Amillennialism
Amillennialism sees Revelation 20 as a description of the reign of Christ with the saints throughout the entire present age. Some amillennialists emphasize the reign of Christ with the saints in heaven, while others teach that this reign is also connected with the church militant here on earth. Amillennialists tend to argue that the growth of Christ's kingdom has few if any visible manifestations. The focus is more on the suffering that Christ has indicated the church will undergo. According to amillennialism, the present millennial age, which is characterized by suffering, will be followed by the second coming of Christ, the general resurrection, the last judgment, and the new heavens and new earth.
Amillennialism also has its origin in the early chruch. Augustine (354-430) taught a version of amillennialism that influenced the church throughout the Middle Ages and into the Reformation. Within the Reformed tradition, the contemporary version of amillennialism began to distinguish itself from older forms of postmillennialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The nineteenth-century theologian Herman Bavinck, for example, was a staunch proponent of amillennialism. In the twentieth century, the view has been taught by Reformed theologians such as Geerhardus Vos, Louis Berkhof, Anthony Hoekema, Cornelis Venema, Kim Riddlebarger, and Sam Storms. Some contemporary amillennialists do not like the term amillennialism because the prefix a- literallymeans "no", so amillennialism literally means "no millennium." One amillennialist, Jay Adams, has suggested the term "realized millennialism" instead.
(Dr. Keith A. Mathison, Reformation Bible College, Tabletalk, Dec. 2013)
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