THE MILLENNIAL AGE APPROACHES BY IMPERCEPTIBLE DEGREES
The golden
age of righteousness is, of course, not to be thought of as beginning
suddenly, or on any particular date. It cannot be pinpointed on the calendar,
for it comes as the result of a long, slow process. "The kingdom of
heaven cometh not with observation" (Luke 17:20). It is "first the blade, then
the ear, then the full grain in the ear" (Mark 4:28). Or again, it is "precept
upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, there a little" (Is. 28:10).
The coming of
the Millennium is like the coming of summer, although ever so much more slowly
and on a much grander scale. In the struggle between the seasons there are
many advances and many apparent setbacks. Time and again the first harbingers
of spring appear, only to be overcome by the winter winds. It often seems that
the struggle has been lost and that the cold of winter will never be broken.
But gradually the moderate spring breezes take over, and after a time we find
ourselves in the glorious summer season.
Trying to
pinpoint the date on which the Millennium begins is like trying to distinguish
the day or year when Medieval history ended and Modern history began. The
discovery of America by Columbus usually is taken as the landmark dividing the
two. At least for us as Americans that is where medievalism ends and where the
story of America begins. But that discovery made no immediate change in the
life of the world, and in fact Columbus himself died without ever knowing that
he had discovered a new world. In retrospect and for convenience we
arbitrarily choose a date as the division point between two eras. But in
reality one such age blends into another so slowly and so imperceptibly that
no change is recognizable at the time. Only with the perspective of history
can we look back and set an approximate date, perhaps within a century or two,
as to when one era ceased and another began. So it is with the coming of the
Millennium. Undoubtedly it will follow the law of all of the other great
periods in the history of the Church, being gradual and uncertain in its
approach.
We find that
time and again during the Church age there has been progress toward higher
moral and spiritual standards, only to suffer tragic setback through a series
of wars or retrogressions. Looked at from the standpoint of present day
events it may not be possible to say which way the tides are moving. But over
the centuries there is progress, great progress if we look back five hundred,
or a thousand, or two thousand years. Certainly many of those who tell
us that the world is getting worse would change their minds very quickly if
they suddenly found themselves back in colonial days, or in the Dark Ages, or
in the pre-Christian era.
The following
paragraph by Dr. William Hendriksen, Professor in Calvin Seminary, in regard
to the "binding" of Satan in Revelation 20: 1-3, is much to the point. We
differ with Dr. Hendriksen only in that we regard the millennial age as
belonging primarily to a future era, while he as an Amillennialist understands
it as embracing the entire Church age. But that is beside the point. Says he:
"The Church
has become international. The international Church is very powerful; like a
mighty army moves the Church of God!... The particularism of the Old Testament
has made place for the universalism of the New. The Bible, just recently, was
translated into its thousandth (!) tongue. The influence of the Gospel upon
the thought and life of mankind can scarcely be overestimated. In some
countries the blessed truth of Christianity affects life in all its phases:
political, economic, social, and intellectual. Only the individual who lacks
the historical sense and is, therefore, unable to see the present in the light
of conditions which prevailed throughout the world before Christ's ascension,
can fail to appreciate the glories of the millennial age in which we are now
living. Truly, the prophecy found in Psalm 72 is being fulfilled before our
very eyes" (More than Conquerors, p. 227).
We have made
much progress during the Christian era, but still, on postmillennial grounds,
it hardly seems that even in the most advanced nations of the earth we have
seen anything that is worthy of being called more than the early dawn of the
Millennium. We might say that as yet we still are engaged primarily in laying
the foundation rather than building the superstructure. Some Amillennialists,
as we have just seen, deny that there is to be a future golden age on either
post- or premillennial principles, and hold instead that the term embraces the
entire period between the first and second coming of Christ. We believe,
however, that while we are making progress we still have a long distance to
go, and that the Millennium will be something much more advanced and glorious
than anything that has yet been seen.
We hold that
Christ is not merely the potential victor, but the actual victor over sin.
During the interadventual reign He is steadily putting into effect the victory
that He has won, gradually overcoming the forces of evil, until all His
enemies shall have been made the footstool of His feet (Acts 2:35). The
dispensation in which we now are is a period of advancing conquest, so that
when He returns it is to a converted world. Appropriate here are the words of
Dr. Samuel G. Craig:
"Certainly
on the basis of Scripture we are warranted in looking forward to a period
relatively golden as compared with that which we now enjoy. Christ is today
the head of a kingdom, a kingdom that is not merely engaged in conflict with
evil but that is triumphing over evil. We are today living in the midst of a
period that is relatively golden as measured with the period in the midst of
which the New Testament was written. Moreover, Christ is to go on conquering
and to conquer until the kingdoms of this world shall have become the
kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, until in fact the prayer He taught His
disciples to pray shall have been realized, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done, as in heaven, so on earth' " ( Jesus As He Was And Is, p. 278).
A truly
Christianized world was the goal set before the disciples by Christ Himself,
for he said, "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations," And
that this might be a long, slow process was indicated by the form of the
promise that he gave in connection with that command: "Lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20). The leaven is to work
until it leavens the whole lump. The kingdom, like the little mustard seed, is
to grow until it becomes a tree. Here too is to be found the fulfillment of
the promise, "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the
waters cover the sea" (Is. 11:9). John gives us the prophecy that the Devil
shall be bound for a thousand years, "that he should deceive the nations no
more" (Rev. 20:3). And that this latter prophecy relates not to the
intermediate state, nor to the eternal order, but to the present world order,
should be clear from the fact that John saw the angel "coming down out of
heaven" to the earth, and from the fact that the nations, entities which
relate to this present world order, are specifically mentioned. The nations as
such have no place in the heavenly kingdom.
The earth
during the present dispensation never can, of course, become paradise
regained. But a Christianized world can award a foretaste of heaven, an
earnest of the good things that God has in store for those who love Him. In
principle Christians already are partakers of the heavenly life. They have
been "born anew" or "born from above" (John 3:3); they have been "made alive,"
whereas they formerly were "dead" through trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1): they
are "partakers of a heavenly calling" (Heb. 3:1); they have "tasted of the
heavenly gift" (Heb. 6:4); their "citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20); and
Paul says that already God has "raised us up with him, and made us to sit with
him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). When we are born anew
we are born into the Kingdom and partake of the preliminary benefits of the
Kingdom even in this world.
Hence we
see the world progressing slowly but surely toward an appointed goal. Much
progress has been made. Already the beams of the rising Sun of Righteousness
are beginning to displace the darkness and confusion and wretchedness and ruin
that they are destined to chase away. Says Dr. Warfield, "According to the New
Testament, this time in which we live is precisely the time in which our Lord
is conquering the world to Himself; and it is the completion of this conquest
which, as it marks the completion of His redemptive work, so it sets the time
for His return to earth to consummate His kingdom and establish it in its
eternal form" (Article, The Gospel of the Second Coming, in The Bible
Magazine, April 1915).
