This page is part of an overview of all the major end-times views held by faithful Christians. Each view gets the same structure and the same care, with no winner declared. Start with the overview for what every view shares, then read the others alongside this one.
In a sentence: Christ returns after a long era in which the gospel, by the power of the Spirit, spreads through the world and brings widespread faith and flourishing.
How it reads the story: Holders believe Christ is reigning now and that His kingdom grows steadily through history, like the mustard seed that becomes a tree and the leaven that works through the whole loaf (Matthew 13:31–33). Through the preaching of the gospel and the work of the Spirit, great numbers of people across the nations come to faith, and that faith reshapes families, communities, and cultures. Some holders identify this growing age with the thousand years of Revelation 20, while others read Revelation 20 much as amillennial believers do. Near the end, a brief season of rebellion may arise (Revelation 20:7–9). Then Christ returns once, visibly and bodily, the dead are raised, the final judgment takes place, and the new heavens and new earth begin.
Key texts: Matthew 13:31–33, 28:18–20; Psalm 2:8, 110:1; 1 Corinthians 15:24–26; Daniel 2:35, 44; Isaiah 2:2–4; Habakkuk 2:14.
What its holders are most careful to protect: Postmillennial believers are most careful to guard the power of the gospel and the reach of Christ’s present authority. If all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, they reason, then His Great Commission will succeed on a scale worthy of Him, and the earth will be “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Questions others ask: Some ask about passages that describe difficult times and falling away before the end (2 Timothy 3:1–5; Matthew 24:12). Holders typically answer that some of those passages describe the apostles’ own era or seasons within history, and that the kingdom grows even while wheat and weeds grow together. Others ask whether the hard history of the church through the centuries cuts against this hope. Holders answer that the kingdom’s growth is measured by God’s promises and the long arc of history, not by any single season, and that the mustard seed grows slowly. A third question is whether this view is simply optimism about human progress. Holders answer firmly that it isn’t: the growth they expect is the Spirit’s work through the gospel, not anything people accomplish on their own.
Who has held it: Many Puritans held this view, and Jonathan Edwards was one of its best-known voices. It was widely held among American evangelicals in the 1800s, including theologians at Princeton such as Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield, and it shaped much of the missionary movement of that era. It is held today mainly in some Reformed and Presbyterian circles.
Every View Stands on the Same Foundation
Every view described in this overview affirms that Jesus Christ reigns as King right now, that He will return bodily, personally, visibly, and victoriously, that the dead will be raised, that He will judge with perfect justice and make all things new, and that the day and hour of His return are known by the Father alone (Matthew 24:36). These questions don’t decide whether someone who trusts Christ is your brother or sister. Your pastor and your local church are the right people to walk through them with you.
Faithful Christians read this question differently. Here’s how Last Days Living handles questions like this.
Explore the Other Views
Overview: The Major End-Times Views
When are believers gathered to Christ?
What is the thousand years?
A related term