Premillenarianism

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Premillenarianism or premillennialism is a Christian eschatological doctrine that assumes a future thousand-year rule of Christ on earth ( millenarianism ), often with Israel as the politically and religiously dominant world power. The prefix Pre (Latin: before) means that Jesus Christ will come to earth before the millennial kingdom.

Scheme of the premillenarian view of the millennium

Representative

Premillenarianism is based on a literal interpretation of the Revelation of John and is particularly widespread in evangelical and fundamentalist groups. It is represented by free churches and special communities such as:

Premillenarianism is to be distinguished from postmillenarianism ( post : Latin after), which assumes that the millennium has already existed - since the first coming of Christ - and that justice will prevail in the present church age. Like amillenarianism , which understands the millennium purely spiritually, the promises to the people of Israel are related to the community ( substitution theology ) and passages that speak of the kingdom must be allegorized.

Schools of thought

Dallas theology professor Charles C. Ryrie distinguishes between different schools of thought. Anyone who does not understand the Bible literally is a non-premillennarist. Who'll take the Bible literally, but not consistently (about when it comes to prophecy go), who was a covenant theology -Prämillenarist ( covenant premillennialist ) and progressive dispensationalist . Ryrie says that anyone who takes the Bible literally throughout is a dispensationalist.

Biblical justification

Proponents of millenarianism refer primarily to Rev 20 : 1-10  EU . There it is described that Satan will be bound for a thousand years and that during that time, et al. a. Martyrs reign for Christ's sake with Jesus Christ. Afterwards Satan is released again, seduces the nations of the earth and is ultimately tormented in the lake of fire.

During the millennial kingdom, according to the premillenarism perspective, the Old Testament promises to Israel will be fulfilled (including the new covenant with Israel ( Jer 31.31-34  EU ), Israel as a great national state ( Dan 2.44  EU ), proselytizing the peoples ( Mt 28.19–20  EU ; Dan 7.27  EU ), temple building and service ( Ez 40–46  EU ; Acts 3.19–21  EU ), rule of the Messiah ( Zech 8.3  EU )). The heavenly promises to the church are to be distinguished from these earthly promises to Israel.

As for the rapture , there are three types of premillenarianism. It is widely believed that the church will be raptured before the great tribulation ( 1 Thess 4:17  EU ; 1 Cor 15.51–52  EU ) and will then come to earth with Christ before the millennium to meet those in the time of tribulation to rule the faithful Jews as well as the martyrs who died in the tribulation on earth. Others take the view that the church would be raptured in the middle of the great tribulation (after 3½ years; cf. Rev 11 : 2, 3, 15  EU ; Rev 12 :EU ) or at the end of the tribulation. The time interval between the rapture and the return to co-rule in the millennium is thus shorter than in the above view.

In the Millennium, these interpreters see a period that comes very close to the promised Eternal or Eonic Life; the Adamite curse that came upon mankind through the fall of man will be lifted (except for death) during the Millennium.

conspiracy theories

Since pre-millennialists interpret appearances of their presence as evidence that the tribulation is approaching, in which evil will temporarily gain control over the world, there is a widespread tendency among them to adopt conspiracy theories , which are also aimed at explaining where evil comes into the world . In the United States in particular, many premillennialists believe that the secret purpose of organizations like the United Nations , the Federal Reserve System, or the European Union is to establish a "New World Order," a world government under the rule of the Antichrist . The American political scientist Michael Barkun points out that premillenarism and conspiracy theoretic thinking are by no means necessarily connected with one another: For example, there were no conspiracy theories in the Adventist movement around William Miller , who had predicted the return of the Lord in 1843, at the latest in 1844; and not all conspiracy theorists believe in the victory of good which, according to the premillennialists, follows the tribulation. Nevertheless, according to Barkun, both often occur in symbiosis and mutual reinforcement.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles C. Ryrie: Dispensationalism. Moody Publishers, Chicago 2007, ISBN 0-8024-2189-X , p. 102.
  2. Michael Scott Lupo: Milleniarism . In: Peter Knight (Ed.): Conspiracy Theories in American History. To Encyclopedia . ABC Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver and London 2003, Vol. 1, p. 477.
  3. Michael Barkun: A Culture of Conspiracy. Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America . University of California Press, Berkeley 2013, p. 10.