LEARNING CAPSULE: Postmillennialism

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:9-11 (NIV)

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POSTMILLENNIALISM IS AN eschatological belief that Christ will return to earth after the millennium. Postmillennialists believe that the trajectory throughout the millennium, which could be 1,000 years or a long period, will result in an increasingly Christian world culminating in Christ’s return.

One of the earliest references to postmillennialism can be found in the Savoy Declaration of 1658. This belief was popular in the 1800s and early 1900s, but lost steam after World War I and II.

CHRISTIAN ESCHATOLOGY 101: Before digging into postmillennialism, we highly recommend reading our learning capsule on Christian Eschatology to get a general overview of four common eschatological views.

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	POSTMILLENNIALISM
Reign of Christ	Some say it is a literal 1,000 year period while others say it is simply a long period of time
Role of Satan	No definitive position; some say Satan has been bound by Christ, others say Satan is active in the world
Rapture timing	During the second coming
Church and Israel	No distinction, unified view, the church is spiritual Israel
Apocalyptic prophecies	Mostly symbolic; some say prophecies have already been fulfilled
Key passages	Psalm 2; Isaiah 2:2–4; Matthew 13; 28; John 12; 1 Corinthians 15:25
Key representatives	Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge, B.B. Warfield, John Jefferson Davis, R.C. Sproul, John Owen

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READ

READ: Survey of Eschatological Views / Gregory Brown
A succinct introduction to four Christian eschatological views complete with key Biblical passages and some history. Skip to the upper middle of the article to read about post-millennialism.

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LISTEN

LISTEN: Eschatology – Postmillennialism / The Babbling Pastors Podcast
A cheerful introduction to post-millennialism.

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WATCH

WATCH: What is Post Millennialism? / thirdmill
A short four-minute explanation of postmillennialism and how the belief shares with and differs from premillennialism.

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DIG DEEPER

READ: Jesus Wins / Dayton Hartman
In Jesus Wins, Pastor Dayton Hartman makes his position clear: speculative discussions about the end times rarely offer any value and should never become a point of division. He emphasizes that as long as believers adhere to the foundational doctrines expressed in the Apostles‘ and Nicene Creeds, their specific views on eschatology (the study of the end times) should not fracture the church’s unity.

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