1-1000AD MILLENNIUM medieval Millennialism, medieval Postmillennialism
This view holds that the Millennium (1000 years) of Revelation 20:1-7
- BEGAN AT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AT 1 AD.
- WAS EXPECTED TO END AT 1000 AD.
It incorporates the following errors:
This is the prevailing, "orthodox" view of medieval Christianity. It dates the beginning of the Millennium from the birth of Christ at 1 AD, "the first year of our Lord," calculating the reign with Christ from the day of His birth, the Incarnation. But early Christianity did not expect this first Millennium of Christianity to go on indefinitely but anticipated its end to come at 1000AD, no sooner, no later. In fact, the system of dating years from the birth of Christ was motivated by the fearful need to provide a countdown to year 1000AD. Hiistory records fearful anticipation throughout Christendom of Judgment Day at the close of their Millennium at 1000AD. This error was made manifest when the End did not come in 1000AD as they had dreaded, (thus providing the impetus to contrive the Amillennial system as the new "orthodoxy").
Nevertheless, early post-medieval Christianity did continue to hold to a future end to the Millennium -- future to their perspective in time soon following those first ten centuries of Christianity. They did not, however, expect a Millennium that would still be going on long into 2016AD as modern Amillennialism-Postmillennialism would teach. So, there is actually a strong disconnect between the Millennialism of medieval Christianity and the modern doctrines of Ammillennialism/Postmillennialism today over 1000 years after the 1-1000AD Millennium ended. This also shows the detachment between medieval Christianity's belief in an actual 1000-year Millennium, (latin, "thosand years"), and the mystically personal Millennium of today's Idealism and its hybrid, "Preterist-Idealism."
Finally, there is a strong disconnect between the Millennial doctrine of medieval Christianity and the modern teachings of Premillennial Dispensationalism. So strong was the conviction by medieval Christianity that the Millennium had already begun that the teaching of a Millennium that was yet to begin was formally rejected as heresy, the heresy of "Chiliasm." And anyone teaching that the Millennium had not already started was rejected as a heretic, a "Chiliast." So there is no room for today's Premillennial Dispensationalists to reach back to early Christianity for support in denouncing those who disagree with their calculations of a future Millennium: they would sooner receive a slap to the face from the medievals. LINK Today's Premillennial Dispensationalism, (akin to "Chiliasm"), attempts to justify its deep disagreement with medieval Christianity by appealing to Scriptures that make clear that Christ returns at the beginning of the Millennium, not after its ending.
Fatally, all systems that begin the Millennium before the disappearance of the Apostles, (i.e., before 70AD), share the same error: they logically lead to Universalism. They do this by claiming that an event occurring at the beginning of the Millennium, (Rev 20:4-6's "Resurrection of the Blessed & Holy Ones"), was a coming to covenant life, (i.e., being "Born-Again"), rather than a bodily resurrection. This drives the conclusion that Rev 20:4-6's "Resurrection of the Rest of the Dead" at the end of the Millennium is the coming to covenant life of everyone else, "the rest of the dead." Thus, the fate after death of (a) blessed & holy martyrs for Christ and that of (b) the rest of the dead is eventually the same: they come to covenant life, ("Born-Again"). That teaching is honestly known as "UNIVERSALISM." In this fashion, all systems that begin the Millennium, (and therefore the first Resurrection), before the disappearrance of the Apostles logically lead to Universalism, a cancerous, false teaching, (see 2 Timothy 2:17-19). Thus, many arguments against the 30-70AD Millennium of Hyper-Preterism (Full Preterism & Covenant Eschatology) also apply against 30AD-Future Millennium system of Amillennialism, as well, LINK.
THERE IS NO UNBROKEN, MONOLITHIC BLOC CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF THE MILLENNIUM FROM EARLY, MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY TO TODAY.
So, we can only go back to the actual, original, inspired words of SCRIPTURE to decide the matter.
while respecting the beliefs of global Christianity, medieval and modern, to give hints.
After first stripping away everything that does not reconcile with Scripture, ProphecyHistory.com attempts to reconcile the various schools of thought concerning the Millennium into an understanding that fits within both Scripture & global Christian belief of all eras.
May God grant grace, wisdom & understanding to both reader & writer alike through the Word of God, Jesus Christ our Teacher.
Amen.