Millennial Debate
Amillennialism

Amillennialism is probably better rendered “realized millennium”. It signifies a belief that the church age is the age of the Kingdom of God, that is, the Kingdom of God has already begun. The church, to the extent that it manifests God’s Kingdom, will have a positive influence on the culture and human conditions. But, there will be apostasy, a period of great suffering…the Tribulation…and then Christ will return and consummate all things. It represents the tension of the “already/not yet”.

Amillennialism is the eschatological system of the majority of Reformed believers. The following is a definition put forth by one of them:
Amillennialists interpret the millennium mentioned in Revelation 20 as describing the present reign of the souls of deceased believers with Christ in heaven, They understand the binding of Satan mentioned in the first three verses of this chapter as being in effect during the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ…Amillennialists further hold that the Kingdom of God is now present in the world as the victorious Christ is ruling His people by His word and Spirit, though they also look forward to a future, glorious and perfect kingdom on the new earth in the life to come… the kingdom of evil will continue to exist alongside the Kingdom of God until the end of the world…the so-called “signs of the times” have been present in the world from the time of Christ’s first coming but they will come to a more intensified, final manifestation just before the Second Coming. The amillennialist, therefore, expects the bringing of the Gospel to all nations and the conversion of the fullness of Israel to be completed before Christ’s retur. He also looks for an intensified form of tribulation and apostasy as well as for the appearance of a personal antichrist before the Second Coming.
Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), p. 174.

The amillennialist believes this world will get worse and that the glory of Christ’s present reign (the “already’) and the glory of His return (the “not yet”) are enough for the Christian. Now is the time to evangelize and Christ is worth dying for. The believer lives by faith in a state of grace, serving God, worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth and relying on His promises and sovereignty. Neither triumphalist nor defeatist, the amillennialist is a pilgrim in but not of this world, walking by faith and living in the light, boasting only in the cross of Christ.