Introduction
Postmillennialism is the conviction that prior to the Second Coming of Christ, the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The church’s marching orders, meaning the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), will be successfully fulfilled. The nations of men will in fact be discipled. All the enemies of Christ will be subdued by the power of the gospel, with only one exception—that exception being death itself, which will be destroyed by the personal appearance of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:25-26).
The reference to postmillennial worship means that we believe that the right worship of God will be the central instrument that He will use to bring all this about. Right worship, offered up with the faith of Abraham (Rom. 4:13), will in fact receive Abraham’s promise.
The Text
“For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles; And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:11).
Summary of the Text
In the first part of this chapter of Malachi, the prophet is chastising the people for their corrupt and lame worship of Him (v. 8). They do not honor God as they ought (v. 6). And as a consequence He no longer accepts their offerings (v. 10). And then comes the abrupt promise of our text. God will have the honor His name deserves, and He will fetch that honor from every point of the compass. His name will be great among the Gentiles—that would be you and me—and pure worship will then be offered to Him in every place.
The Authority of Christ
Jesus Christ has ascended into the heavenly places, into the court of the Ancient of Days, where He was given universal dominion (Dan. 7:13-14). He purchased all the nations of men with His own blood, and He intends to have them (Ps. 2:7-8). He told His followers that He had been granted all authority in Heaven and on earth, and that was why they were to fan out and disciple all the nations on earth (Matt. 28:18-20). The center of this activity in the New Testament consisted of planting churches, centers where this worship would be offered up.
We glorify the name of Christ as we worship Him in the heavenly places. And in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for His kingdom to come, for His will to be done “on earth as it is in Heaven.” We are asking for the name of Christ to be exalted on earth in just the way we exalted it in Heaven.
Fight from the High Ground
We ascend into the heavenlies in our worship and we meet with our God there (Heb. 12:22). But this heavenly worship is not something that has somehow fearfully run away from the enemy on earth. Rather, as the book of Revelation shows us in great detail, the worship of the saints in heaven accomplishes God’s judgments and purposes on earth. The twenty-four elders worship God in heaven (Rev. 4:10), and the seven seals are opened in heaven (Rev. 5:5). But this does not leave the earth untouched or unaffected. What happens in heaven drives what happens on earth. Opened seals in Heaven bring about closures on earth.
So if you want to fight the culture war, you have to fight from the high ground. And the only high ground we can successfully fight from is the high ground of Heaven, where our Lord Jesus is seated at God’s right hand. Right this minute, as you are worshiping God, you are fighting from the high ground.
What Worship Does
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”2 Cor. 10:3-5 (KJV)
Note that we are expressly told that we do not accomplish this mission by means of physical weapons. One of the things that has disturbed our local secularists is that they have heard us saying things like “all of Christ for all of life for all of Moscow.” This seems to them as though we want to get control by earthly means. But we are talking about spiritual warfare. At the same time, spiritual warfare is not ethereal warfare, or some form of make-believe warfare. It is not as though there are no results. Of course there are results—God intends the result of a saved world (John 3:17).
Echoes of the Celestial Coronation
So our worship services are a weekly celebration of that great coronation that happened two thousand years ago. And coronation celebrations always spell trouble for all pretenders to the throne. This is what Adonijah discovered to his dismay. His coronation party was quite overshadowed.
“And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating . . . And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom . . . And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.”1 Kings 1:39-49 (KJV)
One celebration absolutely ruined the other celebration.
Warfare Through New Eyes
God established the antithesis at the very beginning of human history (Gen. 3:15). There is therefore a constant state of war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The Lord Jesus crushed the serpent’s head in His crucifixion and resurrection, but by His grace He permits us to participate in that struggle (Rom. 16:20). He crushes the adversary badly, bruising him under His heel. But remember, as His body, we are that heel. “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22).
But there is more. Jesus promised us that in this conflict, the gates of Hades would never prevail against us (Matt. 16:18). But please note that the gates of Hades are not an offensive weapon. We are not besieged by the gates of Hades. We are the besiegers. We are not manning our tiny little Alamo, fighting desperately until we finally go under. It is the other way around.
This does not mean that our warfare is easy. Far from it. The first men up the scaling ladders can find the fighting pretty hot at the top of the wall. But it is the top of their wall. It is not fierce fighting on the top of our wall.
Proclaim Till He Comes
Every faithful sermon that declares Christ as Savior and Lord is a proclamation, but not just to the gathered believers. The message is also for unbelievers, as well as all the principalities and powers. Every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which we do every seven days, we proclaim the vicarious death that conquers the whole world (1 Cor. 11:26). Every time the minister says, “let us worship the triune God,” it is a signal for all to pick up the celestial battering ram so that we might take another swing. And every time we open our mouths and our psalters to sing, we want to do so in a way so that Adonijah can hear it.
“This seems to them as though we want to get control by earthly means. But we are talking about spiritual warfare.” No, Doug is talking about using earthly means to obtain earthly power for the purpose of establishing the church as regulators of civil authority on earth. Conjuring spiritual “warfare” for these activities does not change their domain. Or, as Doug puts it in his FAQ on Christian nationalism: “So we are laboring for a reformation of doctrine and morals among the people, and at the same time wanting God to raise up courageous leaders who will just go for… Read more »
I ain’t reading all that. Jesus is King
Some captives love their chains. Suit yourself.
I do love being a slave unto Christ.
Yes, I find the best way to get fully conversant with a topic is to studiously avoid reading about it …
Well said…I wish more would truly grapple with what you say…
If they were educated in Logos/NSA then they don’t know how. In those places you are not taught to learn, you are taught how to attack arguments that contradict the dogma you are given. I.e., you are taught how to be a Pharisee.
“Just go for it, doing whatever they can” = “get control by earthly means and impose moral codes while enforcing covenantal principles”, which is something Christ never said to do. that is a false equivalence. Frankly I would prefer a Christian banning abortions to a pagan mandating drag queen story hour. “he intends to reverse the American Revolution and the entire history of the nation — beginning with civil rights, then free expression, finally free thinking” that is known as the slippery slope fallacy. Also you don’t find any of that in his writings. “That’s the only ethic that is… Read more »
Where are we commanded to proclaim judgement? Seems like Jesus said otherwise…
Christians must proclaim God’s judgment as 1 Peter 4:11 says:
“Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God…” (ESV)
Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah boldly warned of judgment and called for repentance. Titus 1:13 commands:
“Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.” (ESV)
Those who reject this call to repentance bring condemnation on themselves (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Proclaiming judgment is part of standing for truth and glorifying God.
The Titus verse is addressed to insubordinate and deceived Christians, it has nothing to do with God’s judgement of unbelievers as those who do not know God.
I agree that judgement was part of the apostolic presentation of the gospel going by the presentations in Acts, but it does not feature very prominently. Hell isn’t mentioned at all.
When the institutional church has sought to wield political power it does not have a history of much success. More like disastrous. It can be as intolerant as any Communist government, and at best could by enacting laws coerce outward conformity to Christian righteousness or morality, but what is the point of this if there has been no change on the inside?
You went from “we aren’t to judge” to “I know judgement is part of … The gospel” in about 5 sentences. It’s lack of prominence (per you) is not absence of its necessity.
Such flipflopping like that brings into question every other word out of you.
Ken, I find it ironic that Moscow both says “we need to read and understand where we are in the plot-line” and also says “now’s the time to go for political power!”. As you say, anyone who’s reading the plot-line can see that a) when people think they’re called to build Christendom, they’re usually on the fast road to persecuting other Christians and that b) the idea that a church in Idaho which hasn’t discipled its own town yet is already being called by God to disciple the whole nation is absurd. Douglas Wilson, though, doesn’t see it. He thinks… Read more »
Such people are called “cult leaders”.
Christian Nationalism cannot survive (and I hope it doesn’t) if, any time it’s distinctive and particular ideas are challenged, it falls back to “we just want to get rid of transvestites reading children’s stories in our primary schools!”. Everybody who loves Jesus wants rid of that. Christian Nationalists want and believe vastly more than that, and should have the honesty to stay so and stop reflexively falling back to the minimal claim whenever they’re challenged.
It is because they are so fully bought into their victimhood complex, and so paranoid about outside forces, that they have completely lost perspective on how fundamentally dishonest they are.
I agree with the substance of this. Douglas Wilson’s Christian Nationalism, combined with his Postmillennialism, *in practice* result in “we believe Jesus will win… but through being cleverer at politics than the opposition (not through the gospel).” i.e. The claim that the earth will in general be converted through the preaching of the gospel is not important to the contemporary Christian Nationalism. No Christian of any spiritual or cultural discernment could possibly claim that now is the time when the American church has grown to maturity and is being called by God to take up power in the state. There… Read more »
It’s not just “Trump’s in, let’s get what we can by any means necessary!”
It’s “Trump was called by God for this purpose, and it is God’s command that he be supported by all Christians”.
Which is also what the bible churches and televangelists say. Because that’s what Doug is: a nondenominational celebrity preacher with a lot of stuff to sell. He’s Jerry Falwell, not John Knox.
“Postmillennialism is the conviction that prior to the Second Coming of Christ, the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The church’s marching orders, meaning the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), will be successfully fulfilled. The nations of men will in fact be discipled. All the enemies of Christ will be subdued by the power of the gospel, with only one exception—that exception being death itself, which will be destroyed by the personal appearance of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:25-26).” Honesty should compel a postmilennialist to state that postmillennialism is not… Read more »
with regard to the TGC article. The aorist has three uses and one would regard it as all at once the other as the culmination of a cumulative process.
As a final comment in initial response to this post – let’s go back to the text that is supposedly being expounded: > “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles; And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 1:11). Nobody can actually *exegete* a claim about the proportions of people involved, about whether we’re talking about some sort of majority (is it… Read more »
“a new sectarianism” is exactly what it is, and it is a sectarianism that is completely disconnected from the historical church yet bizarrely claims that history as its own (in one of the most egregious displays of the No True Scotsman fallacy in ecclesiastical history). I.e., it’s heterodox sectarianism. Which is why words like “idiosyncratic” keep being used to describe it. And what happens when heterodox sectarians with a chip on their shoulder the size of Gibraltar gain access to political power? War, usually, and then a rise in secularism. (The reason why Doug doesn’t do exegesis is because he’s… Read more »
Is your and Calvin’s complete disregard for almost all of Revelations how we ended up with the false belief of “postmillennialism” that has become central to your so called church? The only unified government that will be built on this earth before the second coming of Christ, will be the one world government, under Satan.
Instead of preaching the gospel and spreading the Good News as commanded by Christ, your followers are instead building up the self serving Kingdom of Doug. A false kingdom that serves and props up an equally false demagogue.