Pessimillennialism and the Success of the Gospel

Pessimillennialism gets exactly what expects, in its unbelief. If you expect the Spirit of God working through the Gospel to accomplish little, it will affect your sharing of the Gospel, your prayer, and all your conduct in every aspect of your life. “And He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” But if the Spirit of God has the power to change individuals, He has the power to change countries, cultures, and the world. No individual Christian achieves perfect sanctification in this life. But the direction of his life is one way, the path of holiness that leads to perfection. And he is mostly characterized by his obedience to the commandments of God (Romans 8:1-17). This exactly what we should expect the Gospel to achieve for the whole world. Jesus tells us to pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, as if we should expect that prayer to be answered. This side of the return of Christ, the world will not be sinless, as the people that make it up will not be sinless. But no reading of the Gospel as Scripture presents it can possibly see it as weak or unsuccessful. When all is said and done, the whole cosmos will be saved.

One point to be seen in all of this is that there is no divide between soteriology and eschatology. To believe that there is is to have an incomplete understanding of both. Eschatology is the working out of, and the complete success of, the Gospel in Creation and in history.

So what did Jesus mean when He said “My kingdom is not of this world”(Jn. 18:36)? He meant the world as it existed before His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, the world under the Old Covenant. That He was referring to that world only is evident by His statement “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.” The statement was time specific, referring to that moment. Christ’s death and resurrection were necessary and the point of His incarnation. The Old Covenant world, the one where Israel alone were God’s people, apart from the Gentiles, was temporary and to be done away with in Christ’s work. The fact that His reign as King began after His resurrection, bringing in a new world, is clear from His words in Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”