A skeptic of inmillennialism might lodge an objection based on Jesus’s Great Commission. After his resurrection he said:
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:18–20; emphasis added)
The skeptic could base his objection on the following propositions. Inmillennialism says:
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- Jesus gave the Great Commission in AD 30.
- “The end of the age” refers to the Mosaic age.
- The Mosaic age would end when the Temple fell.
These are accurate. The first one rests on the work of scholars like A. T. Robertson.1 The second comes from the traditional Jewish two-age view of history. Jesus lived in the “last days” of the Mosaic age.2 The third rests on Jesus’s prophecy in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:1–3).
The skeptic could conclude that inmillennialism says Jesus only promised to be with the church until the end of the Mosaic age. It says the Great Commission does not promise his presence in the messianic (or church) age. But Jesus must be with the church in the messianic age for her to “make disciples of all the nations.”3 So, he thinks inmillennialism must be wrong.
This post will address this problem. It will also connect to our recent series of posts on the miraculous gifts in the church.4
A Shared Problem
The above objection assumes Jesus’s promise to be with the church “even to the end of the age” means he would not be present after that point. This is an error as we shall see, but let us grant it for the moment.
This supposed problem is not unique to inmillennialism. The other prophetic models—which we describe here—have it, too. They say Jesus was promising to be with the church until the end of the messianic age. So, according to the supposed objection, Jesus will not be present with the church in the eternal state. This makes Jesus say he will be with the church “even to the end of the [messianic] age” but no further.
We know this cannot be true. So, inmillennialism joins the other prophetic models in grappling with this problem. What did Jesus mean when he promised to be with the church “even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20)?
Meaning of “Until”
A literal translation helps us answer this question. Jesus said, “lo, I am with you all the days—till (Gk. heōs) the full end of the age” (Matt 28:20 YLT).
This word (heōs) can imply something is true to a point in time, then is no longer true. For example, when Jesus was on the cross, “there was darkness over the whole land until (Gk. heōs) the ninth hour.” (Mark 15:33). We assume the sun began to shine later.
But in other cases, the opposite implication is present. The pre-existing condition will continue after the time specified. For example, Jesus said, “from the days of John the Baptist until (Gk. heōs) now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Matt 11:12). We must not conclude this situation changed after Jesus spoke these words. The kingdom will suffer violence until the end of the messianic age.
This word falls in a category of words that mean “the limit up until which.” Jesus used such words at least twice in the Olivet Discourse. He said, “As in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until (Gk. achris hos) the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until (Gk. heōs) the flood came and took them all away” (Matt 24:38–39).5
Regarding achris hos, O. Palmer Robertson says,
The phrase brings matters “up to” a certain point or “until” a certain goal is reached. It does not itself determine the state of affairs after the termination. The subsequent circumstances can be learned only from the context. The significance of this point becomes apparent when the nature of the termination is analyzed more carefully.…
The point of this assertion [in Matt 24:38] is not that a day came in which the people no longer ate and drank, but rather that they continued with their eating and drinking until their ‘eschaton’ arrived.
In 1 Corinthians 15:25, Paul declares that Christ must reign “until” he has put all enemies under his feet. The point is not that a day will come in which Christ will no longer reign. Instead, the point is that he must continue reigning until the last enemy is subdued.6
Time-limiting words like those Jesus used in the Olivet Discourse and Great Commission do not determine the state of things after the imposed limit. We cannot infer Jesus meant he would not be with the church after the end of the age, regardless of whether he meant the Mosaic age or the messianic age.
No Messianic-Age Promise Needed
Several lines of thought suggest there was no need for the Great Commission to assure the disciples of Jesus’s presence in the messianic age.
The first involves inmillennialism’s view of Jesus’s parousia. This word is another name for his presence with the church in the messianic age. When Jesus said the Temple would fall, his disciples asked him about the sign of his parousia and the end of the Mosaic age (Matt 24:1–3). We showed Jesus answered both questions in our posts on the Development of a Prophetic Model, especially the one here. The Mosaic age would end in the disciples’ generation (Matt 24:34). Jesus’s presence—his parousia—would dwell with them in the messianic age.
The second reason involves the covenant transformation. In the “last days” (Heb 1:2) of the Mosaic age, God removed the old covenant and established the new covenant. In the latter, he had promised to dwell with his people more intimately than he had in the former (Jer 31:31–34; Heb 8:8–13).
Our third reason springs from prophecies of the messianic age. This age would be a time of God’s intimate presence with his people. For example, God had said, “‘Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,’ says the LORD” (Zech 2:10; emphasis added).
The disciples knew of Jesus’s prophecy in the Olivet Discourse. They knew about covenant transformation. And, they knew the messianic-age prophecies. So, there was no need in the Great Commission for Jesus to assure them of his presence with them in the messianic age.
A “Last-Days” Promise Needed
There was an urgent need, however, for Jesus to affirm his presence with the church until the Temple fell. In Luke’s account of the Great Commission, Jesus
said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46–48)
Jerusalem and Israel would not respond well. Jesus had told them what they would do.
Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth.… Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. (Matt 23:34–36)
The disciples who heard the Great Commission needed to know Jesus would be with them during this time of severe persecution. They must, as Paul later said, “through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). They needed to know Jesus would be with them until he returned in his kingdom (e.g., Matt 16:27–28).
Jesus honored his promise. The disciples “went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following” (Mark 16:20). He was with them in this special way “even to the end of the [Mosaic] age.”
The Promise and Miraculous Gifts
We can now link Jesus’s promised presence in the Great Commission to the miraculous gifts. In Matthew’s version of the Commission, Jesus promised to be with the disciples until the end of the Mosaic age. In Mark’s, Jesus said:
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. (Mark 16:15–18)
Paul says these miraculous signs would cease being a routine part of the church’s life “when that which is perfect has come” (1 Cor 13:10). Our series of posts7 on this subject said “that which is perfect” is the messianic age.
Let us combine Jesus’s promise with Paul’s observation. Jesus was with his disciples “to the end of the [Mosaic] age” in a unique way. He supported them by a continuous performance of miraculous signs. “God [bore] witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will” (Heb 2:4).
When the Temple fell, the Mosaic age ended. The transition to the messianic age was complete. Jesus had been with his church uniquely in the “last days” of the Mosaic age.
Again, this does not mean Jesus withdrew his presence after the Temple fell. He continued to dwell with his people in the messianic age, but the continuous supply of miraculous gifts ceased at “the end of the age.”
Conclusion
Jesus’s promise to be with his disciples “even to the end of the age” fits well in inmillennialism. The promise does not suggest his presence would end. Other Scriptures assure the church that it continues in the messianic age.
The disciples were sure of this. They used the word parousia (presence) as a synonym for that age (Matt 24:3).
Jesus was right to draw attention to his presence with the church “to the end of the age.” His miraculous gifts distinguished this period from all others.
In the messianic age, Jesus’s presence continues with his church. Through the spiritual weapons he provides (cp. 2 Cor 10:3–5), she will “make disciples of all the nations.” She will fulfill the Great Commission.
Footnotes
- A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ (New York: Harper, 1922), 159.
- Previous posts have discussed this at length. See Meditations in Matthew Twelve: Two Ages. For more discussion of the two ages, see here.
- The image in this post is Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio (1571–1610). This file (here) is in the public domain (PD-US).
- Those posts are here, here, here, here, and here.
- For heōs see Joseph Thayer and James Strong, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded With Strong’s Concordance Numbers (Milford, MI: Mott Media, 1982), 268. For achris see Thayer and Strong, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, 91. Both refer to the terminus ad quem.
- O. Palmer Robertson, The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2000), 179–80. Emphasis added.
- Again, those posts are here, here, here, here, and here.
