General Thoughts on Eschatology
At Trinity Talk, we have had a few guests discuss eschatology with us. Yesterday we had Gary Demar discussing his book Last Days Madness. The book was a paradigm shifter for me some years ago. It was a sort of eschatological wake-up call. Orthodox Preterism combined with an optimistic eschatology solved my gnostic dilemmas and shattered my “to be or not to be active” questions. In light of my current re-reading of Mathison’s Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope, my recent interviews with Gary Demar and Joel McDurmon and a three part series I presented at Providence Church, my mind is naturally consumed with this topic. As a result, here are some random thoughts:
a) A natural outworking of the kingdom of God means that one day all Christians will be Postmillennialists.
b) Passages of suffering in the Bible seem to have a more first century orientation, if we allow the context to speak for itself. Nevertheless, we are not immune from suffering. Suffering for a Christian leads to victory and not defeat.
c) Martin Salbrede once said that the law of God in the Bible is always tied to some statement about government. Thus, Postmillennialism must have a theonomic vision at its root.
d) Satan works to give the Church an unrealistic vision. He works very hard to persuade us to view the world through human sight and not by faith.
e) We already live in a theocracy, as Jim Jordan puts it. Our goal is to tell people they are insane for not believing in a Theocracy (God’s rule).
f) Postmillennialism virtually founded these United States through the Puritans. If there had been no vision, we would still be under British rule.
g) The Dutch Reformed turned the Dispensational tide by teaching us to apply our Calvinism.
h) Worship is at the center of true Biblical revival.
i) You forsake the Church you forsake dominion.
j) Not all Presuppositionalists are Postmillennial, but all Postmillennialists must be Presuppositional if they are consistent.
k) There is no other alternative for the covenant family, then to give their children covenant education.
l) Modern Postmillennialists are the only ones I am aware of addressing issues of family and church and state from a Biblical perspective and not from the theory of natural law.
m) Convince a man of Postmillennialism and you have convinced him to be a student of theology for life.
n) Postmils strive for true catholicity.
o) We actually believe in the Lord’s Prayer.
p) As I mentioned in my series, we do not look to the past, but to the future. Though our heritage is great, our future will be greater.
q) Wealth is not evil…in fact, apart from wealthy Christians the gospel will not have gone as far as it has.
r) We believe in the effectiveness of the Great Commission.
s) Technology used properly is good, not bad. The gospel has gone farther in this generation than any other generation due to the advances of technology.
t) Paul seems to place “unity” at the center of Christ’s mission to bring all things together in heaven and on earth. The only eschatology that makes sense out of this mission is postmillennialism. Amils and Premils–with exceptions–see no interest in such endeavor.
to be continued…
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