There are four views regarding The Millennial Kingdom.

They are the amillennial view, the postmillennial view, the anti-millennialists, and the premillennial view. They each have to do with end time views regarding when Jesus will come back for His people and especially when talking about The Kingdom of God, whether it is going to be a literal kingdom or not. Let’s investigate them:

1. Amillennialism.

These folks simply deny a literal reign of Christ. They do not see any literal application to these verses. Most of them believe this happened in 70 A.D. when the 2nd Temple was destroyed by Titus and the Roman army. Actually, Titus was trying to save the temple so he could turn it into a place of worship for pagan Roman gods but he could not stop the enthusiasm of the soldiers who were hell-bent on destroying the Zionists. Over a million-people died in that siege and bodies were piled high in the streets of Jerusalem. That was prophesied by Christ and is shown in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. We will discuss that subject more later on in this series.

2.  Antimillennialism.
This is a term you do not hear often but this group is an off-shoot of the Amillennialists. Their idea is a little strange but it can be traced back to the Roman Catholic Church who believes that their church is the kingdom and any millennial kingdom theorized is experienced now in this age. It is a little quirky but nevertheless, their group tries to make some sense of it. Their theologians interpret the Book of Revelation as varied descriptions of the present age. They basically indulge in a lot of speculation instead of taking the Scripture literally.

3.  Postmillennialism.
They hold to the view that the millennium will be somewhere in the future. However, unlike what the Scripture says, it will be set up on this earth by the outreach through the ministries of the church. They believe that the world will get better and better. They think that they will get the world ready for Christ to just come and sit on His throne. That’s why you see so much social justice preached instead of the gospel of Christ. Their work will be focused upon making the entire world a better place, bringing everyone together to sing kumbaya and hold hands together. Such will certainly not be the case, but it is the belief of many who do not hold the Bible as the absolute truth of God. It has permeated the teachings of the once great churches of America and Europe. As they deny Scripture, they deny reality concerning end-time events.

4.  Premillennialism.
This teaching is what is most accurate with Scripture and was held by the early church. The Roman Catholic Church held to premillennialism without question until 467 A.D. That’s when The Bishop of Rome, the Pope, became the ultimate head of the Catholic Church and that is when their theology switched from premillennial to anti-millennial. Premillennialism tends to interpret these prophecies in Scripture as literal and specific, however there are varying views of The Olivet Discourse. Let me state that it is vitally important that Christians understand the two chapters, Matthew 24 and 25.
My personal view is a pre-tribulation rapture and premillennialism. That Christ will come before the Tribulation Period to take His Church out of this World and the events that follow are the Tribulation Period and then The 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom of Christ upon this earth.
In the next Part, Part III, we will begin discussing the general meaning of Matthew 24 and 25 and how the prophecies fit within the context.

Ken Lewis Th.D.