Statement of Faith Changes: Premillenialism
Joel Van Hoogen
The Christian and Missionary Alliance has voted that its doctrinal statement regarding its premillennial position will remain largely the same. However, in 2025, a preamble is up for ratification that would encourage respect for but not require ascent to this doctrine. The suggestion is that this was the founder A.B. Simpson’s approach. I would argue that Simpson’s magnanimity towards those who were not premillennialists was not a step away from the doctrine but an attempt to bring more and more under the persuasion of it. A careful reading of Simpson’s writings reveals that his millennial expectations heavily influenced all that he taught. Simpson’s literal hermeneutic fed his understanding of Christ’s coming Kingdom upon the earth. And with that understanding, he drove home the distinctives of the movement he led.
His approach worked. As such, when the CMA established itself as a denomination, it did so by affirming its “Premillennial” position as a doctrinal standard. Our energy for mission and our deeper life passions were bound up in our millennial expectations. Contrary to the notion that a premillennial expectation promotes disengagement with the world, such a conviction fueled an activism to express, in real-world settings, the rule of the coming King. Instead of a defeatism that retreats from the world, encouraged by its millennial hope, the Alliance dove into the world to snatch from it those bound in the kingdom of Satan (Matt 12:26) to bring to them the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
To make the Kingdom of Christ merely a spiritual and otherworldly destination results in disconnecting the people, places, nations, and institutions of this age from any grand hope. On the other hand, an anticipation of a future Kingdom upon this earth, within the course of human history, in which Christ shall rule over the nations, invites a vision that our earth, the people of the earth, and the national institutions of this earth can and one day will be aligned to all the values of the King. This hope, like all true hopes, has a purifying and clarifying impact on the lives we live in the present. Relinquish this millennial vision, and we lose an important incentive for active, passionate, enduring service to our coming King in the dark kingdom in which we live.
Our Utopian Dreams and What They Mean
Plato had his Republic, Campanella his City of the Sun, Sir Thomas More his Utopia, and Bacon his New Atlantis. They each dreamed of a day when humans would engage in an ideal society of peace. These dreams have gone unanswered or have turned into nightmares. History's highest peaks of human optimism have ended in some of its darkest valleys of despair. Still, the dream of paradise has not evaporated. It may be helpful to consider that this dream is not an expression of wishful thinking. Instead, it is the faint whisper of God's original wish.
It is God who plans for a day of universal righteousness, a time in which his creation will live under an unchallenged and universal blessing. God made all things good, and he crowned his creation with Adam and Eve, made in his own glorious image (Gen 1:27). And then he gave them the command, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:28, NKJV). God, desiring blessing for all of his creation, ordained human beings as the special ambassadors of his delightful dominion—image bearers who were to spread the glory of his rule over all the earth.
But Adam and Eve fell in sin; the divine image became broken and distorted with evil. Humans, instead of spreading the glory of God’s dominion throughout the earth, have spread the effects of the fall—the thorn, the wasting, the hostility, the brutality, and the inequity that our broken image brings. Yet, God still renews his search for ambassadors for himself who will, through their submission to him, bring to the earth some measure of the blessing of his rule. As God rules in your life, a small oasis of that blessing is to be offered up on the dark landscape of this world.
God’s mandate continued. It went from Adam, to Noah (Gen 9:1), to Abraham (Gen 17:6), to Moses (Ex 19:3–6), to the house of David (Ps 72), to Israel (Ps 22:27–28), and now it has come to us in the church. The mandate has not come to us upon successive waves of obedience but by reason of successive failures to obey. Israel failed to carry out their missionary purpose to bring the glory of God to the ends of the earth. That same mission has now come to us (Matt 28:19–20). The renewed command to spread out and bear fruit reconfirms God’s commitment that his dominion, his blessing, and his peace be carried by his representatives to the ends of the earth.
This lack of fulfillment of God’s desire should feed an impulse for the day God has planned. God has planned the day he will enthrone his Son in dominion over all the earth. On that day, God's desire for all the earth will be realized in history and not outside of it. This is the hope of the millennial reign of Christ. Those who look for that day are called "Premillennialists." This is a doctrine of last things and, as such, requires an understanding of the literal promises God has made throughout scripture if we are to appreciate these final matters of divine revelation.
Premillennialism
Commencing with the return of Jesus Christ, there will come a time of his delightful dominion on earth that will last for 1,000 years (Rev 19:11–20:10). This will be a time as we mark time now, with hours and days and weeks and years. The return of Christ will bring to an end the Great Tribulation. Jesus will rule as king out of Israel over all the earth and over all nations. The nations will flood into Jerusalem to bring worship to the King (Jer 3:17). The fulfillment of blessing that God will bring at that time to Israel will mirror the blessing God will bring to all the nations (Gen 18:18). Those who have died in saving faith prior to this time will be raised in glorified bodies to reign with Christ for this period (Rev 20:4). It will be a time of flourishing in all the earth. Death that has reigned in human history for all in Adam will recede, and much more the gift of grace shall abound to many (Rom 5:12–17) [1]. We may expect the number of redeemed in that age to far exceed all those of the unredeemed throughout human history up to that point in time.
Satan will during this same 1,000 years be chained, cast into an abyss, and sealed inside it so he cannot go out to deceive the nations (Rev 20:2–3). At the conclusion of the 1,000 years, the unredeemed of human history will be raised to be judged by Christ. They will be judged without his saving benefit, and they, with Satan, will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:10-15). And then a new earth and a new heaven will be brought forth unto all eternity. But history and time as we know it will conclude with a 1,000-year age in which all the earth will know the righteous rule of Christ and that of his redeemed people ruling with him.
As We Await the Millennium: Live in light of the glory yet to come upon the earth.
It is true that God has all glory. He is never threatened with the loss of that glory. But it is the Creator's intent that this glory be reflected by his creation and upon his creation. He intends that all points of his creation be touched by the unshaded rays of his glory. His commission to those made in his image was to be fruitful and multiple and fill the earth. It was a call to obediently bring the light of his presence to the ends of the earth. Now, history demands a moment like that because history has never had a moment like that. Thus far, we have witnessed too many failures and so much brokenness. Is it God's way to blow it all up and concede that such an exaltation is not possible? No. God will get from this creation an expression of the glory of his peace and benediction in time, in the dimension of history as we know it and live it. For 1,000 years Christ shall reign, and his glory shall radiate through this earth.
Let me emphasize some of what will come about during this reign of 1,000 years:
There will be a great revival upon the earth. God will pour out the manifestation of his presence in fullness upon his people. The revivals this world has known have always been short-lived, a year or two or three at best. This one shall last for 1,000 years.
This 1,000-year revival will begin with a great work of repentance. Starting with the nation of Israel, it will sweep up all people in a heartfelt turning to God (Zec 12:10).
Repentance is the forebearer of an evangelistic awakening and of a tide of converts within any community. This too will happen in the Millennium. Souls will come to Jesus. They will come to him as King, and they will come to him as Savior (Zec 8:20-23).
It will be a time of deeply knowing God in rich experience and relationship. Habakkuk 2:14 tells us in those days that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." God cannot have more glory, but the world can have more knowledge of that glory. So far, such knowledge has been scant and fleeting, but such knowledge is coming to time, to earth, and to history in 1,000 years of the outpoured knowledge of the glory of God.
There will be a sustained expression of Christ-like holiness among the multitudes being saved (Eze 36:25-29).
Christ shall rule as King, and he shall lead a great reclamation project of human society and the environment in which they live. Christ will rule as King over not one nation but all the nations. He will impose a rise in society that reflects the values of truth and justice. He will lead each nation to blessings distinct for each tongue, each tribe. He will prove to be the Prince of Peace to all peoples of the earth. He will bring justice to the poor and downtrodden. He will restore the barren and desert places and turn them into gardens. He will nurture tranquility and peace among all beasts of the field. Each one of us will be given a designated area to direct and express his rule. Some will rule over one city, others over two. Some will administer societies, some work at distributing God's Word, and some at reclaiming the land to its proper use.
As We Await the Millenium: In the light of the glory to come, stay near this broken world.
The ground you’re standing on will one day radiate the glorious reign of our King. It will reflect his power, justice, peace, love, and holiness. Today you may walk through this land and say, "Here is where Christ is going to rule. Here is where he will make the lion and the lamb lay together." Yes, just as certainly as this land is a marker of things past, it is a marker of this thing to come.
The decision to make the millennial position of the CMA doctrinal statement a point for consideration and not conviction will have an impact upon our future. Such a move will make this cornerstone doctrine of the CMA a mere historical marker—a theological roadside turn-out that many will easily drive by. But the Millennium would teach us that the life we live in this fallen age is a dress rehearsal. We are engaged in preliminary preparations for the service we will render to Christ for those 1,000 years in this world. Jesus will wrest control of the world from Satan (1 John 5:19) and establish himself with dominion from sea to sea (Psa 72:8). For now, we cannot retreat from the places of witness and service to our age because we perceive our world sinking into ruin. We are the only people who may rationally rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Whatever judgment this world sinks into, Christ will raise it out of dark waters and bring to it the full realization of his glory. Therefore, we must live now in light of the life that will be ours in that coming age.
We are not the last gasp of witness before the light is snuffed out. The early church had an ascending view of the prospects of their ministry to their world. And so should we. We should consider that the great commission extended to the apostles not only a command to worldwide mission but also a promise in that mission. The command was to go and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). The promise was that this gospel would be preached to every creature! The command was to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19). The promise was that the nations would one day be Christ’s disciples! This hope was given to them in spite of other direct teaching to expect ongoing resistance and a mass rejection of the gospel at the end of the age (Luke 17:25–30). The best way to harmonize this lofty vision of the final conquest with the sobering realism of rejection in the last days is to hold them together in the promise of the millennial kingdom. Their work and ours will prevail and continue on into a golden age of service. We are to be conducting works of evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and constructive social engagements that shall, in spite of the present hardships, culminate in a 1,000 year high point of sanctified service. So, go at it with the promise in sight.
Postmillennialism hopes in promises materially fulfilled without the physical presence of Christ. It’s vision of a Christianized world tilts the Church’s mission towards ethical and social engineering and away from a message of a Savior who must intervene to bring holiness to us and to the earth. Amillennialism lingers in a standing already spiritually fulfilled. In so doing it dissipates the raw energy called upon to pursue the global enterprise of world evangelization. Both views fall short of biblical promises and suffer from underdeveloped anticipation. Premillennialism hopes in promises literally fulfilled by a physically present Christ, our coming King. This millennial vision breathed energy into the movement and message of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. It was an incentive for the work we took up to “bring back the King.” Do we need such energy and incentive less today or all the more as we see the day approaching?
Joel Van Hoogen - Church Partnership Evangelism - Boise, Idaho
[1] Romans 5:12–17 compares the death that came on all through Adam with the life that comes to all through Christ. This is not merely a reflection of qualitative experience but of quantitative impact. We can expect that Christ will bring into abundant life many more persons than Adam will have dragged into death. The millennium provides the most reasonable justification of this hope.