Postmillennialism and the Coming of the Rapture

Eschatological Changes in the History of American Protestantism

Jan 24, 2010 Michael Streich

Schofield's Bible Helped Spread Dispensationalism - Gracey/Morguefile

Until the advent of John Darby's Dispensationalism, American Protestantism followed a Post millennial view that highlighted American progressivism as a Utopian age began.

Most American Protestants in the 19th-century followed a postmillennial view of eschatology. This view suggested a Bible interpretation that linked the return of Christ with the end of the final age or millennium, a period of progressive Utopianism that presaged the golden age of a new Kingdom of God on earth. Closely identified with this view was the notion of an antichrist or the spirit of antichrist seeking to thwart the inevitable progress toward a glorious end of time.

Post Civil War Eschatology

Most Protestants living in the post Civil War years saw the growing national prosperity, industrial innovation, and global expansion as evidence of the building of a better community and world community. The strength of the latter 19th century missionary movement was based on two conclusions related to this view: the “Great Commission” to evangelize would bring the Gospel to every corner of the world and American progress would uplift the inferior peoples of disparate cultures to a new level of “civilization.”

President William McKinley’s decision to annex the Philippines after winning the Spanish American War is one example, based on his statements to the press in which he claimed to have received his answer to the problem from God. Popular Protestant hymns such as “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations” postulated a postmillennial view of missions. Other Protestant hymns, many still found in current hymnals, infer the same eschatological views.

Challenges of New Interpretations and the End of the Great War

World War I had a profound effect on Protestant eschatology. All of modern man’s progress had led to a war of carnage. Was this the sign of a postmillennial era? Although there had been social setbacks accompanying progress and prosperity like the severe economic downturns of the 1890s and the rise of violent labor strikes often fueled by Socialism, the nation had managed to extricate itself and continue on the path of eventual Utopianism.

Additionally, Evangelical Protestantism became strongly influenced by the teaching of John Nelson Darby, a founder of the English sect known as Plymouth Brethren. Darby and the Brethren had been influenced by Robert Norton’s 1861 book, The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church. Norton’s teachings revolutionized eschatology by advocating a two-stage return of Christ and for the first time introduced the idea of a “rapture” of the Church.

Darby incorporated this belief into his own theological system known as Dispensationalism, which divides human history into distinct ages or dispensations. Darby and the Brethren deeply influenced Cyrus Scofield. According to theologian Oswald T. Allis, “The Dispensational teaching of today, as represented, for example, by the Scofield Reference Bible, can be traced back directly to the Brethren Movement which arose in England and Ireland about the year 1830.”

Protestant Eschatology in a Post Modern World

Ever since the Millerites in the Second Great Awakening failed to witness Christ’s return as they waited on mountaintops, certain Christian denominations have predicted the end of time, identified antichrists, and given dates for the “rapture” of saints. Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Radio Church of God in California, published several dates. Others point to natural catastrophes as “signs of the end.” Pat Robertson recently equated the Haiti earthquake to that nation’s “pact with the devil.”

Christian views of an “end time” are many and vary greatly. The diversity of American Protestantism contributes to the rich literature of prophetic interpretation. Yet the view of latter ancient Judaism may still universalize a sense of hope in its non-specific belief of “the age to come.” Jesus, who equated the end with his own return, left the simple command, “occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13)

References:

• “Justification by Faith and the Identity of Antichrist,” Present Truth, September 1974, Vol. 3, No. 4, Robert D. Brinsmead, Editor
• “The Eschatological Nature of the Old Testament Hope,” Present Truth, April 1976, Vol. 5, No. 2, Robert D. Brinsmead, Editor
• [Present Truth maintained a policy of not publishing contributing author’s names]
• James A, Morone, Hellfire Nation (Yale University Press, 2003)

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.