Saturday, April 15, 2006

Amillennialism, Part Three

Alas! It appears my faithful readers are either now-convinced amillennialists or they're too scared to allow their premill position to stand up to Paul's argument in I Corinthians 15.

Well if you won't answer Paul, then I doubt you'll answer Jesus, but I'll give you a chance anyway.

In the famous "sheep and goats judgment" passage in Matthew 25, our Lord's outline of end-times events sounds suspiciously simple and, dare I say, amillennial.

We have Christ returning in v. 31, at which point he sits on his judgment throne. He then gathers all people before him, separating the faithful from the wicked, and judges each group according to the fruit their lives produced (vv. 32-45).

What's interesting for our discussion is the fact that the wicked are sent into "eternal fire" while the righteous are rewarded with "eternal life." Let me repeat that just so we're clear on what, according to Jesus at least, will transpire at the end: Christ returns in glory, judges all men, and sends them to their respective eternal destinations.

Where's the millennium in all this?