Dr Greg Bahnsen - Why I am a Postmillenialist: Chronology of the End (Part 1)

I have the opportunity to teach you three short lessons these weeks while Pastor Tony's on vacation. And so I had to ask myself, what could I fit into a three lesson slot? Most people don't think I'm capable of doing that kind of thing. I also wanted to do something that would be beneficial and relevant. And it so happened that I had maybe half a dozen thoughts before I left on my own vacation. But on my trip, there was a young ministerial candidate interning at Messiah's congregation and living with the Schlissel family that I got to know fairly well. And he asked me a question one afternoon as he is himself going through some theological questions. And I got to thinking after talking to him, that's really what I'd like to do with you all. And I think I can do it three lessons now. The question he had was, doctor, why are you a post millennialist now? I could write a book on that. I want to write a book on that. I want to write a few books on that. I could do a long series. I once did, I think, something like 65 tapes on the Book of Revelation. If you look in the tape catalog, you'll find a number of things on the subject. But what I'd like to do for you in the next three evenings, Lord willing, is to simply give a more conversational answer to that very question, why am I a post millennialist? And what does that mean? And I'm entitling this Christ expectation, or if you want the longer the expectation of Christ with respect to his kingdom and history. What is it that the Lord Jesus Christ plans to take place between his death and resurrection and ascension and his returning again in glory? How should we look upon the earthly prospects of Christ's kingdom now? There are different attitudes toward this question, and it is sad but true that throughout the history of the Christian church, often the attitudes believers have had toward that question have created great turmoil and animosity and division. To a certain extent, whenever we disagree over the Word of God, because we take it to be the Word of God, we'll expect that kind of thing to happen. But in this particular case, it is more or less natural that if you look upon history one way and what Christ expects to do in history one way, that someone who has a completely different outlook on that, it's going to be difficult for you to get along together in your work, in the kingdom, in the church, because you're going to have a different agenda, you're going to have different attitudes and expectations. And so it's important for all of us who are lovers of the Bible and those of us who want to attune our attitudes to what the Bible teaches. To ask, well, what does Christ expect to take place? It isn't so important what we might project what we might expect based on our reading of the newspaper or our understanding of history. As thorough a student of history as you might be, what's really important is to ask what does Christ expect to take place? Some people have looked upon the bringing down of the Berlin Wall as an indicator that God is working. And bringing is in the process of bringing about some momentous changes in the world that forebode good things with respect to Christ's kingdom. That is to say, they have read their newspapers and they have expected that things are going to be getting better. And there was a time in the past when many people looked at the advance of Christian missions in the world, often the success of the British Empire around the globe and so forth, and they read off of those circumstances that things are getting better and better. But you see, the newspaper may report these sorts of things, and as history has shown us in the past, things can get worse too. And let's put the shoe on the other foot. There are a lot of people who look at the newspaper and they see all the wickedness and evil in the world about us, and they say it's just impossible that things could get better. Christ must be coming soon. In fact, throughout the history of the Christian church, I doubt that there has ever been a time when there wasn't some group of people saying the coming of Christ is right around the corner. And they've always been wrong. And obviously that isn't proved that this generation of doomsayers is wrong. They might be right, but we need to be chastened by that. We need to learn a little caution from that. That when you look at the outward circumstances in the world, or at least what you think are the outward circumstances, often our vision is pretty narrow. But whatever we may see cannot be the indicator of our theological convictions. Because if things are going to get worse and worse and worse because the Bible says they are, and I see some good things happening, then I have to interpret those good things in light of, well, that's a momentary blip in history and things are really going to take a downturn. On the other hand, if the Bible teaches me that Christ's kingdom will surely in history march ahead and conquer all nations, when I see setbacks, I must persevere in my hope and prayers and work for the kingdom, knowing that that is just to be interpreted in light of what Jesus himself says. So the point tonight is, what does the Bible teach us about the course of history? On this particular question, there are three major millennial positions that you hear about, but I don't think that it's as complicated as three. There's really two questions to be asked and two different attitudes with respect to each one of them. And so I'm going to try to lay it out a little bit differently than you would have in a theology textbook or I might do in a seminary classroom. And I'm just going to approach it from the standpoint of these questions. And the first question has to do with the chronology, history. What does the Bible teach us about the general, if you will, chart or flow of events in history? And then the second question has to do with the nature of Christ's kingdom and what the Bible has to say about it in the course of earthly history before the Lord returns. Tonight, I'm going to look at the first question, the chronological question. There are people who teach that when Jesus came into this world, it was his intention to offer an earthly kingdom to his people, the Jews. The Jews were recalcitrant and rejected him and his offer to be their king, and he was crucified. The better of those who teach this would say this was all predestined by God as his marvelous way of providing for salvation for the whole world. Others would see it as part of. If they had accepted Jesus offer, then things would be different in history. Jesus gone to the cross, maybe, or something. But anyway, Jesus did go to the cross. And so for the time being, the Jews have been set aside and there is a Jewish Gentile church that is enjoying the benefits of spiritual salvation. But the day is coming when Jesus will return again and then set up his earthly kingdom as was originally intended. And after Jesus comes and sets up this kingdom, there will be a period of peace and harmony and prosperity, at least relatively speaking, on earth. It will last about a thousand years, maybe literally exactly 1000 years. And at the end of that time, there will be a great rebellion. As wide as the blessings have been, so will be the rebellion now against Christ and his people. Christ and his people will be surrounded. They will be caught in Jerusalem, as it were, and God will send fire from heaven to deliver them. And this will be the last judgment. Now, the few other details to fill in here that kind of make this a little bit more interesting picture. Those who teach this say that when Christ returns, He. He will call the dead in Christ to himself from the grave and they will rule with him on earth. Those who are alive at his coming will enter into that rule as well. At the end of his 1000 year reign, all who are in the graves will be resurrected and there will be a final judgment. Now the reason why this makes it an interesting, more interesting picture is because that means for this 1000 year period, there will be some people in their mortal human bodies and some people in resurrected glorified bodies, ruling with Christ from Jerusalem over an earthly kingdom. Now I'm going to add a little wrinkle to that. There are those who teach over and above the things I've told you that seven years prior to the establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth, Jesus will rapture his saints, the dead in Christ and those who are living in Christ off of the earth. And then will ensue a period of great tribulation such as the world has never known before. A tribulation that will center around the Jewish people Palestine. And when Christ returns, it is there that he will establish his kingdom and the Jews will become his people again. Those who teach this additional point often say that the temple will be rebuilt in Palestine and that animal sacrifices will be reinstituted because the prophet Ezekiel speaks of that. Alright, so I don't have a chalkboard, but we're doing this informally. Essentially this view says Christ came in the past. And what you want to put on your chart is the death and resurrection of Christ. He died for the sake of a spiritual kingdom, and Jews and Gentiles are part of that. Now that he has gone back to heaven. The church is the center of God's plans, but God has not given up his original plans for earthly Israel. Sometime in the future, the Jews being returned to the land, the temple being rebuilt, the man of sin or the beast of revelation on the horizon, Jesus will rapture his saints off the earth, tribulation will ensue, and then Jesus will come back with his saints to rule on the earth. And they will do that for 1,000 years in an earthly military kingdom that will go bad at the end and God will rescue Jesus from Jerusalem and then we'll have the division of all mankind into heaven and hell. I don't believe that that is what the Bible teaches. And I know that sounds strange to some people because those who teach this are often called Bible thumpers. I mean, they have a reputation for really banging out the proof text, you know, and having their conferences and putting together their charts. And I do respect them and I do love them for the fact that they want to go to the Bible, but I don't believe that they have gotten that scheme from the Bible. When all is said and done, the first I'm going to boil this and the first question that we have to face is I do respect them and I do love them for the fact that they want to go to the Bible, but I don't believe that they have gotten that scheme from the Bible. When all is said and done, the question I'm going to boil this in the first question that we have to face is in the future, does the Scripture allow for any great period of time between the return of Christ and the eternal state? That is to say, does the biblical chronology allow for a gap of, say, a thousand years even to be inserted between the return of Christ and and the bringing in of the new heavens and the new earth that is the eternal state? If I can show you, as I hope to do in a few moments tonight, that there is no such gap allowed in biblical chronology, then of course we will have to reject that particular view and all of the variants that go with it, where you see all of the other questions about the rapture pre tribulation, post tribulation, mid tribulation, and who the beast is and whether there's going to be animal sacrifices. And all those sorts of interesting questions are completely beside the point. If the Bible itself teaches us that we should not expect a great period of time to be inserted between the return of Christ and the institution of the new heavens and the new earth. Now if I can show you that tonight, then, Lord willing, in our next two lessons, the only question that remains is, well then, what's the nature of Christ's kingdom that he has established here on earth during this time before he returns to bring in the final judgment? What should we expect to take place in terms of his kingdom? Turn with me in your Bibles after this long introduction. Introduction to Acts 24:15 Acts 24:15. Because I am sure that everyone in this room has friends who hold to the position that I am now teaching you. By the way, this is called pre millennialism, the view that Christ will come and establish he will come before the establishment of the millennial kingdom. Because you have friends that hold this view, and I'm giving you a simplified answer to it. I think it would be valuable to hold on to your notes, learn to use them so you can talk to them pleasantly but persuasively, and show them how the Bible doesn't really allow for the scheme that they're giving you. In Acts 24:15 we read having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection, both of the just and the unjust. The Bible teaches us that a day is coming when there will be a general resurrection of men, the just and the unjust. Yeah, you're sitting there thinking, but wait a minute, I know what the answer to that is. There'll be a resurrection at one time for the just. That's when Jesus raptures them. And then there'll be a resurrection for the unjust a thousand or a thousand and seven years later when all of history is wound up. And so your friend will say, that doesn't prove the point. It just tells us that all these people will eventually be resurrected. The reason I started with Acts 24 is because you want people to get into that way of thinking that, well, now wait a minute, that can't prove a general resurrection. And that's when you turn them to John, the fifth chapter, verses 28 and 29, where now they'll have to admit that it's very difficult to hold to their scheme because Jesus there says, marvel not at this. For the hour comes, comes, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. Here Jesus does not allow for a great period of time between these two resurrections. Here the two resurrections are, if you will, two sides to the the same event, two sides to the same coin. Historically speaking, he says, the hour comes. There will a specific point come when all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God. The just and the unjust in the tombs will hear Christ call them to life, and they shall come forth. And notice, all in the tombs will come forth and at that point be divided those who know a resurrection, those who know a resurrection to judgment. And so the Bible teaches us that on a particular day, in a particular hour for that matter, Jesus will call everyone in the tombs, and it's at that point that men will be divided according to the resurrection. One to life, one to judgment. Now, the significance of that one passage then is there's no room to insert a thousand years between the resurrection to life, which the just enjoy, and the resurrection to judgment, which the evil are going to experience. Turn in your bibles to Matthew 25, where I will complement this teaching about a general resurrection with the teaching of a general judgment of all mankind. Matthew 25, 32, 46. To put it in context, verse 31 says, when the Son of man shall come in his glory and all his angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. Now notice, and before him shall be gathered all the nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And then jump down to verse 46 and these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And so the Bible teaches that a day is coming where Jesus will sit on his throne of glory and all the nations, no exceptions, will stand before him. And he will then make some go into the fold of the sheep and some into the fold of the goats, the goats representing those that go into eternal punishment, the sheep, the righteous into eternal life. And again we see then with a general resurrection and a general judgment, that is to say, all men being resurrected and all men being judged at one particular time. The Bible does not permit the insertion of a 1000 year period between the return of Christ and the final judgment. Turn now in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 1, 7, 10. And what I'm going to do here is I'm going to go through a series of things. I'm going to try to do this like in layers. I'm going to show one thing that is taught and how that's linked to another and how that's linked to another. And we're going to put all this together to see that there's no room for a 1000 year gap. Second Thessalonians 1, 7, 10. And to you that are afflicted, rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the angels of his power, power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all them that believed, because our testimony unto you was believed in that day. Paul says that the church on earth is afflicted. Verse 6 says that it's a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to those who are afflicting us. And now he says in verse seven, and to you who are afflicted, he says, rest with with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven. And he says this will be accompanied with the angels in flaming fire, that when Jesus comes from heaven he will render vengeance to them who know not God, that is those who are afflicting his people and don't obey the gospel. And they shall suffer punishment, not just the punishment of going through warfare and so forth. But this is going to be the final punishment. They will suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might. And this will happen when he comes to be glorified in his saints. There is a day coming where the following things will happen. God's people who are being afflicted will no longer be afflicted, but vengeance will come upon their afflictors, and they will be glorified. The day is coming when those who do not believe will be judged with everlasting destruction. And those who do will be 1 relieved of their tribulation, and 2 be glorified in their Savior. And this is called the time of Christ coming. It will bring relief and judgment, Relief and judgment. Turn in 1st Thessalonians 4, 13:17 1st Thessalonians4, 13:17. But we would not have you, ignorant brethren, concerning them that fall asleep, that you sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope that Jesus died and rose again. Even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Here Paul teaches us that the coming of Jesus Christ, which is a public event, you might want to put that in your notes because your dispensational friends will point to this verse and say, here we have the secret Rapture. There's nothing secret about this at all. In fact, far from being secret, it's probably one of the noisiest verses in the whole Bible. As John Murray once put it, you say, because the trumpet of the Lord's going to sound, and you know all mankind is going to be aware of this happening. When Jesus comes publicly, it will be the resurrection of his Son Saints. And so second Thessalonians 1 teaches us that at his coming there will be relief for those who are afflicted, and they will be glorified in their Savior and judgment upon those who disbelieve in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 we learn that this will be the time that the saints are resurrected. Now let's take this another step. Turn to John 6, verses 39, 40 and 44. John 6, 39, 40, 44. And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. Verse 40. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholdeth the Son and believeth on him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. Verse 44 no man can come to me except the Father that sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. All right. Jesus is coming to bring relief to his saints. And when he comes there will be a resurrection of all those who have believed in him. And John tells us Jesus testimony was that he will do this at the last day. Is there any room for a 1000 year period to be inserted? Because when Jesus comes back, eternal destruction will come upon those who disbelieve. That will be the crack of doom for them. So you should see that in this layer upon layer teaching that what I am doing is paralleling what we've seen already. And that's that a resurrection and a judgment are coming where all mankind will be divided, the saved and the lost and the and that will be it for all eternity. And now we see that all this will take place on the last day. Turn one more step in this layer upon layer presentation. Turn to First Corinthians 15:22, 28 First Corinthians 15:22, 28. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then they that are Christ at his coming. Then comes the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. For he put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted, who did subject all things unto him. And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all. And then look at verse 52. This will take place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Now what we learn is that the day of resurrection for the saints, which we've already seen by Jesus testimony, will be the last day of history is going to take place, and then the end will ensue. Now, what Paul says, first fruits, then they that are Christ at His coming. Then comes the end. Paul says this, that the day of resurrection will bring about the end, not just a thousand more years of drama. When Christ returns, his saints will be raised and he will deliver the kingdom to the Father, and that will be it. Helen? Yeah? Those unbelievers do not go with religion when they die. Unbelievers before Christ returns go to hell and there suffer spiritually until Christ returns, when they will be resurrected to a resurrection of judgment, thereafter to suffer body and soul in hell for all eternity. Before Christ returns. Those who belong to him go to be with him, absent from the body, but present with the Lord, and there enjoy his presence spiritually. But the day is coming when we will receive our bodies again, resurrected and glorified, and we'll live in a new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells. And so, in a sense, what's happening right now after death for both believers and unbelievers is but a foretaste of what will take place when Christ returns and everything is consummated. Okay, what have we learned then this evening? We've learned that there will be a day of general resurrection, when all men come from the tombs. A day of general judgment, when all men face the judgment of God being divided sheep and goats, into eternal life and eternal judgment. We've also seen that when Jesus comes, that will be a day of relief for his people and glorified, and simultaneously a day of judgment, eternal judgment for those who were unbelievers and afflicting his people. When Jesus returns, his saints will be raised from the dead, the dead in Christ first. And then we who are alive at his coming will be glorified with him and them. Jesus says he will raise up his people at the last day, Paul says, and when he does that, then comes the end. How long will it take? A thousand years? In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. I love that verse. I mean, it could cause you to do a lot of reflection, but the Bible tells us it's going to be like that. There's not going to be a whole long, prolonged drama about this. When Jesus returns, we're going to find ourselves in his presence, and then we'll ensue the judgment, the separating of sheep from goats, the resurrection to life, the resurrection to judgment. And then comes the end. Jesus is going to, at that point, hand over the kingdom to his Father. He came into this world to do a job. Dying on the cross, cross for our sins was part of that job. Rising from the dead, ascending to God's right hand, and their ruling is part of that job. And Jesus is doing something in history. And when it gets to the end of history, he then will, as it will, call everything to its terminus. He will return, raise his saints, we'll see the judgment. And he will, as it were. I know these are figures of speech to help us. He will, as it were, hand over the kingdom to his Father and say the work is done. And then God will be all in all, now. What does Jesus expect to take place between now and when he hands over the kingdom to His Father? I'm going to give you a preview of the answer to that. But Elra, you had a question. Is the judgment of the angels by the saints relevant to this, or is it a different level? No, I think this is. It's an interesting sidelight that I don't want to spend a lot of time on. But I do think that it's at that point that in some way the saint saints will be utilized by God in the judgment of unbelievers. We will judge the world. We'll even judge angels. And how God will do that and what part we will play is hard to say. But that will be the time when it happens, I think. Yes. Do I dare sneak into Revelation? Well, I was going to go into Revelation 20 and confirm what I have just taught. Is that what you wanted me to do? No, I was saying Revelation 5 to ask the question about the symbology of that vision in terms of Christ opening the book. When Jesus breaks the seals of the book, what we are seeing is history laid out before us, apportioned history laid out before us. And in particular, the seven sealed scroll that Jesus opens here shows us the judgment on Jerusalem. When you come to the latter part, the middle part of Revelation, chapters 11:13, John is given another book. And the angel tells him that he is to eat this book, and he will prophesy again over many people's tongues and nations. Having spoken now to God's judgment in history against the Jews, John will speak about the judgment of Rome and the Roman Empire. Obviously, the whole book of Revelation has been a storm center of interpretive conflict. And I don't intend to settle anything tonight by saying that. But that's what my view is, and I encourage you all to pick up some tapes on that if you want to pursue it. Anyway, I do want to turn before we end tonight to Revelation 20 and confirm what I have taught with respect to the question of the millennium. Will Christ come before the millennial period? As we've looked at that view tonight, and I've been trying to refute it, saying there isn't a thousand years to put between the coming of Christ and the final judgment. Will Christ come before the millennial period, or will he come after the the millennial period? Let's read Revelation 20 with the background that you've been given and see if it isn't clear to us. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and cast him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be finished. After this he must be loosed for a little time. An aside In Matthew the 12th chapter, Jesus talks about his binding the strong man Satan, so that he might spoil his house. And Jesus says, if you if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. And so Revelation 20 says more than just this, but we know that it's talking about Jesus coming down from heaven, binding the strongman, because that's exactly what he said he did. Matthew 12 and I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls that's bettered the lives of them that have been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, for the word of God and such as worship not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead forehead and upon their hand. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead live not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. In John the fifth chapter, Jesus speaks of two types of resurrection. One, those who hear the voice of the Son of God and believing it, are raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. The Bible says that's the first resurrection, and we reign with Christ now, even in death. But the point is we presently reign with Christ. If you have any doubt about that, look at Ephesians, the second chapter, where Paul tells us that we have been raised with him and are seated with Christ in the heavens. We are enthroned with Christ. That's our spiritual position. That is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead live not until the thousand years should be finished. Those who don't enjoy the first resurrection are not going to see any kind of resurrection until after the millennium. And then it will be the resurrection of judgment. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection over these. The second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him a thousand years. Now listen. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. And fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet. And they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. Fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Does that bring up any images from the previous verses we've studied, where we have read that the angels and flaming fire will accompany Jesus when he returns in judgment upon the earth? You see, the fire from heaven that you read of in verse 9 of Revelation 20 is not God's miraculous deliverance of Jesus who is now cooped up in Jerusalem. It is Jesus at that point, coming in final judgment upon an apostate world. Verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was no and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. And the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the Book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The book of Revelation tells us there's going to be a millennial period, whatever that means. And at the end of that millennial period, there will be a great apostasy and fire from heaven. Jesus will return in flaming fire, in judgment, and then will set the great white throne and divide the nations, the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous, a resurrection unto life and a resurrection unto judgment. So you see how the book of Revelation confirms that Jesus will come after the millennium, not before the millennium. The Bible has taught us that there is no room for a 1000 year period to be inserted between the coming of Christ and the final judgment. And the book of Revelation teaches us that Jesus will come to have that final judgment after the period of the millennium. And now the question is what's going to take place during the millennium? That's what we're going to look at in the next two weeks. And the preview of what's going to take place and with this will end is found in Hebrews, the tenth chapter. There the author talking about the accomplishment of Christ's high priestly work says in verse 12, but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth expecting his enemies to be made the footstool of his feet. When Jesus finished his high priestly work on the cross, dying for our sins, and when he ascended to God's right hand and there sat down at the throne on high, the Bible says the expectation of Christ is now that all his enemies will be subdued to him in the next two weeks. We'll try to elaborate that with greater detail and just try to use passage after passage of Scripture to show you what kind of prospects we have. That Jesus expectation will not be thwarted, that Jesus will not be disappointed, that indeed he will subdue every enemy under his feet before he returns. All right, you must have questions and I know we're late. I'll try to keep it brief. Elric, it's going to be at a subsequent time that you will be explaining why postman millennialism is optimistic and yet there's going to be a great apostasy that's going to bring fire. Yeah, I'll probably talk about that a little bit, but I'm not sure that I have a whole lot to offer except that that's what the Bible teaches. And I can imagine some reasons why God will be glorified in doing that and how the blessing of what the kingdom of Christ meant will be all the more evident when it is lost momentarily at the end when that great apostasy takes place. But let me just put it to you this way, Elric. Most everybody believes there's going to be a great apostasy at the end. I think it's only post millennialists that can account for it being an apostasy for everybody else. It's just the end of the, the downward slide of history. So it's not really a building up and a falling off. It's just, well, that's where history went boom down to Apostasy, you know, whereas in terms of the picture here of a grand kingdom that then is overwhelmed by Satan being loosed from, you know, his prison and fomenting rebellion, I think at least post millennialists can account for that. There must be a great day of blood blessing that precedes it, so that that very short period of apostasy at the end makes sense. Okay, so that's not so much to psychologically comfort you with an explanation as to why God will do it. But I do know that since the Bible teaches it, that only post millennialists can really account for it. I mean, I do think the Bible teaches it. We have to accept it. And in a sense, that's a free further proof that there must be some great day of blessing that precedes it, or else there wouldn't be really a falling off. It would just be the end of the downward trend of history. John. Okay, Yes, In what period? No, there are different interpretations of that, and I'm not going to make the simplicity of my lesson lessons rest upon my particular interpretation of that. But the man of lawlessness will either appear in the future during that period of apostasy, or, which is my view, the man of lawlessness spoken up here is the beast of Revelation. Which beast of revelation was the Roman emperor that persecuted the Church, and in particular Nero. And so that has taken place already in history. But because I do believe in a final apostasy, if I am wrong about that, I don't really think I am. But if I am wrong on that, it doesn't disturb the chronology that I expect, because there is a period of time for a man of lawlessness or a beast to appear later in history during that apostasy. But I really don't think that's what Revelation teaches. I think Revelation teaches us that the beast is the Roman Empire, and the heads of the beast in particular are the emperors of Rome. And John tells us five have fallen, the sixth now is, and when the seventh comes, he'll last a short time. And we do know that by Jewish reckoning, the sixth emperor of Rome was Nero. We also know that the spelling of Nero's name adds up to 666, which is the number of the beast. And we know that the one who followed him on the throne of Rome, Gal lasted, I have to learn, seven months, something like that. It was less than a year. And so John, you know more than any other book of the New Testament, John dates when he's writing, when he says that this. And so John, you know more than Any other book of the New Testament. John dates when he's writing when he says that the sixth now is. And his name adds up to the number of the bit. So anyway, I'm pretty convinced that the man of lawlessness referred to there is the one that is referred to as the beast. But that's past history, not future history. Okay, Chapter 1, verse 18. Bread and all the earth will be devoured in the fire of his Ch. Where he will make the complete end as being a terrifying one of only inhabitants of the earth. That chronology then guilty, that part of Zeph is speaking of when Christ comes again. Fire, Judgment, Zephaniah, one verse. Oh, 18. Okay, thank you. Right. It's going to seem like I'm pushing my tapes tonight. I'm going to give you a quick answer, but I have a series on Zephaniah in the tape library, and I think it's the first. It's the first or second anyway, that deals with the terrible day of the Lord and what that means and how. The day of the Lord is used in scripture numerous ways. The day of the Lord can be a day of blessing, can be a day of judgment. The day of the Lord can be a day of judgment on his people in history, the Jews. It can be the day of their return from captivity. The day of the Lord can be the judgment at the end of history for all mankind. And so we need to see the flexibility with which the prophets use that expression. The day of the Lord is the return from exile. It's the Messianic age, and it's the final coming of God's Son. I think here it's the final judgment. Yeah. Looking upon all the earth being devoured by God's wrath. Craig, if Christ has bound strong man, Satan is in some way encumbered. How then do we account for what I perceive as the vast scope of unrighteousness? Do we attribute it to the impotence of God's people? Well, there's two things that we have to say about that. When Revelation says that Satan is bound, it does not say he's incapacitated. It says that he is bound that he could deceive the nations no more. You will read in Second Peter and in Jude that the demons have from the day of their fall been consigned to chains awaiting the day of judgment. Now we know that that is from the time of their fall. Jude and Second Peter say that. And we know that the chains are holding them over, reserving them to the day of judgment. And yet we also know from biblical history, the demons were very active. Jesus cast demons out of people. Right? And so the language of chaining, we know by interpreting biblical figures of speech, the language of chaining need not mean incapacitation. It can simply mean an obstacle with respect to some particular aspect of their work or character, what have you. Revelation tells us the chaining of Satan means that he cannot keep the nations in deception as he has before. The Incarnation kept the nations in idolatry, idolatry and superstition. Now a day has come where the Gospel of Jesus Christ can conquer the nations. However, Satan is plenty busy. He's like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Indeed, he persecutes the Church. Why do we have such a day of wickedness? Well, because there's wickedness in people's hearts and Satan is active in this world. But it is true that the Church bears some responsibility for not being light and not being salt and not being leaven in this world. And we would see great missionary victories for the church if we would preach the gospel with conviction and we'd be faithful and if we would start being a witness for righteousness in this world. One of the reasons that I'm really troubled by the schools of eschatological thought that don't agree with what I'm teaching you is that I think that they contribute to the morass that we're in by teaching God's people. You really can't do anything about it. It's a lost thing. And the best you can do is try to lead your private holy life and hope to make it to the end, persevere to the end. Jesus will either return or you'll go to heaven. It's always like. Like it's just an unconquerable problem out there. And so we just got to hold the fort. Hold the fort mentality. Jesus mentality was not hold the fort. He said the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. That's not the Church prevailing against the onslaught of hell. That's hell not prevailing against the onslaught of the Church. And so if we were to change our outlook on what Jesus intends to do in history and realize that that part of the reason the world is so wicked and missions are not succeeding is because we aren't being faithful. When Jesus said, go disciple the nations, he added, lo, I'm with you always to the end of the age, and all power and authority in heaven and earth is mine. Now, I ask you to start preaching here in a minute. I ask you if Christ is with us through the end of the age, and he has all power, power and authority in heaven and on earth. Then why aren't we accomplishing the Great Commission? If we say, well, wickedness is just too great and unbelief can't be, we say, now wait a minute, Jesus is with us, and he has all power and authority. Now that's why post millennialism is not an idle matter of chart debating. Post millennialism has a lot to do with the life of the Church. I don't say that in party spirit. I love my amillennial, and I love my premillennial dispensational brothers. But I do think we'll all serve the Lord more faithfully and enthusiastically if we have what Jesus expects in our minds rather than what some of these false ideas of chronology and the nature of the kingdom teach us.