Week #6: A Case for Amillennialism by Kim Riddlebarger

You know how every year you make one of those New Year’s things (resolutions) – you end up reaching that determinative point… the one where you will either keep going or fail… That was where I found myself last week.

Our denomination is wrangling with thoughts (thankfully not each other) about our written stance regarding last days and the order of such. We have historically stated – and currently do – that we are pre-millennial. I have always considered myself such as well. After all, I reasoned, it’s the only position I could potentially be wrong about and still change my mind later.

Joking aside, I wanted to get a perspective that was not my own to see how others reasoned through the same key passages that I have considered and come to different conclusions. Their company is many and great and includes the likes of Luther and Calvin.

Because this almost-300-page treatise was a candidate to end my resolution, I will not assume to have exhausted its power to put even spiritual minds to sleep. And so I write a single takeaway this week…

Amillennialism, not unlike any of the other views of last days, is an attempt to interpret and understand Scripture and apply it. When held completely and carried to its full conclusions, it definitely makes assumptions about the nation of Israel (i.e. their end times exclusion) that I am not ready to make.

So is amillennialism right or wrong? I am not ready to look at it that way. I think I can make my case for pre-millennialism strongly. And instead of bickering over who goes first and who gets… say… left behind… The honest theologian says, “To the best of my understanding…” and leaves it at that. Will amillennarians be seated next to me at the marriage supper of the Lamb? Absolutely. Who will get to heaven first? We’ll see.