Frameworks and the Future: Amillennialism
- An overview of the system:
- Amillennialists believe that the “millennium” is the interadvental age during which Christ reigns from heaven with His saints who have died. Though this reign is spiritual and heavenly, yet the kingdom is manifest on the earth through the Church and the advance of the gospel.
- AMs believe “the kingdom of God is both present and future…was founded by Christ at the time of his sojourn on earth, is operative in history now and is destined to be revealed in its fullness in the life to come” (Hoekema). Matthew 12:28: Luke 17:20-21; Romans 14:17 vs. Matthew 7:21; 8:11-12; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 2 Timothy 4:18.
- The promises made to Abraham, Israel, and David are fulfilled in Christ and His people (the Church) in many respects now but in fullness in the new heavens and new earth.
- The present and future aspects of the kingdom mean that believers now enjoy the spiritual blessings of the kingdom (already) while still awaiting the fullness of these blessings (not yet).
- Some believe this kingdom reign is heavenly only while others believe it is the spiritual reign of Christ through His Church on earth, but all believe that the kingdom breaks into this world in this already/not yet reality.
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