How Genesis Proves Postmillennialism
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INTRODUCTION
If you have been with us over the last 8 weeks, we have been attempting to summarize what a failed eschatology looks like. From the hyper-defeatism of dispensationalism and premillennialism to the subtle apathy for cultural engagement that seeps in through amillennialism and the Radical Two Kingdoms, we have been attempting to show that a wrong view of eschatology will have an impact on how you live in the world. Because let's face it, if you believe that we lose down here (As John MacArthur famously said), we will not work down here. If we believe the rapture is always moments away, then why waste your time doing the long work of making disciples and transforming culture? If we believe that all of our energy and effort should go into spiritual activities (the Kingdom of God) and that this work does not overlap with the physical world (The Kingdom of Man), then why engage at all? Why obey Jesus' command to be salt and light in the world if the only aspect we will ever see redeemed is spiritual? Better to spend your time converting souls for a Gnostic utopia than Biblically discipling nations to live with Jesus in the New Heavens and New Earth.
While each of the views we have covered so far has minimal overlap, two things they do have in common are that they are entirely wrong about eschatology and that they have throttled down the church so that she has become a passive-sickly agent in this world. In this series, we have been looking to change that.
And that brings us to our topic for today. How is Postmillennialism the correct view of eschatology? What does it mean? What implications will it have on my life? Can it be demonstrated convincingly from the Scripture?
To that end, let us begin by defining Postmillennialism, and then we will spend the majority of our time today showcasing this view in the pages of Genesis.
WHAT IS POSTMILLENNIALISM?
Unlike the smorgasbord of major depressive eschatologies, Postmillennialism uniquely grapples with the unstoppable power of God, the awesome glory of Jesus' Gospel, and how the earth will come under the Lordship of Christ the King before this rodeo is over. Instead of presenting Jesus' great commission as an absolute failure, Postmillennialism takes seriously how the Gospel will change hearts, the church will disciple societies and nations (Matthew 28:19), and because Satan is bound (Matthew 12:29; Revelation 20:2), and the principalities and powers have been disarmed (Colossians 2:15), Jesus will win back the world and will bring it under His Father's rule (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
Central to this perspective is the understanding of what eschatology is. Eschatology is not the poorly written conclusion or the explosive plane crash of an otherwise glorious trip. Eschatology is concerned with how everything that was lost in the first Adam will be restored under the Lordship of the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Eschatology is not the final chapter where everything falls apart; it is the story of how everything comes back together in Jesus. This distinction is crucial.
With that in mind, Postmillennialism acknowledges that everything that fell in the first creation will be healed and restored by Jesus in His new creation, the Kingdom. To clarify, we are saying that this New Creation kingdom began when He ascended into heaven and will not be finished until everything is restored when He makes "His blessings flow far as the curse is found" (Joy to the World; Isaac Watts, 1719).
The postmillennial conviction is that God will do this by filling the world with worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23-24). Why? Because that is the end for which God designed the world (Genesis 1:28). At the heart of postmillennial thinking is the idea that God is going to redeem all that was lost in Adam, that He will fill the fallen world with worshippers in garden spaces, where He will bring the Kingdom of God across a globe that was under the tyranny of the devil. He will do that through the preaching of the Gospel, the making of disciples, and through the life-changing work of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we know Christ never fails at anything He sets about to do. Thus, because Christ has endeavored to bring the world under His rule, He will not stop until He has been successful everywhere the curse is found.
According to the postmillennialist, this process of worldwide Kingdom expansion began when Jesus ascended into heaven and sat on His throne to rule, inaugurating a period known as the "Millennium" (Revelation 20), which is not a chronological term but symbolic of this growing epoch when righteousness, peace, and the acknowledgment of God's sovereignty become pervasive realities. This era will be marked by an unprecedented increase in the number of worshipers who live out and celebrate the truth of God's Word, culminating in a world saturated with adorations and praise for Yahweh, our King.
Unlike escapist or pessimistic eschatologies, Postmillennialism sees the future as a canvas for God's redemptive work, transforming not just individuals but whole families, cultures, and nations. This view does not naively ignore the presence of sin and misery in the world but instead acknowledges a substantial decrease in its power and influence by the Risen Lord Jesus. Through this global transformation, which will happen slowly over many generations, the world will experience a foretaste of heaven as more and more people come to know God, are filled with His Spirit, and begin living out Christ-like behaviors and attitudes on earth.
Knowing this, the postmillennial vision compels Christians to engage actively in the world, driven by the certainty that their labor in the Lord is not in vain. Believers are called to spread the aroma of Christ in every sphere of life, laboring in hamlets, highways, high rises, downtowns, white houses, and empires that must be transformed into communities of worshipers before the Lord returns. This eschatological outlook infuses our daily living with purpose and direction, motivating us to partake in the divine mission of filling the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).
In sum, Postmillennialism is God's plan, in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, to fill the world with faithful worshippers. It is not just an eschatological viewpoint but a Biblical vision of the hope and redemption God promised to bring back into this fallen world. It is the only view that shows how everything lost in Adam will be found in the second Adam, Jesus Christ. It opens our eyes to the incredible successes of Christ in church history. It frees us to view the future optimistically even as we labor hard in the present. And in my opinion, it is the only view that accounts for what the Bible promises will happen in Jesus' Kingdom.
So, with that, let us look at a positive and Biblical case for the doctrine of Postmillennialism from the book of Genesis.
POSTMILLENNIALISM ACCORDING TO GENESIS
A WORLD FILLED WITH WORSHIPPERS BY DESIGN:
God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." - Genesis 1:28
To construct a Biblical eschatology, we must begin where the Bible begins. In the first chapter of Genesis, we see God's plans and purposes for the world. A world made out of nothing. A world constructed without sin. A world in perfect conformity to the will of the Father, such that everything we behold in Genesis 1 pleases Him and is called very good by Him. If there was ever a way to discern the kind of world God would want, we must look no further than the one He made.
In Genesis 1, after constructing heavenly space and earthly space, God made man with a unique and glorious purpose. After filling the cosmos to the brim with lights to rule the day and night, and after filling the skies with all kinds of birds and winged creatures, and after filling the oceans with teeming fish and sea monsters, and after filling the earth with every kind of animal and creeping thing, God also proposed to fill every square inch of this earth with humans, who would worship Him, and would spread His dominion and would rule over His creation to the glory of God. But, instead of beginning, as He did with a fixed and completed assortment of stars or with a fully multiplied ocean overflowing with sea beasts, God decided to begin with just two human bodies, made in His image, made to worship Him, both male and female, with the commission of using those two bodies to fill the four corners of this earth with their offspring (Genesis 1:28). To say that a different way, God Himself multiplied the galaxies and stars, as well as the winged and scaly beasts, but invited humans (the only creature God did this with) to partner with Him in their multiplication. This means God made human beings to become a multiplied species that filled the earth, but He allowed us to participate in our multiplication through monogamous covenant marriage.
Thus, we see the kind of world God wanted to make was a world filled with human worshippers, and by God's grace, God invited humans to partner with Him in accomplishing that vision. This tells us all we need to know about God's intention for the world. He created two sexual creatures to be bound in heterosexual covenant monogamy, to propagate the knowledge of God across the face of the earth through child rearing and family worship. This worshiping, fruitful, and multiplying family is what God called very good in Genesis 1, and this is what was so very bad about the fall in Genesis 3.
When sin entered the world, things fell. And by "fell," I do not mean like a vase falling off a shelf, although as a metaphor that is not far off. What I mean is that everything God designed became broken. It no longer functioned in the way it was intended. And by everything, I mean everything. The earth fell. The land fell. Masculinity, femininity, marriage, and sex all fell. Moral reasoning, spiritual discernment, worship, creativity, and the ability to comprehend the knowledge of God all resoundingly fell. But what did not fall and was not broken was God's intention to fill the world with worshiping people. This is where Postmillennialism is unique among the eschatological systems.
Instead of believing that God would give up on His "very good" plan and never accomplish what He set out to do initially, Postmillennialism sees God continually and consistently engaging with His fallen creation to ensure His plan will be accomplished. Again, God originally designed this world to be filled with human worshippers who spread His dominion and glory over every square inch of the land. With this in mind, those who ascribe to Postmillennialism do not see God abandoning that vision but gloriously and joyfully fulfilling it throughout Biblical and redemptive history.
In the following, I will sketch out, as briefly as I can, how God intends to fulfill His Genesis 1 vision of filling the world full of vibrant, faithful worshippers throughout the book of Genesis. Along the way, we will stop at various points and places in the Old Testament to see how God engages with sinful man to accomplish this plan. As you will see, these are the hopeful little breadcrumbs littered liberally along our Old Testament path. By the end, if you have eyes that are open to the text, you will not only see that God is still interested in this "very good" vision but also that in Jesus Christ, He absolutely will accomplish it.
A WORLD FILLED WITH WORSHIPPERS THROUGH NOAH:
When man fell, He chose to fill the world with sin and sinners instead of the worship of God by godly worshippers. This polluting of the earth's canvas began when Adam was thrust out of the garden (Genesis 3:23-24), and His family began multiplying transgressions on the surface of the land. Remember, it was his son Cain who painted the ground with Abel's blood (Genesis 4:8). It was Lamech (the fifth generation from Adam) who boasted in gratuitous sin (Genesis 4:23-24); it was the prediluvian race of man who multiplied sin and misery all across the face of the earth (Genesis 6:5); and it was that demonically driven generation who interbred with the fallen angels to produce the race of giants called the Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4).
In obedience to the nature God gave them, human beings multiplied what they most loved. But, instead of multiplying affection for God and holiness that they were designed to love, they multiplied the sins and miseries they were created to hate. This led to a period of unspeakable horrors on earth, as the only inclination of man at all times was just sin (Genesis 6:5). These acts of global rebellion and the sorry state that the world had fallen into provoked the wrath of Almighty God to destroy the world in the torrent of His furious holiness (Genesis 6:6-7).
In His justice, God was not obligated to save anyone. All had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All deserved His wrath (Ephesians 2:3). And yet God, in an act of unimaginable mercy, spares a single family, sets them apart for salvation instead of judgment, and then reiterates His commitment to having a world filled with godly worshippers. Take a look at what God says. When the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat, and when Noah and His family disembarked the titan vessel, God spoke the following to Noah:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. - Genesis 9:1
Far from being finished with His plan, He reiterates it! Think about it: if there were ever a time for God to redefine the terms or scrap the old plan to institute a new one, this would have been the time. And yet God does not do that. Instead, He reinstituted the same old plan that He gave Adam, showcasing that He had not forgotten it, had not abandoned it, and fully intended to accomplish it. Before God is finished with this physical world and Jesus returns, He will fill it with worshippers. This is what He enumerated to Noah.
A WORLD FILLED WITH WORSHIPPERS THROUGH BABEL
After Noah died, his offspring and ancestors rebelled against the Lord as their Father Adam and his progeny had before. Instead of multiplying righteous worshippers to the ends of the earth, they multiplied a little faction of rebel sinners who refused to leave the plains of Shinar (Genesis 11:1-2). Instead of spreading outward, they decided to build upward, to build a tower that touched the heavens instead of people who blanketed the earth. This blatant rebellion against the plans of God occasioned the Almighty to come down and throw them into a fit of chaos and confusion (Genesis 11:3-9), subdividing them into all of the various people groups, tribes, ethnicities, and linguistic groupings. From this, it is clear that even in His judgment on them, He was committed to scattering humans to the four corners of this earth and filling the world with their offspring. This brings us to the promises of Abraham.
A WORLD FILLED WITH WORSHIPPERS THROUGH ABRAHAM
After God accomplished the first part of His Genesis 1 plan, which was filling the world with humans (multiplication), the second part of His goal was to convert them into worshippers (the blessed and fruitful part). It was at this point that God chose a man named Abraham from the cities of sin. He drew that man away from the pagan metropolis, brought Him into a land that was not his own, and began making promises to him that revealed His purposes for the world.
Instead of reducing the scale and magnitude of His original plan, God tells this man Abraham that through His seed, all of the families on earth will come under God's blessing (Genesis 12:2-3). This is a world filled with worshippers. And while Abraham could only see a world filled with wicked men, God promised to transform it into a world where every single family, over every square inch of earth, had come under His covenant blessings. God is speaking about a world filled with men and women who worship Him and joyfully live under His blessings. Again, if God can be trusted to accomplish His promises (and He can), this would be nothing short of a world filled to the brim with worshippers.
In case we are tempted to doubt the faithfulness of God, Moses tells us how committed God was to this very plan, saying:
"For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them."- Deuteronomy 4:31 (emphasis mine)
Do you see what Moses (through the Spirit of God) is doing? As the Israelites were preparing to go in and make war with the Canaanites, to topple the giants in the land, and to put to the ban all who worshiped the demon gods, He was encouraging Israel to remember the promises God made to Abraham! He was telling them, "Remember this! God swore that He would bless all the families on earth through the seed of our ancestor Abraham." He was challenging them: "Do we have room to be afraid? Do we have cause to be discouraged?" He admonishes them to remember the promises of God when the battle is raging, when it looks like they are losing, and when they are tempted to quit. They were being called to remember God's Word to Abraham! The same God who fulfilled His promises to that old patriarch and his wife, who in their old age was given a son. So, when God's covenant people have been long upon the earth, they too will see the promise of God fulfilled. They will see God keep His promises by delivering a world filled with worshippers under His blessing!
And those promises and blessings are richer than the sweetest fudge. God not only told Abraham that He would bless all the families on earth through His seed (Genesis 12:1-3), He promised to make Abraham's family exceedingly fruitful, with nations and kings coming from his own loins (Genesis 17:6). He told Abraham that his family would become a great and mighty nation that blessed all the nations on earth (Genesis 18:18), which lets us know that God is not only in the business of sanctifying families but also nations as well. He promised that Abraham would have blessed and faithful offspring that were as multiplied as the stars of heaven, as the grains of sand upon the seashore, and that through his seed, all of the nations on earth would come under the blessings of God (Genesis 22:17-18; 26:4). God is not making small promises. He is not bloviating about things He has no intention of bringing to fruition. He is promising Abraham that under the ministry and activity of his seed, all the world's nations and all the world's families will come under Yahweh's blessings and rule. And because Paul tells us that the seed of Abraham is Christ (spoiler alert) and under His reign, all the world's families and nations will come under the blessings of God. Let me say this even more clearly, at some point in the future, the entire world will be faithfully and multiplicatively Christian (which is a world filled with worshippers).
This is what God promised to Abraham. Will we believe it?
A WORLD FILLED WITH WORSHIPPERS THROUGH PATRIARCHS:
After Abraham dies, God reminds the patriarchs of His promises. If there was any room for them to forget the global mission that God promised to Abraham, to become overly preoccupied with life in the Dust Bowl, and to miss the magnificent horizon of God's blessings, then God Himself went to great lengths to remind them and reiterate these plans and promises to them. For instance, God said to Abraham's son Isaac:
"I will establish the oath which I swore to your Father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." - Genesis 26:3-4
That very same night, God reminded Isaac again that He could be trusted to fulfill these global promises to his Father Abraham. He reminded Isaac:
"I am the God of your Father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you.I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham." - Genesis 26:24
To believe that God will not accomplish His original plan, which was to overcome the evil in this world by filling it full of worshippers, you must believe God abandoned something He called "very good" that He wouldn't keep His promises to Noah, that He arbitrarily scattered the people at Babel, that He bore false witness to Abraham, and allowing Isaac to build his entire life on the biggest lie that had ever been told. More simply, to believe God will not overcome evil by filling the world with worshippers would be to accuse God of sin. You would be saying that God does not keep His promises, He is miserly, an Indian giver, and not trustworthy, and when you go down that path, your entire faith falls apart because what can you trust if you cannot trust God? I hope you are beginning to see how these promises are not matters of doctrinal quibbling but central to our faith and the trustworthiness of God.
If that were not enough, God reiterates these promises to the next generation of patriarchs, to Isaac's son of promise, Jacob. To that man, God reannounced the Abrahamic blessing to give Jacob offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth (Multiplication) and that through His family, all of the families on earth will come under Yahweh's fruitful blessing (Genesis 28:14). Not to state the obvious, but this is another instance where God promises this world will one day be filled with worshippers. Jacob was told that He could trust these promises because they were given to Him by the Almighty (Genesis 35:11).
If that were not enough, God repeated these promises to Jacob's fourth-born son, Judah, to clarify what a world filled with worshippers would look like. To Judah, God said through the mouth of Jacob:
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." - Genesis 49:10 KJV
"This coming Shiloh is the seed of Abraham. He is the singular son of promise that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah looked forward to. He is Jesus Christ. The one born in the line of Judah (Matthew 1:2-3). The one whose scepter will never be taken away (Hebrews 7:24). The one whose rule will be an everlasting rule (Daniel 7:14). And the one who will gather all of the people God promised since Genesis 1. You see, since God promised a world filled with worshippers, and since no mere human could ever accomplish such a glorious plan, God would come from heaven to earth Himself, taking on the form of a man, so that He would bring the fruitful, multiplying, dominion acquiring rule He promised, and so that He could gather the worshippers who would fill every corner of this earth. God promises Judah that all of the promises given to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaiah, Jacob, and Judah will be fulfilled when God comes in the flesh. This is why Paul tells us that all of God's promises are 'yes and amen' in this coming Shiloh, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). Because there is not a single promise God made, including these incredible world-filling promises to the patriarchs, that Jesus will not bring to fruition. King Jesus will have a world filled with worshippers. The book of Genesis proves it!
CONCLUSION
As we draw to a close this week, brothers and sisters, remember that it is God who is making these promises. From the verdant gardens of Genesis 1, the mountains of Ararat in Genesis 9, the plains of Shinar in Genesis 11, to the lands of Canaan where God showered His patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah) with these promises of a future filled with unending blessings, God has been demonstrating His unwavering faithfulness to His promises throughout all generations. These are not theological noodlings that the postmillennialists have dreamed up in their over-optimistic heads. These are unambiguous promises made by a sovereign God, who made the universe out of His breath and will accomplish this plan by His Spirit!
This week, we saw how God made these promises in Genesis and will bring them to completion in His Son, the seed of Abraham, who will bless all the families and nations on earth, and the coming Shiloh, who will gather the peoples of earth under His rule of blessings. Again, this is not mere theological niceties, doctrinal opium for the Christian who needs a happy ending, or even esoteric musings for the ivory tower. These doctrines are central to the narrative of Scripture, drive the arch of redemption forward to its God-centered ends, and maintain God as faithful to His promises (even when we struggle to believe them).
Today, dear brothers and sisters, I would ask you to believe God's promises to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. I am calling you to put away your pessimism that has infected the American Church for too long and embrace what God says in His Word! For the last 2000 years, the Shiloh promised to Judah has been gathering His people. And He will continue until that gathered people become a world filled with worshippers. He will continue until every nation bows the knee to His Lordship and supremacy. He will continue until all the earthly families come into His Church and under His blessings. Believe that, dear one, find your place in that story, and get to work for the glory of God and for your eternal enjoyment of Him.
