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THE RELIGIOUS APPEAL OF PRE-
MILLENNIALISM
CORNELIUS WOELFKIN
New York City
Millenarianism is a doctrine which attempts to premise
the Kingdom of God on earth. It exercises a fascinating
interest over the minds of those who accept it. Its religious
appeal grows out of the fact that it presents a clear, concrete,
and comprehensive program of the purposes of God respecting
the past, present, and future; it enlists the imagination, stirs
the emotions, and challenges the disciple to co-operate with
this program of the divine will. To appreciate its religious
appeal one must have some understanding of what may be
called the philosophy of millenarianism. As a doctrine, it
is not a vague, mystic hope, but a definite scheme of historic
unfoldings. There are many Christians who read the Bible
in a disjointed fashion and associate the "Return of the
Lord" with hazy notions of the end of the world. They
believe that Jesus will come again in bodily form to judge the
living and the dead and assign them to their respective
destinies. They may even regard this event as impending
and be numbered with millenarians; but they are such only
in a nebulous and ambiguous way. Real millenarians hold
a distinctive philosophy which is only apprehended by those
who "rightly divide the word of truth" — a cardinal Scripture
text with them.
In this dissection and recollocation of the Scriptures,
certain dispensations are sharply differentiated from one
another. Each dispensation is a distinctive regime in which
God is dealing with the human race according to some peculiar
255
256 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION
principle. In a general way these dispensations are as follows :
First, the Edenic. Man was in a garden and innocent. He
was tried under one prohibitory law, forbidding him the fruit
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Failing under the
test, man was banished from this primitive paradise, but not
until God had promised a "seed of the woman" which should
bruise the serpent's head. All the subsequent unfoldments
have been and are the issue of this promise. The closing of
the garden under the guard of the cherubim ended the first
dispensation.
Second, came the antediluvian world. The righteous
seed, represented by Abel, Seth, Enoch, and others, was
persecuted by Cain and his progeny who filled the earth with
violence. The judgment of the flood swept the earth clean
once more and gave the race a new start.
Third, we have a new world under patriarchal rule. The
fathers are the priests in their families. Abraham is called
to walk by faith and becomes the "Friend of God." His
family is chosen to become an elect people. His seed is to be
innumerable and inherit the world. New covenants are
established between God and Abraham's children. Jacob
becomes a "Prince of God," but his sons fail in their conduct
toward Joseph, and they are brought to Egypt. The dispensa-
tion ends with Israel as slaves in the brickyards and the
Patriarchs in their coffins.
Fourth, we have the Mosaic or legal dispensation. Moses
achieves the emancipation of the chosen people and on Mount
Sinai receives the decalogue, or covenant of the law. Israel's
tenure of the promised land and the blessings of Jehovah are
conditioned upon obedience to the statutes. Here there arise
the prophets who announce the divine will, herald the "Day
of the Lord" and the coming of the Messiah. But again the
people fail, and are sold into bondage and become vassals to
successive conquerors. These four distinctive periods are
covered by the Old Testament Scriptures. Man proves a
RELIGIOUS APPEAL OF PREMILLENNIALISM 257
failure in every dispensation. But God is not taken by
surprise. He foreknows that man will continually fail and
brings on a series of successions, changing the stage, in order
to prove man a sinner and himself a God and Savior under
any and all circumstances. The scenery ever changes, but
the play is the same, viz., the tragedy of human sin and
helplessness. Against this background God will demonstrate
his faithfulness in the fulfilment of his promises, and manifest
his glory in the sovereign establishment of his covenants.
Fifth, there comes the messianic dispensation, which reaches
from the manger to the Cross. The Son of God, the seed of
David, Abraham, and the woman, is in the world. Jesus
offers himself to the nation as its Messiah and King. He
fulfils certain characteristics predicted in the writings of
Moses, the Psalms, and Prophets. But the people are blind
and know not "the day of their visitation." They crucify
the Son of God, the Prince of Glory, and push away the
millennial kingdom. The disciples ask Jesus concerning this
kingdom and he indicates that it is to be postponed. He
vanishes behind a cloud and another regime passes away.
Sixth, we come to the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
We must be quite clear as to the sharp distinction between
the purposes of God with respect to this age in which we now
live, and the millennium which is immediately to follow.
Here is the very crux of the millennial hope and passion.
The expectation of Israel had been that the Jew and the Gentile
would ever remain distinct. In the "acceptable year of the
Lord," Israel is to be a crown of glory in the hands of Jehovah
and the head of all nations of the earth. But now, under the
dispensation of the Holy Spirit, a new purpose, not known in
other ages, comes over the horizon. The Holy Spirit has
broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and
Gentile and is making an election out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue of those who own Christ as a Savior. This
new spiritual body is known as "the Church of God."
258 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION
We cannot overemphasize the importance of recognizing,
that from the millenarian point of view, God is not purposing
to convert the world in this dispensation. He has not changed
the nature of the kingdom from an outward manifestation of
his glory, to a spiritual and gradual conquest of the earth.
He is making an election; and the one business of the church
is to preach the gospel and fulfil the chosen number. The
true millenarian knows that he has no business trying to
clean up the Augean stables of the world. Like every previous
dispensation, this one also will end in judgment. Evil will
increase with accelerated speed and power, and culminate in
the advent of the antichrist. During his regime, apostasy
and atheism will be rampant and bring on the "great tribula-
tion." All this becomes the background of the millenarian's
hope — the epiphany of the Lord who will overthrow antichrist
and initiate his kingdom on earth.
Seventh, comes the millennial reign of Christ. The
cardinal event ushering in that age will be the Second Coming
of Christ. That is the goal of the present age and becomes
the hope of the church. Just what the characteristics of the
millennium will be, or what details may focus in the imagina-
tion, need not detain us. It is the hope and prospect of that
triumphant coming of Christ which creates a religious appeal
for the millenarian. It must be apparent that to those who
sincerely accept this outworking of such a divine program the
premillennial coming of the Lord must be aflame with appeal
and enthusiasm. Of course I have in mind those to whom
this hope is a vital reality and not an academic question.
For here as everywhere, it is possible to accept some
a priori assumptions and then rationalize certain academic
conclusions. Any interest thus derived is only an intellectual
fancy and not religious passion. But for one who holds the
hope as a vital certainty it is a living hope, stimulating
personal virtue, inspiring evangelistic zeal and missionary
enterprise. The religious appeal grows out of indirect con-
RELIGIOUS APPEAL OF PREMILLENNIALISM 259
firmations of the faith, and direct urgings to holy living and
diligent work.
For the devout millenarian the Bible is the inspired,
inerrant word of God. He is unconcerned about its historic
backgrounds, the study of which he regards with suspicion, and
he is indifferent to the many discrepancies found within the
book itself. To him it is a divine book, above human wisdom,
and sometimes too profound for human understanding.
Hence he can dismiss these infelicitous difficulties without
impairing his faith. The Bible is a revelation in which are
unfolded the maturing purposes of God. It is not the result
of man feeling after God. He only gropes in blindness,
touches the torso of a stone, and calls it God. God knows
the end from the beginning and it is plainly written in the
word. The promises and prophecies can never fail. They
may be drawn out, postponed, or discover larger horizons,
but "the Scriptures cannot be broken." They are the source
of all light, the one and final canon of appeal concerning all
matters of faith, hope, duty, and destiny. They never abro-
gate the promise of the kingdom but with growing emphasis
confirm it. According to both the Old Testament and the
New Testament, that kingdom is to be ushered in and estab-
lished by the returning Lord. This canon of authority has a
deep religious value for the believer in that it certifies his
hopes and keeps his anchors from dragging amid all the vagrant
currents of speculation, criticism, doubt, and agnosticism.
All things can be referred to the law and the testimony.
Since the Bible is the word of God, inspired by the one and
selfsame Spirit, it is equally trustworthy in every part; and
all the passages that can be allocated around this subject can
be used to formulate a doctrine. It can be shown that Jesus
spoke of his return; that his apostles wrote clearly concerning
his imminent and speedy coming, and that the early church
expected his sudden advent for their redemption and glory.
Later and modern disciples have not been privileged to see
2<3o THE JOURNAL OF RELIGION
Jesus in the flesh, but like Paul, they know him in spirit and
can affirm, "Whom having not seen I love." Love craves to
see the object of its affection and longs to see him that is
altogether lovely. When any loved one is expected home,
the passing hours are fraught with interest and preparation.
So the heart that "loves his appearing" turns longingly
toward the day. It rejoices in the tokens of his favor, but
more earnestly desires the presence of the lover himself.
The bride eyes not her garments,
But her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze on glory,
But on my king of grace.
The desire for the speedy advent of Jesus is deepened into
a consuming passion when it is conceived as the one great
event in which all the comforting and triumphant issues of
the gospel are converged. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, the mortal life will be swallowed up in immortality.
The generation that remains to his coming will, like Elijah,
outride the grasp of death and cheat the grave of its spoil.
The dead in Christ, who bivouac in God's acre, will hear the
sounding of the reveille and rise every man in his regiment and
join the triumphal procession. The painful struggle with
temptation may tomorrow be swallowed up in conquest.
The laborious effort to be decent and imitate Christ will
instantly be changed and the Christ image flash forth in an
abiding transfiguration. All the long-drawn hopes of the ages
will be realized and the far-off interest of tears and sorrows be
gathered. All that heaven has meant to the imagination and
affections will become an immediate possession.
The Lord shall come to be admired in all his saints. The
judgments of the Lord will have fallen upon all ungodly souls
and unrighteous acts and the Christian's faith, hope, and
patience will be vindicated before an assembled universe.
Every disciple who kept his face toward the morning and
watched in faith; every missionary who stood on the far-flung
RELIGIOUS APPEAL OF PREMILLENNIALISM 261
battle line of service; every martyr that perished amid fire
and persecution; and all the dear and holy dead who fell
asleep in Christ will be gathered about the glorified Lord.
Then will the Cross prove to be the foundation of the throne;
the crown of thorns exchanged for the diadem; the reed laid
aside for the scepter of universal authority. Then will the
eternal God say to his Son the Savior, "Thy throne O God is
forever and ever." No reverent soul can honestly contemplate
such an imminent denouement of the present crisis without
feeling a burning heart and realizing a strong religious appeal.
This appeal is emphasized in the divine urge which this
expectation lays upon believers. Millenarians insist, and
rightly so, that in the Scriptures every admonition to fidelity
and every stressing of duty is linked up with the thought of
his imminent appearing. They can cite verse after verse in
proof thereof. This is just the logic of the position. Who
would not wish to be at his best, be able to render a good
account of his stewardship, and be found about the Master's
business when he comes ? His acceptance with the Lord and
his position and reward in the kingdom will depend upon his
loyalty to duty and service while waiting.
Moreover the crisis of his coming may be hastened by
faithful co-operation with him. By living soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present age the watchers are preparing a
highway for the King. By evangelizing all nations and
gathering the elect they are making the Bride ready against
the day of nuptials. For these and other reasons, together
with many allied associations and interests — the very naming
of which would carry us far afield— the believer in the pre-
millennial coming of Christ must experience a strong religious
appeal.
So far I have indicated the matrix and nature of the religious
appeal in millenarianism from the premillennialist's point of
view. This appeal may become anaemic, vitiated, or may
completely lapse. The theory gets such strong possession of
262 TEE JOURNAL OF RELIGION
some minds that it cancels the motives of sympathy and
brotherhood, and becomes harsh and intolerant. Such a
premillenarian stands on the side lines with the program of
events in his hands and watches the procession of the divine
purposes go by. To him it is all so clear that any man who
sees it in any different form or perspective is blind and working
at a useless task. He judges his fellow-Christians as disloyal
and apostate, deluded by Satan, who transforms himself into
a counterfeit minister of righteousness and an angel of light. He
becomes critical, censorious, and exclusive until unconsciously
he develops into a Pharisee and, despite his boasted fidelity,
the religious motive is vitiated.
Many who call themselves premillenarians are better than
their theory. But the thoroughgoing confine the ministry of
the gospel to a narrow and superficial form of evangelism and
limit the power of the divine Spirit. They utterly repudiate
any sympathy or co-operation with a social gospel, mislabel
any movements outside their type of evangelism, and attribute
them to blind and malevolent inspirations. The religious
appeal associated with the hope as held by the earliest
Christians degenerates into a pharisaic zeal without knowledge.
Admitting that the early Christians were stimulated by
the hope of the speedy return of the Lord, were they deceived
by holding such millennial expectations? Not so! It is at
least questionable whether the early adherents of this thesis
held any such definite scheme of events as is held by pre-
millennialists today. Their theory was an illusion not delusion .
Delusion is something essentially false, while illusion is a con-
ception which has at the heart of it something greater than
the mind can at the moment apprehend. There is something
in the Kingdom idea which millenarianism symbolized. But
the reality and fulfilment will be greater than the millenarian
imagined or thought. The religious appeal of the Kingdom
has completely shifted its ground.
The long period of time which has elapsed and the many
developments which have taken place since the apostolic days
RELIGIOUS APPEAL OF PREMILLENNIALISM 263
do not fit into the primitive conception of the Kingdom. Not
only the apostles, but every generation after them who
cherished the hope of his coming in their day, have been dis-
appointed. To say that it is a corporate hope and that they
were not disappointed, but will through a resurrection have
part in the advent is a begging of the question. If the judge
stood at the door in the days of James, he has been standing
there a long time. It seems probable that either he changed
his mind or that they misread the signs.
The millenarian dream was conceived in minds laboring
among the limitations of primitive knowledge. The investiga-
tions and discoveries of science which have changed our con-
ception concerning the universe, space, and time could not
but effect a change in this theory. For those who keep in
step with the modern mind and have any acquaintance with
modern learning, this doctrine has receded into the perspective
and lost its outward significance. Where the doctrine has
faded the religious appeal has completely changed.
The critical study of the Scriptures and their sources has
brought into the field of vision the historic backgrounds and
conditions out of which these Scriptures — including this
doctrine— have grown. The apocalyptic writings current for
two centuries B.C., but not included in the canon, threw their
color if not their forms into Christian thought. In proportion
to one's acquaintance with the sources of these writings as
viewed against the background of modern knowledge, is the
millenarian view completely outgrown. It can only main-
tain its hold and interest over belated minds which are still
moving within the horizons of primitive knowledge, and hold
their hopes by the canons of literal interpretation. For all
who arrive at any knowledge revealed by science, discovered
by historic methods and held by the lovers of facts and truth
in all departments of research, the conceptions of the Kingdom
of God shift their bases from the doctrine of premillennialism,
and the religious appeal must be molded by something different
from that one-time stimulating, but now archaic dream.
