A reader who wishes to remain anonymous responded to my recent blog post, Parousia Now. Carl—my fictitious name for the reader—said:
The Messiah is not on earth yet. When he is here there will be no evil. Evil is rampant now. I don’t see how you can say we are in the messianic age. The Messiah is coming and it will be a glorious time, but it is not here yet.
Carl is reacting to the central thesis of the blog post—that the Greek word parousia refers to the presence of Christ with his churches during the present messianic (church) age. His thoughts may represent those of other readers, so I want to address them here.
Mortimer Adler made a profound observation in his work How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading: “To agree without understanding is inane. To disagree without understanding is impudent.”1 We often reject views that differ from our own without fully understanding those views. If this is the case here, I hope that Carl will attempt to understand inmillennialism by reading my book Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days. He may never agree with my position, but at least he will understand it.
Here, I want briefly to address the issues Carl raises. First, he says, “The Messiah is not on earth yet.” I suspect he means that Jesus is not on earth in his physical body, and, if so, I am in total agreement. The Apostle Peter describes the ascension of Jesus’ fleshly body from the grave to the throne of David in heaven:
God had sworn with an oath to [David], that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:30–36)
In his glorified body, Jesus sits “on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3), reigning until he makes all his enemies his footstool (Acts 2:35; cp. Ps 110:1). Paul says he will remain there throughout the present age until the resurrection (1 Cor 15:25–26). So, inmillennialism agrees with Carl’s statement if he means that Christ’s physical body is in heaven now.
But the Scriptures often speak of Christ being here now—during this age—in another sense: he is spiritually present with his churches. This spiritual presence is no less real than his physical presence and, in many ways, it is far more profound. When speaking to the disciples about his soon-coming physical departure, Jesus said: “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.… He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” He then said, “I go away (i.e., physically), and come again (i.e., spiritually) unto you” (John 14:18, 21, 28). Jesus exhorts his followers to recognize this spiritual return: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4). We must acknowledge and confess that the Messiah is here now in this important sense.
The Apostle John gives us a picture of what the spiritual presence of Christ looks like in this age:
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. (Rev 1:12–20)
This is not a vision of the eternal state, nor a supposed future 1000-literal-year age; it is a vision of reality in John’s day and our own. Consider the Apostle’s description of his situation: “I, John, [am] both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:9 NKJV). John was living in “the tribulation” and “the kingdom” when John wrote Revelation. And Jesus was on earth “in the midst of the seven candlesticks (i.e., churches)” (Rev 1:13). This is not a description of a far-distant reality.
But this situation is what inmillennialism means when it speaks of the parousia of Christ as “the presence of Christ with his church during the entire messianic age,” as I mentioned in Parousia Now.
Second, Carl says, “When he is here there will be no evil. Evil is rampant now.” But Christ is here now according to the Scriptures. His churches exist amid a fallen world, and he has told us what we must do about this situation:
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “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.” Amen. (Matt 28:18–20 NKJV)
Paul has assured us we are capable through the Holy Spirit of achieving this goal:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor 10:3–5)
Once the church has made “disciples of all the nations,” then will be brought to pass the kingdom glory described in many Old Testament passages. David, for example, said, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee” (Ps 22:27).
Carl and I were both raised in churches that taught similar things about the last-days. Our pastors said the kingdom of heaven comprises a literal 1000-year period that will follow Christ’s return at the end of the present church age. They taught us that Christ will then be physically present with his people. So I suspect that Carl is referring to this “millennium” when he says, “When he (i.e., Christ) is here there will be no evil.”
But the Bible does not describe the 1000-year reign of Christ, or even the new heavens and earth, as a period with no evil present. John says the Messiah will reign over the nations and “rule them with a rod of iron” (Rev 19:15). To what purpose is “a rod of iron” if no evil is present? In the messianic age, John sees “the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2). If there is no evil present, why do the nations need healing? How can persons inside the New Jerusalem invite the “dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Rev 22:15) to come into the city if no evil is present during this time? These are not images of a sin-free period.
Inmillennialism says these images—the 1000-year reign of Christ and the new heavens and earth—depict the present messianic (kingdom) age. Yes, evil is present, but so is our risen Christ, and he will give us the victory over that evil. The church will make disciples of all nations in this age so that “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).
Third, Carl says, “I don’t see how you can say we are in messianic age.” My reasoning is simple. The Jews divided history into two ages, the pre-messianic age and the age following the coming of the Messiah. Jesus affirmed this two-fold division of history: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the one about to come.”2 The Scriptures do not authorize us to insert another age into our thinking. We are living in the age that was “about to come” in Jesus’ day; Jesus is now reigning on the throne of David (Acts 2:30). So, this is the messianic age.
Fourth, Carl says, “The Messiah is coming and it will be a glorious time, but it is not here yet.” Again, I understand this sentiment, but disagree with it because I do not want to call Jesus a liar! He said,
The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matt 16:27–28)
One of three possibilities must be true: either (1) there are some ancient people on earth, or (2) Jesus was mistaken, or (3) he has come in his kingdom as he said he would.
This perspective on Jesus’ coming permeates the New Testament. Jesus told his disciples to “preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He then said, “Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come” (Matt 10:7, 23). Either the apostles are still preaching in the cities of Israel, or the Son of Man has come. When the disciples asked Jesus about when his coming would occur, he said it would happen in their generation (Matt 24:3, 27, 30, 34). I dare not say the Messiah has not come when he said that he would come in his generation and before some of his hearers died.
Carl is right, the Scriptures say the coming of Christ would usher in a time of great glory. But this glory is the ever-increasing glory of the messianic age in which we now live. Peter spoke of this glory when he said:
The prophets … prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Pet 1:10–11)
The grace of which the prophets wrote has come to us, the sufferings of Christ occurred in the “last days” of the Mosaic age, and we now live in the glory that followed his sufferings.
For these reasons, I affirm the Messiah has come and his parousia (presence) abides with us. I believe the kingdom that God established in the “last days” of the Mosaic age will grow until it consumes all other kingdoms (Dan 2:28, 44). At the resurrection, God will give us our glorified bodies and we will dwell in the physical presence of Christ throughout eternity (1 Cor 15:22).
I know that Carl does not want to engage in a prolonged discussion on these topics. I will honor his wishes, but will also request him—and others who believe like him—to examine his scriptural reasons for believing as he does. What, in the Bible, makes you believe: (1) The Messiah is not on earth in any sense? (2) That there is coming an age before the resurrection when there will be no evil? (3) That we are not in the messianic age? (4) That the Messiah did not come when he said he would? and (5) That we are not living in the “glorious time” the prophets foresaw?
In closing, I want to thank Carl for the many years he has loved and followed Christ. He is a great blessing to me. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of our understanding (Eph 1:18) so we can understand the great things he has done for us.
Footnotes
- Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, Revised ed. (n.p.: Touchstone, 1972), 143.
- Kenneth S. Wuest, The New Testament: An Expanded Translation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 30 (Matt 12:32).
