One of the leading evangelical thinkers of the latter part of the twentieth century, Francis Schaeffer, believed in "the Lordship of Christ over all of life--philosophy, theology and the church, art, music, literature, films, and culture in general," according to the introduction to the 1981 edition of A Christian Manifesto. But some critics, such as Gary DeMar of American Vision, point out that the practical implications of Shaeffer's worldview did not fit with his pessimistic premillennial eschatology. Thus, rather than working out a practical strategy for appropriating the Lordship of Christ to bring about cultural change, Schaeffer never got beyond the level of cultural criticism.

Implied in DeMar's critique is that Schaeffer would have been better served by adopting a postmillennial eschatology which posits a more optimistic view of the future. Early millennarians looked forward to a glorious age of peace on earth with the saints reigning with Christ for a thousand years. As years went by, however, hope gave way to hype and a myriad of superstitions began to accrue around the millennarians' dreams. By the time of Augustine, the premillennial views of earlier generations had been repudiated as Christianity transitioned from being a persecuted minority sect to the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Pessimism became associated with premillennialism during its resurgence among American evangelicals in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Antebellum evangelicals were driven by a postmillennial vision of establishing a just and peaceful society through the spread of the Gospel. The Civil War shattered those dreams and evangelicals switched from engaging the world to withdrawing from it, believing their only hope was the soon return of Christ. Hence, the embrace of a revived (and somewhat revised) premillennialism.

By the time of the fundamentalist/modernist controversy of the 1920's, premillennialism was pretty much an article of faith among evangelicals, although the most able and articulate spokesmen for orthodoxy against the encroachment of modernism, such as J. Gresham Machen, remained postmillennial. Belief in a "literal" millennium--an actual period of a thousand years in which Christ will reign on earth with his glorified saints--was essential to a "literal" interpretation of the Bible. As such, premillennialism became more important as a tenet of biblical inerrancy than as an element of an eschatological system. The fact that an actual "literal" reading of the only Scriptural text in which "the millennium" is mentioned (Revelation 20.1-6) mitigates against the idea of a "literal" thousand-year period ("thousand" being an adjective descriptive of the nature of the "years," not their chronological length) was not a consideration of "inerrantists" at the time.

Millennial views are like bad days. Everybody has one. But no one particular view--be it premillennial, postmillennial, or amillennial--is truly adequate to explain the multi-dimensional nature of the coming eschatological kingdom of God. Jesus declared to his disciples, "there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:27). This statement becomes very problematic for those who are wound up in arguments over millennial views. If "the kingdom of God" is synonymous with "the Son of Man" coming "in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26), why have believers been waiting some 2,000 years to see something Jesus promised would be seen by his earliest followers?

If all that is meant by "the kingdom of God" is the return of Christ in glory at the end of history, then we might have a problem here. But "the kingdom of God" is a much larger project than just its final consummation. It is connected not only with Jesus' glory, but also with his suffering. Likewise, it is seen not only in the final triumph of righteousness, but also in the ordeal of righteous suffering at the hands of the fallen world. Jesus connects his glory with his suffering and commands "anyone" who "would come after" him to "deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow" him (Luke 9:23). The glory of the Son of Man is inextricably connected with the suffering of the Son of Man. The kingdom of God is inextricably linked with the cross of Jesus Christ.

Jesus' first disciples would "see the kingdom of God" in their lifetime by seeing Jesus "suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Luke 9:22). Jesus' resurrection was the inaugural event of the kingdom of God. Jesus, after his ordeal of suffering and death, was raised up in glory, vindicated as the true Christ of God, the victorious Son of Man "in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels."

But the resurrection was only the beginning. Jesus called his disciples to deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow him. They were to continue the work he began. They were to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God to all the nations, never being ashamed even to give their lives for their Lord. In Jesus, crucified and risen, they could "see the kingdom of God." Their mission was, and our mission today is, to make others see that kingdom in lives that become an authentic imitation of the crucified and risen Savior.