The Kingdom of Christ

I saw in the night visions and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days…and there was given Him dominion and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion… and judgement was given to the saints of the most High…(Dan 7:13-14, 22).

The concept of the millennium refers to the reign of Christ, when and where Christ will reign. The three main views on the kingdom of Christ are:

Post-millennialism: The Second Coming of Jesus occurs after the millennium. The millennium is seen here as symbolic of a period before His Second Coming. It is not known how long this period is. In this period the church expands in glory and influence throughout the world, improving all things, including social conditions and justice.

There is strong support for this is scripture. For example, Paul said in 1 Cor 15:25 that Christ must reign until all enemies are subjected under His feet. We will discuss this passage below. Then there are the parables of the seed becoming a great tree and of the woman who added leaven to the dough (Matt 13:32-33).

The kingdom of Christ in the world will continue to expand in influence until all evil is put down. When that has happened, i.e. after this period of the victory of Christ’s kingdom through the church, Jesus’ Second Coming will occur, at which time we enter the New Heaven and New Earth.

This view has been held by many at various times throughout church history, including today. It was a fairly dominant view in the 18th and early 19th Centuries.
Pre-millennialism: This view holds that the Second Coming of Christ occurs at the beginning of a literal millennium, i.e. a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. Jesus will reign in Jerusalem in the Middle East. Before this occurs evil will increase and dominate the earth. There will be a falling away of the church and antichrist will dominate. Christ comes to put down all evil and give us the victory.

There is a variety of views associated with pre-millennialism, regarding questions such as whether the temple will be rebuilt, or what the roles of Israel, the law and sacrifice will be. Most who hold to pre-millennialism believe that we enter eternity after the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. That is, after the millennium this planet and the heavens are destroyed and God makes a new universe with a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Pre-millennialism has been a major view within Christianity for about the last 100 years. It is depicted in popular novels about end-times.

A-millennialism: A is a Latin prefix meaning no, or none. So a-millennialism means no millennium. This means that there is no literal millennium on earth. The term millennium is a symbolic term representing Christ’s rule from heaven. He reigns through the church, but He also exercises full sovereignty over all nations.

Evil still exists on the earth during the millennium, by God’s permission and for God’s purposes. But Christ reigns as He gathers in His elect and builds His Church. At the end of this age the Second Coming will occur along with the resurrection of the church and of the wicked for the last judgement and the New Heaven and New Earth.

A-millennialism has been held at various times throughout church history and overall has been one of the dominant views. It is still held by many Christians today.

Topics in this chapter include:

• Jewish thought.
• Early church history thought.
• Pre-tribulation rapture doctrine.
• The book of Revelation.
• The two resurrections.
• The reign of Christ.
• Fatalism.
• The rage of Satan.
• The book of Daniel.

We do not hold a distinction between the terms kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven and kingdom of Christ. The kingdom of God is sometimes said to be within us. It refers to the will of God being done in our lives. The rule or kingdom of God is also expressed through the kingdom of His Son.

There is a difference between the kingdom of God as it is taught in the Bible and ideas that were taught in paganism. Paganism had an influence on Jewish thought during the days of their captivity, first in Babylon and later under the Greeks and Romans. Some of these issues are discussed in the chapter on Spirit Baptism and the chapter on education, as these subjects interrelate.