The Millennium In The Early Church
Joseph
A. Seiss
Let
us, then, proceed with our task and endeavour to ascertain the views and
teachings of the early Christians with regard to the doctrine of the
Barnabas
The
first witness I produce is Barnabas, a Levite of the country of
In
the 13th chapter of this epistle we find it written: "God made in six days the works of His hands, and He finished
them the seventh day, and He rested the seventh day
and sanctified it. Consider, my
children, what that signifies: He finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this: that in 6,000
years the Lord will bring all things to an end. For with Him one day is a thousand years,
as He himself testifies. Therefore,
children, in six days - that is, in 6,000 years - shall all things be
accomplished.
"And what is that he says, "And He rested the
seventh day"?
He means this, that when His Son
shall come and abolish the season of the wicked one, and judge the ungodly, and
shall change the sun, moon and stars, THEN He shall gloriously rest in
that seventh day. ... Behold, He will then
truly sanctify it with blessed rest, when we (having received THE
RIGHTEOUS PROMISE, when iniquity shall be no more, ALL THINGS BEING
RENEWED BY THE LORD) shall be able to sanctify it, being ourselves first
made holy."
In
these words it is plainly taught:
1.
That Christ is to come again personally to our world at the end of the 6,000
years.
2.
That the wicked one and his domination will remain in existence until Christ
comes.
3.
That the seventh thousand years of the world is to be a millennium of holy
rest, in which the saints are to inherit their promises and iniquity be done
away; and -
4.
That this millennium of glory is to be introduced by the personal coming of the
Messiah to abolish the empire of the wicked one, judge the ungodly, change the
present constitution of things and renew the world.
Such,
then, is the testimony of one said to have been the companion and fellow of
the Apostle Paul.
Clement
A
second witness is Clement, whom Paul mentions
among his "fellow-labourers, whose names are in
the book of life." In such
high repute were his writings held that they are found included in one of the
oldest collections of New Testament writings as a part of the sacred canon. He does not refer to our subject as directly
as Barnabas, but there can be no doubt as to his having entertained the same
views. He was evidently a millennarian; that is, one who believes in the personal
reign of Christ with His saints on earth.
He
connected "the great and glorious promises"
made to the people of God with the promise that "the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." He taught that "we
shall come to judgment in the flesh, and so also in the flesh receive the
reward." He also identified
the coming of the
Papias
The
next witness is Paplas, the disciple of the Apostle
John and a companion of Polycarp. Eusebius
speaks unfavourably of his judgment in one place, but elsewhere pronounces him
"eloquent and learned in the Scriptures."
He himself says that he had most assiduously collected all that could be
gathered of the teachings and sayings of Christ and the apostles. He certainly had every opportunity of knowing
the truth. And he has recorded it as his
belief, and as contained in what he had collected from the fountains of
Christian doctrine, that "there will be a
certain millennium AFTER THE RESURRECTION
OFTHE DEAD, when Christ will reign BODILY (personally) upon this very earth.
Justin Martyr
We
come now to Justin the martyr, who was born ten years before the death of the
Apostle John. Mosheim calls him "a man of eminent
piety and learning who from a pagan philosopher became a Christian martyr."
In his Dialogue with Trypho, he says, “I, AND AS MANY AS ARE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS, do acknowledge
that there shall be a resurrection of the body, and a residence of a thousand
years in Jerusalem rebuilt, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel,
Isaiah, and others do unanimously attest. ... Moreover, a certain man among us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ,
in a revelation made to him, did prophesy that the faithful believers
in Christ shall live a thousand years in the New Jerusalem, and AFTER THAT shall
be the general resurrection and judgment."
Not
only does Justin here declare himself a believer in our doctrines, but, as Semisch (in
Herzog's Encyclopaedia) says, he "distinguishes that belief as the keystone of orthodoxy."
Irenaeus
The
testimony of the distinguished Irenaeus is also of
particular value. He was the disciple of
Polycarp, the pupil of the Apostle John. It has justly been said that, "for learning, steadfastness, and zeal, he was among the most
renowned of the early fathers." Mosheim
says that his writings are "the most precious
monuments of ancient erudition."
His
tutor, Polycarp, was a most diligent collector of all
that was to be known of what Christ and His apostles taught. Irenaeus
regarded him with peculiar veneration and says of his teachings, "I remember his discourses concerning the conversations he
had with John the apostle and others who had seen the Lord, how he rehearsed
their discourses, and what he heard them say of our Lord and of His miracles
and doctrine." Irenaeus,
therefore, had good means of knowing what ideas the sacred writers attached to
their own writings, and what ideas and hopes the Spirit through them inculcated
respecting God's great purposes. Hear,
then, what this learned and devout man has said concerning our doctrine -
"In whatever number of days the world was created, in the
same number of thousands of years it will come to its consummation. God, on the
sixth day, finished the works that He made; and God rested on the seventh day
from all His works. This is a history of the past and a prophecy of the future,
for 'the day of the Lord is as a thousand years."'
Here is a distinct announcement of
the millennial Sabbath. As to where it
is to be celebrated, he is equally clear.
"It is fitting," says he, "that the just, rising again at the appearance
of God, in the renewed state, receive the promise of inheritance which God
covenanted to the fathers, and should reign in it; and that then should follow
the final judgment. For,
in the same condition in which they have laboured and been afflicted,
and been tried by sufferings in all sorts of ways, it is but just that
in it they should receive the fruits of their sufferings, so that where, for the love of
God, they suffered death, there they should be brought to
life again; and where they
endured bondage, there also they should reign.
I say it is becoming that the creation, being restored to its
original beauty, should, without any impediment or drawback, be
subject to the righteous. This the
apostle makes manifest in the Epistle to the Romans ... Thus, therefore, as
God promised to Abraham the inheritance of the earth, and
he received it not during the whole time he lived, it is necessary that
he should receive it, together with his seed, that is, with such
of them as fear God, and believe in Him, IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE
JUST. ... They will undoubtedly receive
it at the resurrection of the just; for true and unchangeable is God, wherefore
He also said, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit THE EARTH.’"
Four
things are here asserted: first, that Christ will really appear at the end of
the 6,000 years; second, that the millennium comes after the Saviour's advent,
third, that there is to be a resurrection of the just at the beginning of the
millennium; and fourth, that Christ is to reign with His saints in this world. Such is the testimony of Irenaeus, the pupil of Polycarp and Papias, the
disciples of the Apostle John.
Tertullian
We
come now to Tertullian, the eminent contemporary of Irenacus, a man of eloquence and learning who, with all his
faults, had many excellencies. His testimony is equally conspicuous and
positive.
"We also confess," says he, "that a kingdom is promised us on earth, AFTER
THE RESURRECTION; for it will be for a thousand years in a
city of divine workmanship, viz.,
He
also testifies that it was the custom of
his times for Christians to pray that they might have part in the first
resurrection, thus showing that this was the general and firm belief of his
time.
Clement Of
Clement
of
Cyprian
Cyprian,
the great bishop of
"In the divine arrangement of the world," says
he, "seven days were at first employed, and in
them 7,000 years were included." This implies the doctrine of the millennial
Sabbath; and, taking it in connection with his expectation of the future
honours of the martyrs, and his declaration that in this world "things evil and adverse shall increase until the end come as
foretold," we cannot suppose that he differed on this subject from
the distinguished teachers who went before him and whose disciple he claimed to
be.
Some Conclusions
We
have now brought down our list of testimonies to the end of the second century
after Christ. I have given you the
language of the most pious and distinguished Christian teachers who lived
during that time. And without one
dissenting voice among them, we here have as their unanimous apprehension of
the Scriptures and of what Christ and His apostles taught-
1.
That there is to be a millennial Sabbath at the end of 6,000 years from the
creation of Adam, in which the world shall joyfully rest from its long week of
turmoil and disorder.
2.
That the personal and final advent of Christ and the resurrection of the holy
dead shall occur at the commencement of the millennium.
3.
That Christ is to reign with His saints in glorious empire upon this earth.
4.
That ill sublunary things, embracing the entire lower creation, are to undergo
a universal renovation and be restored to their original excellence and glory.
Other Comments
Nor
was there any acknowledged Christian, until the time of Origen, in the middle of the third century, that ever recorded any other
faith upon this subject. We may safely
challenge all the research of the world to produce one single orthodox opposing
testimony prior to the days of Origen, of whom Milner says, "No man not altogether unsound and hypocritical ever more injured
the
The
well-known infidel historian, Edward
Gibbon, has this statement: "The ancient and
popular doctrine of the millennium was intimately connected with the second
coming of Christ. As the works of the
creation had been finished in six days, their duration in their present state,
according to a tradition that was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed
to 6,000 years. By the same analogy, it
was inferred that this long period of labour and contention would be succeeded
by a joyful Sabbath of a thousand years; and that Christ, with the triumphant
band of the saints and the elect who had escaped death, or who had been
miraculously revived, would reign upon earth. ... The assurance of such a millennium was
carefully inculcated by a succession of fathers from Justin Martyr and Irenacus, who conversed with the
immediate disciples of the apostles, down to Lactantius, who was preceptor to
the son of
This
Lactantius,
to whom Gibbon refers, lived in the early part of the fourth century. Mosheim
pronounces him "the most learned of the Latin
fathers." He was known in
his time as "the Christian Cicero." His sentiments upon this subject deserve to be
presented among our testimonies. "When God shall come to judge the world," says
he, "and shall
restore unto life the just that have been since the beginning, He shall
converse among men a thousand years, and rule them with a most righteous
government. And they that shall be
raised from the dead shall be over the living as judges. And the Gentiles shall not be utterly
extinguished, but some shall be left for the victory of God. ... About the
same time, the prince of devils, the forger of all evil, shall be bound with
chains and shall be in custody all the thousand years of the heavenly empire
under which righteousness shall reign over the world." Such then, according to Gibbon, “were the reigning sentiments
of orthodox believers" for more than three centuries of the Christian era.
The
celebrated Chillingworth
says, "That this doctrine (of the
millennium and Christ's personal reign on earth) was
by the church of the next age after the apostles held true and catholic, I
prove by these two reasons: first, whatever doctrine is believed and taught by
the most eminent fathers of any age of the church, and by none of their
contemporaries opposed or condemned, that is to be esteemed the catholic
doctrine of the church of those times; but the doctrine of the millennium
was believed and taught by the most eminent fathers of the age next after the
apostles, and by none of that age opposed or condemned; therefore IT WAS
THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THOSE TIMES."
Mosheim says, "The prevailing opinion, that Christ was to
come and reign a thousand years among men before the final dissolution of the
world, had met with no opposition previous to the time of Origen."
Button says, "It cannot be denied that Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and all the other ecclesiastical
writers believed, literally, that the saints would rise in the first
resurrection and reign with Christ upon earth previous to the general
resurrection."
Munscher says, " How widely the doctrine of millenarianism prevailed in the
first centuries of Christianity appears from this, that it was
universally received by almost all teachers."
Gleseler says of the first centuries,
"Millenarianism became the general belief of the
time."
Semisch says, "The ancients expected a kingdom in this world in which
Christ, after His conning, should reign with His risen and glorified saints. They believed that He would visibly return in
order to establish a terrestrial theocracy as the centre of a dominion over the
world, that He would destroy the
But
I will not trouble you with needless repetitions. What these authors have said is just what
multitudes of others, equally learned and disinterested, have declared. Encyclopaedias and reviews, friends and
enemies, ancients and moderns, admit and declare the fact that the church of
Christ, for the first two centuries after the inspired apostles, was universally
millenarian, and that she substantially believed and taught this
truth. This doctrine is what all the
true believers in the revelations of God, for more than 200 years after Christ,
accepted as the teaching of that holy book. And if I have not proven to you that the
millenarian faith was the orthodox faith of primitive Christianity, there is no
weight in testimony. Ask the fathers,
and they will show you - the elders, and they will tell you. And if the church of our day is to keep to the
simplicities of those early times after which she professes to pattern, she
must hold to the personal reign of Christ with His saints on earth as one of
her most sublime hopes.
-------
Joseph A. Seiss, taken from The Last Times And The Great Consummation. As far as we are aware, this book
is presently out of print.
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