A Delayed Millennium? — Part 2

A reader asked a provocative question after reading our last post. There we discussed the timing of the millennium. We compared the two resurrections in 1 Cor. 15 to the two resurrections in Revelation (Rev. 20:5–6). We showed the general nature of the second resurrection by using John 5:29.

That prompted his question. “Do you see the two resurrections in John 5:25 and 5:29 as parallel to the two resurrections in 1 Cor. 15 and the two resurrections in Rev. 20?” My answer is, Yes. And, I plan to explain the reasons for this answer in next week’s post.

We need to do some preparatory work in our current post.

Already-Not Yet?

I question the usefulness of the “already-not yet” slogan. Its application to kingdom (i.e., millennial) prophecies is problematic. I agree with Mark A. Seifrid’s analysis: “The expression . . . has become much over-used and little understood.”¹ Let’s discuss some of its weaknesses, then search for a better alternative.

At best, using “already-not yet” in relation to the kingdom is almost meaningless. Let us consider one example, chosen almost at random. Carl F. H. Henry says, “The incarnation of the Logos . . . [forces] upon us an exposition of God’s kingdom in terms of both the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet.’”² This is not wrong per se, but it is unhelpful.

What do such “already-not yet” statements mean? Do they just mean God has fulfilled some kingdom-prophecies, but not all? If so, how is this helpful? Few people misunderstand or deny this truth. To describe the kingdom as “already-not yet” is to state the obvious. Such assertions do not increase our understanding of Christ’s reign.³ This slogan does little to advance our understanding of prophecy.

The “already-not yet” catchphrase can also be misleading. It can hide important details about both the “already” and the “not yet.” For example, Paul did not just say the end of the Mosaic-Age night is “already” and the Messianic-Age day is “not yet.” He said, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:12). To analyze Paul’s prophetic view through an “already-not yet” lens is not enough. We must say other things about both parts of this assertion.

At worst, writers can use this formula to distort clear Biblical prophecies. For example, Jonathan Menn cannot accept Jesus’s timestamp in the Olivet Discourse. The Lord said the fulfillment of all his statements would occur in his generation (Matt. 24:34). Neither can Menn believe John’s visions in Revelation pertained to his immediate future (Rev. 1:1; et al.). He justifies his positions by saying,

John’s time references link the present and the future. They show that the principles about which he writes already are present and active. They are consistent with the “already, but not yet” nature of the kingdom and with the “signs” Jesus gave in the Olivet Discourse, which occurred in principle in his own generation yet allow the consummation to occur at an unpredictable time in the future.⁴

This is doublespeak. How can earthquakes, false prophets, and the Temple’s destruction occur “in principle”? How can they re-occur “at an unpredictable time in the future”? The invocation of the “already-not yet” principle cannot change Jesus’s timeframe.⁵ The Lord eliminated a distant future fulfillment. This slogan cannot alter John’s timing for his Revelation visions.⁶ They “must come to pass in their entirety shortly” (Rev. 1:1).⁷

Let’s find a better slogan to prepare for our next post.

An Alternative for “Already-Not Yet”

Jesus provides a better alternative to the “already-not yet” mindset. He describes the kingdom in terms of “the hour coming” and “the hour is coming and now is.”⁸ This two-part saying occurs in two consecutive chapters in John’s gospel. The second is the passage that generated our reader’s question. Let’s look at both.

The first instance is in Jesus’s conversation with a Samaritan woman. John says,

The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:19–24; emphasis added)

This framework refers to a short time—an hour (Gk. hōra). This hour would bring a dramatic change. Here, the change involved age transition. The lawful, Temple-based worship of the Mosaic Age would stop. The Messianic-Age worship “in spirit and in truth” would continue. Concerns about the proper geographic location would become irrelevant.

The effects of this soon-coming hour were already present. People already worshipped God in the new way. True, the decisive hour had not arrived. The Temple remained in place and the old-age worship continued. But, the worship of the Messianic Age had invaded the last days of the Mosaic Age. Many had already tasted “the good word of God, also the powers of the age that [was] about to come” (Heb. 6:5).⁹

Jesus’s “hour is coming—hour is coming and now is” formula pertains to the Messianic Age (or, the millennium). Its full arrival depended on the events of a short time period. Its effects were already present even before that hour fully arrived. Those effects would continue after the hour passed.

The second passage with this formula is in the following chapter.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:24–29; emphasis added)

This “hour is coming and now is—hour is coming” means the same here as it did in the previous chapter. True, this saying reverses the elements. But, Jesus mentions the same hour (Gk. hōra) that would bring a dramatic change. Here, the change involves resurrection. And, the effects of this change were already present. Jesus was already giving life to whom he would (John 5:21).

We plan (D. V.) to expand on this thought in our next post.

Conclusion

Let us adopt Jesus’s “hour is coming and now is—hour is coming” orientation. This is the New Testament orientation for the kingdom of God. Effects of the kingdom were a reality in Jesus’s day. The full arrival of the kingdom was imminent. The decisive hour would bring the “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21; Rev. 7:14). The Temple would fall, bringing a close to the Mosaic Age (Matt. 24:1, 3, 34).

Let us abandon the “already-not yet” slogan in our analyses of kingdom prophecies. It is too self-evident to be helpful. And, it sometimes hinders our search for truth.

This kingdom age, or millennium, is the age of worship “in spirit and truth.” It is also the age of resurrection. Our next post will discuss this in relation to the split resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 and the two resurrections in Rev. 20:5–6.

We will also attempt to reinforce our conclusion that the hour of which Jesus spoke has passed. The millennium is a present reality. Nothing delayed its arrival.

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1. Mark A. Seifrid, “Faith, Hope, and Love: Paul’s Message to the Church At Thessalonica,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 3, no. 3 (Fall 1999), 61.
2. Carl F. H. Henry, “Reflections on the Kingdom of God,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 31, no. 1 (Mar 1992), 40.
3. This slogan is important to some dispensationalists. They confine all kingdom promises to Israel’s future. For them, to embrace an “already-not yet” mindset is to leave dispensationalism. See, for example, Bruce A. Baker, “The Dangers of Kingdom Ethics, Part I: Theonomy, Progressive Dispensationalism, and Social–Political Ethics,” Journal of Dispensational Theology 20, no. 61 (Winter 2016), 231. This is not a factor for non-dispensationalists.
4. Jonathan Menn, Biblical Eschatology (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2013), 191. Emphasis added.
5. For that timeframe, see When Shall These Things Be?
6. For that timing, see The Bookends Of Revelation.
7. Kenneth S. Wuest, Expanded Translation of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1961), 587.
8. The above image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. The original is here.
9. Wuest, Greek New Testament, 521.