🕚 The Quiet Problem with Our Millennial Labels

Over the past several years, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn to eschatology—the Christian doctrine of last things. Not as a curiosity or a hobby, but as something that has quietly worked its way into the centre of my thinking about Christian hope, purpose, and urgency.

As many know, the Christian church has long held three major positions on what Revelation 20 calls “the thousand years” or the Millennium:

• Premillennialism says that Jesus will return before this period, to rule and reign on the earth. This is the position I hold.
• Postmillennialism envisions a golden age of gospel success and peace coming before Jesus returns, after which He consummates all things. Once popular around the turn of the twentieth century, it now has a small but devoted following.
• Amillennialism claims there is no future literal Millennium at all; the “thousand years” refers symbolically to Christ’s present reign through His Church. Most evangelicals—and Preterists (who believe all prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70)—hold this view. Many Christians haven’t even considered the Millennium mentioned six times in Revelation 20:1-7.

When I first encountered these categories, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about the terminology seemed oddly inconsistent. The a- in amillennialism refers to the reality of the Millennium itself—they don’t believe there is a literal thousand-year reign. But premillennialism and postmillennialism? Their prefixes describe the timing of Christ’s return in relation to the Millennium, not the Millennium itself.

Wouldn’t it have been more consistent if all three terms focused on the same thing—either the Millennium or the timing of His return? You might expect premillennialism to mean the Millennium happens before His return, and postmillennialism to mean it happens after. But, of course, that’s not how the terms are used.

That inconsistency in the labels puzzled me for a while. But over time, I began to see something deeper—a kind of spiritual consistency in the way the terms are defined.

In conversation after conversation with believers who hold to amillennialism, I began to detect a pattern. Rarely—if never—did they speak with any sense of urgency about the nearness of Jesus’ return. In fact, quite often they seemed dismissive, treating it as something remote, theoretical, or perhaps for a far-off future. A thousand years from now, maybe.

And sometimes, if I’m honest, there was something even more troubling. When the subject of Christ’s imminent return came up, it wasn’t uncommon to encounter discomfort, even frustration. It was as if the thought of Jesus returning soon was somehow interrupting their plans—the life they were building, the success they were pursuing, the pleasures they were enjoying.

Of course, I don’t doubt their faith or their place in God’s family. They are my brothers and sisters. But I can’t help but wonder whether they’ve lost sight of what Paul called “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award… to all who have longed for His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

Jesus, after all, described a certain kind of servant—a faithful and wise one—who gives food to God’s household in due season. In 2025, I believe this means faithfully and wisely helping the church recover its longing for the imminent return of our Bridegroom.

“Blessed is that servant whom his Master finds so doing when He returns.”

Matthew 24:46

The early church lived like that. They believed Jesus could return at any moment. And it shaped how they lived—how they loved, how they endured suffering, how they spread the Gospel.

Somehow, I fear we’ve lost that urgency—right when we need it most. Amillennialism, while intellectually sophisticated, often encourages precisely that kind of drift. It takes the sharp edge off Christian hope. It quietly moves the return of Christ out of our field of vision.

So here’s the invitation.

Let’s recover the expectancy of the early church.

Let’s stay awake in prayer.

Let’s stay ready in holiness.

Let’s live as those who long for His appearing—not someday, but soon.

After all, He said, “Behold, I am coming quickly.”