This binding of Satan began when the church began to spread from Judaea into other regions, and lasts yet, and shall do until his time be expired.
SAINT AUGUSTINE
The title of this post comes from a lame joke I heard at the Calvinist seminary I attended in the mid-1990s before losing my faith and becoming an atheist. When asked about his view about the millennium as told in Revelation 20, one of my professors cracked that it was a "a- pre- post-erous situation" as he wrote the term on a dry erase board. It was a mnemonic device to help remember the three viewpoints--amillennialism, premillennialism, and postmillennialism. As lame as it was, it worked. I still remember it almost three decades later.
This post is about eschatology which is the study of what's going to happen in the future according to Scripture. At the outset, I have to dispense with the most foolish of ideas which is the Rapture, a concept very popular among evangelical Protestants and pounded into them by those Left Behind books. The Rapture is a mistaken interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:12-17 which refers to the Second Coming of Christ and not some pre-advent of Christ making the Second Coming the Third Coming. Evangelical Christians love the Rapture because they place no redemptive value on suffering and have imagined for themselves an escape hatch from the Tribulation that is to come. These folks are not alone in this desire as I will point out later. What I can say is that the Rapture is an error that I rejected even before I became a Roman Catholic.
The millennium is a thousand year reign of Christ. The debate comes down to how long and when it happens. The premillennialists believe that Christ's Second Coming comes at the beginning of this thousand year reign which ushers in an age of peace where Satan gets released at the end to get defeated by Christ. The postmillenialists believe that Christ's Second Coming comes at the end of the millennium as Christians defeat Satan and offer up the world as a shining prize to the Lord. The amillennialists believe that the millennium is not a literal thousand years but refers to the present age between the First Coming of Christ and His Second Coming. This age will end with that Second Coming.
What is the right answer? I can't tell you the right answer because many faithful Catholics, saints, and theologians have differed on the matter and are free to do so. The Roman Catholic Church has issued no firm doctrine on the matter. The amillennial position is the most popular position because this was the position of Saint Augustine who came around to it after initially being for premillennialism. I don't care to debate the viewpoints, but I do wish to highlight the "cash value" of each position on the minds and lives of believers.
Premillennialists are a gloomy bunch waiting for the total destruction of the world. Instead of being busy as Christians, they take a retreatist strategy and try to remove themselves from the conflicts with the world. They don't want to fight since they are prophesied to lose. This attitude is captured best in Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option which was very popular among Catholics despite being written by a schismatic who couldn't take the suffering of being a Roman Catholic anymore and opted for the Russian Orthodox Church. Fundamentally, these folks take the same strategy as those Rapture believing Protestants. The goal is to find the escape hatch from suffering.
Postmillennialists are an optimistic bunch. They believe they are going to fight and win the battle for Christ. Among the orthodox faithful, the person who best typifies this mindset is Taylor Marshall with his Jericho Marches and campaign for President. I have no idea if he is a premill, postmill, or amill in his theology. But his attitude and actions are firmly postmillennialist because they are "manly" or something. I think they are stupid.
Postmillennialism also feeds into liberalism and modernism. Since the world must be subdued for Christ and made perfect, this fits well with Marxism and liberation theology. The postmillennialist tends to be worldly and political. Ultimately, does it really matter if Christ returns since His followers did the job for Him?
Amillennialists are in the middle of these extremes. Essentially, they work not to create Heaven on earth but to prevent Hell on earth. This is why they can vote for the lesser of two evils knowing that Christ is the only Messiah. Christ reigns now and keeps the world from descending into total chaos. When things become as bad as they will ever get, Christ will return at that moment to put an end to all the evil. The result is that amillennialists are neither given to triumphalism nor defeatism but patience. The Gentle Reader will understand now why I always counsel patience for almost every ill and setback we encounter. I am an amillennialist.
Sometimes, we get a win like the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Other times, we take a loss when some new scandal involving priests and bishops explodes. Regardless if the season is one of refreshment or adversity, the amillennialist looks to the Return of Christ for his ultimate hope. The key is to be busy until that return. The goal isn't winning. The goal is not quitting.
When I read Revelation 20, it is obvious to me that it is amillennial. In the long term, I expect things to get really dark before the dawn of Christ's Second Coming. In the short term, things can be better or worse as Saint Peter referred to them in Acts 3:20 as "times of refreshment." This is an age of mercy and penance. If you are comforted, rejoice. If you are afflicted, offer it up. The seasons do not matter because we are to be fruitful in season and out of season. The main thing is to not lose the faith because of foolish hope or despair. If you are a postmillennialist, you can't win. If you are a premillennialist, you can't escape. You are called to fight a losing battle that only Christ can win. Christ wins in the end. Be on the winning side when the end comes.
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Recycled from the Smoke of Satan blog
