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The
amillennialists believe the church has existed since the account in
Genesis 3:15 and that the church will continue on earth until heaven
and earth are destroyed. They believe in a principle of “continuity”
– that nothing spiritually new occurs. So they do not believe
the church started at Pentecost, since that would be something new.
They believe the church has existed since the creation, and they reject
the idea of a rapture since that would mean the church would disappear
with no one left to preach the gospel - something new. Consequently,
they do not believe the church will disappear during a time called
the Tribulation. Therefore, they do not believe in a rapture either.
When they come to the book of Revelation, they cannot interpret it
literally since they reject the references to 42 months or 1,260 days
or "time, times and half-time" (a 3.5 year period of the
tribulation (Rev. 11:2; 12:6, 14; 13:5) spoken of in Daniel (Dan.
7:25; 9:27; 12:7). So they also reject a literal 1,000 year kingdom
spoken of in Rev. 20:2, 5.
Premillennialism
accepts scripture more literally. The amillennialist will claim that
he reads and understands scripture literally, too, but he admits that
his understanding is filtered by his principle of “continuity”
- nothing new happens. To make his system work, he must treat most
prophetic portions of scripture symbolically. So he finds difficulty
in understanding Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24-25,
or Revelation literally. He must treat many portions of scripture
symbolically to make his view work.
Conclusion:While
most reformed theologians are amillennialists, there are an increasing
number who are reformed in their theology with the exception of being
premillennial in their eschatology. This is not new. In fact, Justin
Martyr (100-165 AD) and Irenaeus (130-200 AD) were reformed in their
theology and premillennial about future things. |
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