillennial authors. One leading all millennialists is Gerhardus Vos Voss taught that otherworldliness ought to be, and I quote, the dominating attitude of the Christian mind. He said that in his book the Pauline Eschatology. When we think of the kingdom of Christ prior to his return in glory, all millennialists like W. Jer tell us that we are not to think about earthly blessedness. Lewis Neilson says we are not to think of highly visible success of Christ through the church in earthly life and instit. Indeed leading all millennial writers explain that they are opposed to the type of millennium taught by the post Millennialist. So says William Cox in his book Amillennialism Today. And how is it that they are opposed? Cox tells us that during the present church age, Jesus reigns in the hearts of his saints. And Meredith Klein, another amillennialist, insist that the present reality is the Lord's invisible reign of on the theocratic throne of David in heaven. Since the post millennialist does not deny for a second that Christ presently reigns in the hearts of his saints from an invisible throne in heaven, what distinctive view is it that all millennial teachers are claiming here? When one reads authors like Cox and Klein and Nielsen and others, it becomes obvious that what they are objecting to in post millennial writers is the inclusion of external, visible, this worldly aspects within the scope of the kingdom of God in this age. The direction of their thought is indicated in what Voss said already, that our thinking about the kingdom should be exclusively otherworldly, it should be heavenly. That's clearly manifest in the book written by Walter Chantry, God's righteous Kingdom. In that book, Chantry claims, and I quote, citizens of the kingdom are oriented to another world, not this present earth. Indeed, Chantry holds that Christ has set aside the outward aspects of Old Testament religion. I quote again by way of contrast, Christ's kingdom is inward, Chantry says, so that, and I quote again, material, social, external blessedness may not be sought in a millennium, but in the consummation of the kingdom at the coming of our Lord. Although Chantry attempts to qualify his remarks by admitting that the material external world is not inherently evil, the heart of his theological outlook is revealed when he says that the fall meant that man has raised animal desires above a longing for spiritual realities. He says worship and winning of souls are more important by far than the cultural mandate. And then Chantry makes himself unmistakably clear when he says, and I quote, the kingdom of God is preoccupied with eternal and spiritual realities. It has to do with a presently invisible world. Its focal point is the inward man. The Gospel of the Kingdom completely absorbs men in the eternal rather than the temporal. The Gospel of the Kingdom absorbs men in the spirit, spiritual rather than the material. Now listen, if men like Chantry and the others were only indicating what our priorities should be, if they were only reminding us that internal regeneration is a prerequisite for external obedience in all areas of life, if they were only pointing to the provisional and the limited nature of kingdom blessings today, in contrast to the consummated kingdom and in eternity, then there wouldn't be any dispute at all. That would be fine. But their criticism of post millennialists is concrete proof that much more is at stake in what they have said. All millennialists either claim or they tend to exclusively emphasize the otherworldly, invisible, internal nature of Christ's kingdom as a spiritual reality. And our question must be whether Scripture, the infallible standard of our doctrinal commitment, whether Scripture does not have something more to say than that the kingdom of God is presently expressed in the hearts of men. Is the kingdom merely internal? Well, we've already said that the kingdom of Jesus Christ does pertain to the reign of the Savior within the hearts of his people, a reign that originates from his heavenly throne. We agree with that. But precisely now we want to ask whether the Messianic reign of Jesus during the current period of its establishment, prior to the future consummation of the kingdom, whether this rule today is exclusively spiritual and otherworldly, invisible and internal in the present age. Is the kingdom of Jesus Christ otherworldly and restricted to man's heart? Is. Is it merely internal? And the biblical answer? I hope you can see it coming. The biblical answer is absolutely not. Not at all. If we're faithful to the full range of biblical teaching on this subject, we must say no. The reign of Christ, his Messianic kingdom, is meant to subdue every enemy. The Bible says paradise is to be regained for fallen men by the Savior. And every area of life infected by sin will be counteracted by the redemption that Jesus Christ brings. If sin has touched eternal affairs of men, the redemption of men will be touched. The redemption of men will touch those external affairs as well. Isaac Watts put it this way. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. Everything touched by the guilt and pollution of sin is the object of the Messiah's kingly triumph. Everything. The kingdom of Christ not only brings forgiveness and new heart love for God, it also brings concrete obedience to God in all walks of life. And so those things which stand in opposition to God and His purposes and his character are to be overthrown by the dynamic reign of the Messianic King. We should expect the effects of Christ's dominion to be evident on earth, among all nations and throughout the range of human activity. We see this, for instance, in Paul's teaching in Colossians chapter 1, where he says at verse 16, that all things were created for Jesus Christ in verse 20, that all things are restored by his redemptive word, and consequently verse 18, that in all things Christ should be given the preeminence. Christ must be preeminent in everything I do, not just the internal affairs of my heart. Followers of Christ are exhorted by Peter in 1st Peter 1:15, to be holy in all manner of living. Paul says in First Corinthians 10:31, Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Do we do anything in the external world? Do we do anything in man's society? Well, it must be done to the glory of God. Then the reign of Christ cannot be privatized. It cannot be captured within the heart of man in some kind of mystical communion with God and then have no effect on everything else man does. The reign of Christ cannot be restricted to prayer and meditation and piety. That's only the beginning. The kingdom of God according to Matthew 13, brings forth fruit such that by means of the visible quality of a person's life, his inner state of heart can be discerned. Jesus said, by their fruits you shall know them. The kingdom will be evident in the fruit of our life. And then people will attribute the eternal reign of Christ to our hearts. So then even eating and drinking as external activities are included within the reign of the Messiah. The internal reign of the Savior must become manifest in public righteousness. Because genuine hearing of the Word, genuine religion according to the Bible, and genuine faith are seen in the faithful doing of the law of God, outwardly helping the oppressed and practically aiding those who are afflicted. Just read James 1, verse 22 and following James says, if you don't have these external manifestations, you don't have true religion, you don't have true faith. To restrict the reign of Christ to inward matters is simply to lose touch with the true character of submission to the King. Because you see, Christ doesn't settle for a part time rule. Christ doesn't settle for a restricted reign. He demands obedience in all things from us. And his aim as the King is to subdue all resistance, whether it's internal resistance to the kingdom or external resistance to the kingdom. Paul says this in First Corinthians 15, verses 25 and 26. He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And Paul concludes that this will end with the defeat of death itself at the general resurrection. So all opposition in all areas will be overcome by the king. And as it is, it will be an indication that the messianic kingdom is coming. Christ taught his disciples to pray, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He doesn't say, your will be done in hearts, your will be done in Heaven, he says, your will be done on earth, and that's the coming of the kingdom. That prayer is a continual reminder to us that the coming of the kingdom means the doing of God's will, and that the reign of Christ through our obedience comes precisely here on earth. The kingdom of Christ is undeniably this worldly in its effects, undeniably this worldly in its manifestation. Now it's true, as John 18:36 says, that the kingdom of Christ does not spring out of this world, meaning even as the end of that verse would indicate to us that the source of Christ's reign is not from here. Christ doesn't reign in an earthly way. Christ doesn't reign as an earthly monarch. Christ doesn't reign using earthly means. He reigns from heaven by the Spirit and in divine power. All of that's true. Nevertheless, his reign, originating from God himself, pertains to this present world. What did Jesus say after he was resurrected? All authority in heaven and on earth is mine. Therefore disciple the nations. And so we must admit that the kingdom of Christ is not merely internal, merely otherworldly. It does have external expression on earth at the present time. Matthew 6, verses 31 to 33 tells us that the kingdom of God and his righteousness makes provision for every other detail of life. Isn't that what Jesus said? Don't worry about what you eat or drink, don't worry about what you put on to wear, because if you pursue the kingdom of God, all these other things will be taken care of. He doesn't say all these other things will be forgotten. Moreover, Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4, 8 that the kingdom of God is profitable for all things, holding promise for the life that now is, as well as for that which is to come. Those are Paul's words, holding promise for the present life and the life which is to come. And in a famous kingdom parable, Christ authoritatively expresses explained that the field in which the seed of the gospel of being sown is the world. And he goes on to say that that is his kingdom. The field which is his kingdom is the world. So in the perspective of Scripture, God's redeemed kingdom of priests, the church according to 1st Peter 2, 9, is presently reigning upon the earth. Revelation 5. 9 says so. Our confidence in our calling, our prospect, is encapsulated in that wonderful song that we find in Revelation 11:15. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. The kingdom of this world now belongs to Jesus. All power and authority in heaven and on earth is His. His. And this holds promise not only for this life, but the life that is to come. And so, pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth. Now I cannot accept the other worldliness of my amillennial brothers. That is not acceptable. Jesus is the King over all, or he's not the king at all. The second thing about all millennialism which I find objectionable is its power pessimism. Now, all millennialists resist the use of that word in application to their eschatology. And I understand that. I can sympathize with them. No one wants to be a pessimist. But they are. I'll tell you why they resist it, and properly so. They should resist it because they are not pessimistic in every respect. There are senses in which they see the victory of the preaching of God's Word. Most all millennialists, being Calvinistic in their understanding of soteriology, would say God is accomplishing everything he wants to accomplish in the preaching of the Gospel. And praise God, he is. Even when people reject the gospel, that is a victory for the gospel, because God's Word is accomplishing what he sent it to do. And so the amillennialist is right about that. I don't have any problem with that. My problem is I think the Bible says more than that. More than that. The amillennialist is not basically pessimistic. He believes Christ is now reigning as the Lord. He believes the Gospel will gain converts and the amillennialists will say there will be converts all over the world. He believes the kingdom should come to expression in all areas of life if he gives up this other worldliness. And he should be able to do so without changing his eschatology. Yet there is this problem remaining. There is some reason why all mills often stress that they. I hear this often in my presbytery. Well, I'm an optimistic Amill. You see, the very saying of that is a concession that the position naturally tends toward pessimism. And I'm one of those guys who's fighting the tendency. I'm an optimistic Amill. I'm not one of those pessimistic ones. And the Amil does see many senses in which Christ and the kingdom and the gospel are victorious. I've already told you the word of God accomplishes its end because God predestines the end from the beginning. Christ is ruling over the nations. He's the sovereign Lord. The kingdom is growing. In some sense it is permeating areas of life in some sense. But the issue now, finally, with all of that having been said, the issue becomes this. Whether among all of the scriptural senses of the word of victory is to be included, this positive confidence that the world will be converted in a numerical way and will see widespread righteousness come to govern the affairs of men. We're not asking whether they'll just be representative converts around the world. We're asking whether the majority of the earth's will someday be converted, whether the vast majority will become believers, and then the benefits of that will be seen in the earthly affairs of men. On that particular point, the amillennialist is pessimistic because he either says, I hope that will happen, or he says, I am sure that it will not happen. But you will never find an amillennialist who says, I have the biblical confidence that it will happen. And that's why I'm a post millennialist. That's what makes me different from my amillennial brothers. We are so close in so many ways. We understand the kingdom, we understand the covenant, in the same way we understand the sovereignty of God. The difference is the amillennialist does not take seriously, I think, the promises of victory for the gospel, numerical victory and cultural victory for the Gospel in this age. Let me give you some examples of this pessimism. William Hendrickson, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, says there is every reason to doubt that progress in evangelization is keeping pace with progress in iniquity. We read by Robert Strong in The Presbyterian Guardian, 1942. Amillennialism agrees with premillennialism that the Scriptures do not promise the conversion of the world through the preaching of the Gospel. William Cox in his book All Millennialism Today premillinarians believe the world is growing increasingly worse and that it will be at its very worst when Jesus returns. All millenarians agree with the pre millenarians on this point. William Hendrickson in his book More than Conquerors by means of the preaching of the Word as applied by the Holy Spirit, the elect from all parts of the world are brought from darkness to light. Light. In that sense the Church conquers the nations. The particularism of the old dispensation has made, has made place for the universalism of the new. Now please do not misunderstand our interpretation. We are not stating that the world is becoming better and better and that by and by nearly everyone will join the ranks of Christ's army. God's trumpets of judgment will not convert a world which is hardening itself in a unbelief the majority will ever be on the side of the evil one. W.J. greer in his book the Momentous Event, the non millennialist agrees with the pre millennial view that the world will not be converted before the Lord's coming by the preaching of the Gospel. Herman Heuigsim in his book Reform Dogmatic says, scripture certainly does not suspect the notion that in the end all the world will accept Christ, that righteousness and peace will reign supreme, and that the church will experience a period of great prosperity antecedent to the coming of the Lord. The very opposite is true. J. Adams, in his book the Time Is At Hand says while realized millennialists, all millennialists believe there is a future golden age, they teach that it follows the millennial period. The realized millennialist does not think that the millennial age is represented in Scripture as a golden period. Today this kingdom which began as a small insignificant entity like a mustard seed, is growing into a large full sized tree, or to use Daniel's figure like an expanding stone and is in the process of filling the whole earth. This is not to be understood in the post millennial sense that the whole world will be converted. Boy, what an embarrassing. I mean, you look right at the passages that tell you the opposite and say, but of course that can't mean what the post millennialist says, but it means that the church is reaching into all corners of the world as the Gospel is preached to every tribe, tongue and nation. I cannot accept this pessimism taught by my amillennial brothers because as I see it, the Bible offers us a lot more confidence of victory than that. I'd like to show that to you as we conclude our session this afternoon on biblical prophecy. I would have you consider first of all certain themes that are crucial to the teaching of God's word from COVID to cover. If you begin in the Bible, you read how God created man and God gave man a mandate. That mandate called called for man to multiply and have dominion over the earth. Man was to reproduce, multiply, he was have dominion over all things for the sake of God's kingdom. Now when man fell into sin, that didn't change. It's just that the post fall version of that mandate now has a redemptive focus. Now man's reproduction will bring about a seed, a seed that will crush the head of Satan. And that crushing of the serpent's head will be necessary for the dominion that God intended to come about. When God dealt with Ham, he promised Abraham a seed, didn't he? In whom all the nations will be blessed. In 2nd Samuel 7, David was promised that kingly seed that would rule over the kingdom of God. The prophets of the Old Testament promised the fulfillment of the curse upon the serpent. Micah 7, verse 17 and Isaiah 49:23 and Isaiah 65:25. One of those is an example this afternoon. Let's look at Micah 7:17. There Micah says, they shall lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth. They shall come trembling out of their closed places. They shall come with fear unto Jehovah, our God, and shall be afraid because of Thee. The day is coming when the kingdom will destroy those who are like serpents. In the New Testament we find the climax of this this idea of multiplication, reproduction and seed that will finally crush the head of the serpent in its establish dominion. In the New Testament, Christ is said to be born of a woman. Galatians 4:4. And the reason he came into this world was to defeat Satan. In Luke 10, verse 18, it's made clear that Jesus has dominion over the demons. In Matthew 12 Jesus says, if I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is among you, and I must now destroy Satan's house. In Revelation 12, verses 9 and 11, we read that the kingdom of Jesus Christ subdues Satan and deprives him of his strength. Look at Colossians 2, verse 15 in the New Testament to see this theme as well. Colossians 2:15. Those of us who are saved are saved from the power of Satan, aren't we? Because Jesus has despoiled the principalities and powers, having made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. In his cross. In First John 3, 8, we read that the Son of God came into the world to destroy the works of the devil. In Galatians 3, verse 29, we read that we who are in the church are the seed of Jesus Christ. And as the seed of Jesus Christ, Romans 16:20 says, we will crush Satan under our feet shortly. And so it's important to study these biblical themes from beginning to end. This idea of reproduction, having a seed and dominion over the world unifies the biblical story. Dominion over the earth, the subduing of all things. Adam had to continue doing that after the fall. He had to work with the ground and subdue it. Abraham was promised a land and kings to rule over that land. In Romans 4:13, Paul says that was a promise that he would be heir of the world. David was promised the seed who would rule over a particular country and all the nations would submit to him. The prophets looked ahead to one who would come and fulfill that Jesus Christ himself. Indeed, Isaiah said, the God government will be upon his shoulder, and of the increase of his government there shall be no end. All power and authority was claimed by Christ after His resurrection. In Revelation 1:5, it is said that he is the king over the earthly rulers. And in First Corinthians 15, verses 24 to 28, Paul tells us that the dominion of Jesus Christ, the resurrected Savior, is such that every enemy is being progressively subdued under his feet until he finally defeats the last enemy, death. And he'll do that at the resurrection. Now what does that mean, friends? That means prior to the resurrection, every other enemy must have been defeated, because the last enemy is defeated at the resurrection, not after the resurrection, as the amillennialist tells us. And then on top of this, the Bible teaches repeatedly that Christians reign with Christ. 2nd Timothy 2:12 or 1st Peter 2:9. In Revelation 20 we are told that we sit on thrones with him and exercise dominion over the earth. Matthew 5:5 we inherit the earth. Matthew 18, verses 19 to 20 or 1st Corinthians 3:21 Everything is yours, whether the earth or whatever you're talking about. And so though I'm not going to focus on this alone to prove my point, I would like to emphasize a study of biblical themes such as multiplication and seed and dominion will demonstrate a unifying theme in the Bible, a unifying message that comes to expression in Christ fulfilling everything the Old Testament intended and bringing victory to his people people in this life on earth. But let's look at a few particular passages so that we will not think that we're just making, you know, fast shift of this sort of material. Let's study what the kingdom is supposed to do according to the Old Testament prophets. In the first place, we are told that the kingdom will expand to include the Gentiles. Isaiah 2, verses 2. Turn to Isaiah. Isaiah 2, verses 2 and 3. And it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it, and many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law and the word of Jerusalem, and he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah, the prophet said, the day is coming when the church, God's house, will be exalted above all the other hills. It will be the predominant institution among men, and all nations will flow into that. And they'll want to learn God's word and put it into practice. And when they put it into practice, they won't learn war anymore. My friends, there is no time after the return of Jesus Christ for that to take place. That is something that is taking place now, as nations are being converted, brought into the Church. The church is growing in power, in influence. And the day is going to come when the Church's influence will be such that the nations will finally stop their warlike ways. All millennialists cannot deal with that. The Bible tells us in the Old Testament prophets, there's going to be growth of God's kingdom to a world engulfing scope. Look at Zechariah 9, verse 10. Zechariah 9, 10. God following verse nine of this prophecy that speaks of the Messiah coming. He is just in having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt, the foal of an ass fulfilled of course, as Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem. Later verse 10 adds, and I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace unto the nations. And his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, a glorious kingdom that will engulf the earth. Malachi 1, verse 11. And from the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the sun, same my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered into my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, Saith Jehovah of hosts, the day is coming from where the sun rises to where the sun sets, all men will worship God in a way that is acceptable to him. Daniel the seventh chapter, verse 14. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. In his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed, all the nations are going to serve Jesus Christ. And this concept of growth is constantly found in God's word. Isaiah 9, verse 7. I've alluded to it in passing. Let me read it for you. Isaiah 9, 7. Of course, I'd love to Hear more Bibles in those pages turning out there. Try to keep up with me here. Of the increase of his government and of peace. There shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of Jehovah, of hosts will perform this. Oh, there's no doubt about it. Kingdom, the kingdom of Jesus Christ will grow and grow and grow. And of the increase there shall be no end. And the zeal of Jehovah will see to it. Daniel 2, verse 35. Daniel was interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream about that idol, that image that was standing up, and then a stone broke it down. Daniel says, the four parts of that image are four world empires. But then a kingdom that is not made with human hands, a stone cut without hands, a supernatural kingdom will come and destroy the world empires. Daniel 2, verse 35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken in pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. And the wind carried them away so that no place was found to them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. When the Roman Empire is destroyed by the kingdom of God, that stone of God to destroy the world empires will now grow to become a mountain, a mountain that fills the whole earth. Look at Isaiah 54, verses 1, 2 and 3. Isaiah 54, 1:3. Single, barren, thou that did not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud thou that did not travail with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah. Enlarge the place of thy tent. Let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cord, strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left. And thy seed shall possess the nations and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. God said, my kingdom is going to grow and grow and grow. You're going to have to enlarge the tent and stretch out the cords and strengthen the stakes, because on the right hand and on the left, my seed is going to increase. And so. So there's no doubt about it. The Bible promises that the kingdom of God is going to be a growing kingdom that will engulf the world. And all the nations will flow into the church and they'll learn the peaceful ways of God. There will be many converts in that day. Look at Isaiah 11, 9, Isaiah 11, the ninth verse. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea. Now I want to ask you, is the amillennialist. Is the amillennialist doing justice to this passage when he tells us. Well, of course I believe there will be a few Christians here and a few Christians there. And in every nation the church will be established. Established to one degree or another. Is that the way the waters cover the sea? A few drops of water here, a few drops of water there? No. How does the water cover the sea? It inundates it. There are no dry places at the bottom of the ocean. And that's what it's going to be in the day of the Messiah. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Look at Jeremiah 31, verse 20, verse 34. In the days of the new covenant, it will no longer be necessary to tell every man his neighbor Know Jehovah, for they all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them. In prophetic hyperbole, Jeremiah says the day is coming where it's going to be difficult to find somebody to evangelize. That's how glorious the reign of Jesus Christ will be. Our Amos 9, verses 11 to 13. Foreign. At the 11th verse, in that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen. Close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up its ruins and build it as the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that are called by my name, saith Jehovah that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper and and the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed, and the mountain shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. You know what that beautiful prophecy means? Evangelism is going to be so successful that no sooner can the man who throws the seed in the ground do it than the man who is going to harvest is going to be right behind him. God intends to do a great evangelistic work in the days of the new covenant. And I am tired of our diminishing of the victory of Jesus Christ and the power of his spirit by saying, a few Christians here and a few Christians there. Absolutely not. The promises of God are about a kingdom that is going to conquer the world, evangelize the nations and bring righteousness to bear on the affairs of men. So much so that there will be visible cultural effects for the gospel in the first place. The Old Testament prophets speak of the vindication of God's people. People. Isaiah 49, 22 and 23 is one example of that. That God's people will not be a persecuted minority, but he will vindicate their cause and he will vindicate their name among the nations. And the Messianic time will be a time of peace. How often do we read that? Zechariah 9, 11, he will speak peace to the nations. Isaiah 52, 7 and Isaiah 55, 12. Oh, time fails me to read all these glorious prophecies. You know that's true. The lion will lay down with the lamb in that day. They will beat their swords into plowshares in that day it will reverse because there is no death there. In Isaiah, the ninth chapter, we read of growth for the kingdom. But there will be no growth after Jesus returns. The sheep and the goats will be separated. It will be too late for evangelism. And Isaiah and 11 we read that war will be no more. But of course, there is no question about there being war after Christ returns. And so these kingdom texts you see, must, at least many of them must apply to the age prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ in glory. And those texts teach us to expect evangelistic success, teach us to expect the church will nurture the nations and teach them righteousness and justice and peace. Let's turn to the New Testament, though. Someone might say, yeah, well, you're an Old Testament Christian. You're just looking at those texts in the Old Testament. Well, I have a word for you that Old Testament's God's word and it's sacred and it's holy. And if it's taught in the Old Testament, that's good enough for me. But I think it's taught throughout the Bible as well. Turn to Hebrews the tenth chapter, verses 12 to 13, Hebrews 10, 12, 13. But he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. Let me ask you a question. Wouldn't all of us agree? Dispensational, premillennialist, amillennialist, and post millennialist, Wouldn't we all agree that what we expect to take place in history should correspond to what Jesus expects to take place in history? Don't we want our prophetic outlook to be the same as Jesus? Well, of course we do. Well then, what does Jesus expect to take place? Hebrews 10 tells you after he accomplished redemption for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God enthroned above, thenceforth expecting but one thing, only one thing is left to be accomplished, that every enemy will be made the footstool of his feet. Isn't Jesus expecting the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies? He sure is. He wants every one of those enemies, every spiritual and every cultural and every economic and every educational and every political forum that opposes him, to be subdued, to cry out, no more resistance. I'm yours. And so Jesus will have the nations. He will see them submit. You say, but Dr. Bronson, we don't see that happening. It hasn't taken place, so it can't be true. Well, then you go to the parables of the New Testament and you learn there from Jesus own words the nature of the kingdom. The kingdom, you see, is like a little leaven that starts out insignificant, but does what to the whole loaf leavens the whole thing. The kingdom is like a mustard seed, so small you hardly even see it planted in the ground. It will grow to be a great tree that the birds of heaven will flock to. The kingdom grows. Didn't we find that in the Old Testament prophets? We sure did. It will grow and grow and grow. Jesus expects that men are going to be subdued by the preaching of the Gospel, that the Holy Spirit will draw the nations to himself and his church will be victorious on earth. He expects the subduing of all of his enemies under his feet. When you look at the scope of Christ's redemptive work, that he came to be the Savior of the world, and when you look at the vastness of the redeemed, as it's taught in Revelation 7, 9, 10, every tribe, tongue and nation. When you look at the powerful resources given to the church, the very presence of Christ at the end of the age, the Holy Spirit's power being with us. The Bible tells us it is the delight of the Father to see sinners converted. Romans 1:16 says, the gospel is the power of God and is salvation. In Matthew 21, we are told that if we have but just a little faith, God will move mountains for us. We have the power of prayer. I want to ask you, what is it in light of all of that that keeps us from being victorious? Except we don't believe God, you see, just like Israel of old, we don't trust Him. We don't believe these big promises. We just don't think in light of the secular onslaught of humanism, that it could possibly happen. But if we were to Believe God. And if we were to pray, and we were to be filled with his Spirit and trust his word, he would give us the success. He would give us the victory. You say, how can you be sure? Look at Revelation, the second chapter, Revelation 2, verses 25 to 27. What has Jesus promised the Church nevertheless? That which ye have hold fast till I come. Come. And he that overcometh, he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers, as I also have received of my Father. Jesus said, you triumph in my name, and I'll give you victory over the nations. Look at Revelation, chapter 3, verses 17:7 to 9. And the angel of the church in Philadelphia write these things. Saith he that is holy, he that is true. He that hath the key of David. He that openeth and none shall shut. And he that shutteth and none openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee a door opened which none can shut, that thou hast a little power. And didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name. Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them that say they are Jews, but they are not, they do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet. And to know that I have loved thee. Jesus says, overcome in my name. Be true to my word. Open a door of missionary success that no man will close. Indeed, your most violent persecutors will come and bow at your feet and acknowledge that I am in your midst. That reminds me of Romans, chapters 9, 10, and 11. The question of a future for ethnic Israel. I told you this morning there is no geopolitical history or future for Israel. But there is a glorious spiritual future for Israel. Paul tells us in those chapters. And I have time to look at it in detail, as I wish I could, but you read it for yourself. Paul says that the casting off of Israel is but for a time, time. And that the casting off of Israel is for the sake of calling in the Gentiles. But God, in so doing, is provoking Israel to jealousy. As Israel looks at the blessings that will come upon the Gentile world through the preaching of the Gospel and the lordship of Jesus Christ, Israel will be provoked to jealousy. And in this way Paul says, all Israel shall be saved. The day is coming when all Israel will turn back to the Messiah. All Israel will be saved. And then Paul adds these glorious words that that will be like resurrection from the dead. For the world, when the day is coming that God has converted the Gentiles and even Israel will be brought back in. And then, like resurrection from the dead, the glorious reign of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus opens the door. And even those Jews who worship at The Synagogue of St Satan will come and be admitted to the church of Jesus Christ and acknowledge that he is the Lord. Oh. From beginning to end, the Bible promises us that Jesus Christ will have the victory numerically and culturally. I really think something should be said about the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation, you see, is the capstone of the argument. It isn't, you see, that little simple symbolic book on which everything in my doctrinal outlook depends. The Book of. I could prove my post millennialism without ever referring to Revelation, but having shown it to you in the Bible, let's not miss the glories. This is the icing on the cake. What does the Book of revelation teach? Chapters 2 and 3. The message given to every one of the churches is overcome triumph. Because you can in my strength, be faithful to me, and I will give you the promises. And then God gives, in the prophetic portion of Revelation, an outlook on the defeat of the two major enemies of the Christian church. Up into chapter 12, we read of the fall of Jerusalem, how those who are persecuting the Christians are not truly the kingdom of God and God will judge them. And then from chapters 13 to 18, the book of Revelation talks about the fall of Rome, how that pagan person persecution, the political might of Rome that comes against the Church, even with the beast that wants to subjugate the church will not be victorious. Now that's a very encouraging book to those who are undergoing persecution in the days of the early Church. The Jews on the one hand and the Romans on the other, pressing the kingdom, pressing the kingdom. But God tells the church through John, I will vindicate you. I will destroy your enemies. And even as Daniel's prophecy said, the stone cut without hands will destroy the Roman Empire. And then you will grow to fill the earth. And so revelation, chapter 19, a passage which I am glad to admit in reading its exposition by BB Warfield, that one afternoon many years ago is the one that said, okay, I give up. I cannot be an all millennialist anymore. Warfield said, you read Revelation 19. There you have the vision of Jesus Christ riding upon a white horse, a victorious white horse. And he goes forth with the Church, following in his train those who are clothed in his righteousness. And he goes forth to victory, not simply to battle, but to victory. Warfield says and it's a glorious victory. But what kind is it? Is it a military victory as the pre millennialist tells you? Jesus taking his sword and slashing people to pieces and bloodshed everywhere. Well the picture may be there in Revelation 19, but the spiritual truth behind it is not that at all. Because John says the sword proceeds from his mouth. Jesus does not go forth to battle with swords loud, clashing. Jesus is going to war with the nations with the preaching of the gospel, that gospel which is sharper than any two edged sword. That gospel which is part of the whole armor of God. According to Paul In Ephesians chapter 6, Jesus is going to war and we are following after him. And in that battle every nation is subdued and every opposition is put down. Revelation, you see, is just the capstone of the argument. It isn't the foundation for it at all. Well here I began to preach. I'm supposed to be teaching you these things, but I just can't help get excited about this. The Bible tells us Jesus is going to win. Jesus is going to use his church to subdue the nations, that many will come and call upon him as Lord. The vast majority of Earth's population will one day be converted. And when they are, what would you expect to happen? Do you think that many people can be Christians and it won't affect their social life, that it won't affect their family life, that won't affect their economical life? Of course not. In all areas of life they'll show forth the righteousness of God. Now I must say before you miss me and before I stop this afternoon, I must say no one is teaching that every single individual is going to someday be saved. The wheat and the tares will grow together until the end. What I am saying is it's a wheat field, not a tare field, and that God intends to show his victory here. Even though they'll always be those who resist. Nor am I saying that the church is ever going to reach a day of ease where we will not be persecuted or vilified, or that somehow a very easy thing. Now the kingdom comes with persecution. The kingdom comes in the midst of opposition. And I don't deny that for a moment. But what I'm saying is, even though there will always be unbelievers and there will always be opposition, the victory will be ours. The day is coming when we will not be the minority, we will not be the exception to the the rule. We will have rule over the nations because Jesus promised it. Now there are certain criticisms of post millennialism that will naturally come to mind, and many have been leveled at the post millennial position. I'm only going to take five minutes to cover a few of them to give you an idea of how they should be dealt with. And then I'm going to take a break and catch my breath, let you write out your questions and then come back and try to scratch where you're itching. First of all, there are those who say, but we're not currently seeing this happen. And I would suggest the reason we aren't is because we don't expect it to happen. It's a self fulfilling prophecy of defeat. Moreover, whether we are in a down period or an up period, the fact of the matter is the victory is God's and it's in God's timing. Our duty is not to be looking for it in the newspaper, newspaper every day. Our duty is to trust the word of God and to go out there and do what he tells us to do. There are those who say, but Dr. Bronson, you're making the promises given to Israel to be fulfilled in the church. And I'm saying that's right, because the church is the new Israel of God. We've already argued about that. And then the decisive defect. James Montgomery Boyce writes this against post millennialism. It's amazing. He says the decisive defense defect is that scripture does not teach that all will be converted. To which I say that's not a defect at all because I don't believe all will be converted. The question is, does scripture teach that the vast majority will be converted someday? And it does. There are others who say that. But the Bible says Christ can return at any time, so this cannot be true. The doctrine of the anytime return of Christ gets in the the way of being a post millennialist. Well, let me most of the people who say that, by the way, are free millennial dispensationalists. And what you have to reply to them is, do you think therefore that God can have Christ return without fulfilling all the prophecies that he's laid down in the Bible? Oh, absolutely not. We think they'll be signs of the times. Oh, well then you don't believe in an anytime return of Christ anymore any differently than I do. Do you? You, you believe God will do all of his work as it's laid out in Scripture and then Christ at any time will return? That's right. Well, that's what I believe too. I believe God is going to convert the world nations and have righteousness and justice and peace prevail and at Any time after that, Christ can return. Others will say, but the Bible always presents God's people as a remnant. Well, I'm sorry, it doesn't. The remnant motif is important in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament we are not a remnant. The day is going to come when it's going to be hard to find somebody to evangelize. Right. Does that sound like a remnant to you? No. God is going to give victory to his people. There will be those who say, but otherworldliness should dominate the life of the Christian. We heard that earlier in this afternoon's presentation. I don't believe that. I believe that the internal reign of Christ is the most important factor in its from that it's out of that that everything else proceeds. But the fact is Christ intends to rule over every aspect of life. There'll be those who say, but some of those prophecies pertain to the new heavens and the new earth. And I have to say that's right, some do. And I might have made the mistake of applying some of those that apply that take. I may make the mistake of taking some that apply to the new heavens and the new earth and mistakenly apply them to of this age. All I'm saying is you can't make all of those prophecies new heavens and new earth for the reasons I've already given. And in fact, many of those prophecies have tagged to them things that begin with the first coming of Jesus Christ. Remember Zechariah that says he will speak peace to the nations. This begins with him coming into Jerusalem on an ass, the foal of an ass, the triumphal entry of the first coming of Jesus Christ. Christ begins the fulfillment of that prophecy. So all I'm getting at is not all of them can be assigned to the new heavens and the new earth. Then there are those who say, but Dr. Ponson, don't you know there have been two world wars? There have been all these skirmishes since that time. Don't you see the progress of unrighteousness in your culture all around you? Don't you read the Dr. Ponson? And yes I do. I read the newspaper and I say, praise God. It's not always going to be this way. Praise God. He's going to turn things around. I don't let the newspaper dictate my interpretation of God's word. I respond to the newspaper based on what God's word tells me. And so yes, I read the newspaper. Yes, I know there have been two world wars, but I know the day is coming when the nations will not learn war anymore. And that day will come when the Church, confident of its victory, obedient to its beginnings, to preach the whole counsel of God and to preach it with the fervor and spiritual might. And in that day, then the song will be sung. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever. Amen. Now, we're going to leave the timing on this completely to Dr. Bonson's discretion, please.