The Christian’s hope is the visible, bodily, glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven with the resurrection of the Christian’s body, the public vindication of the Christian at the last judgment, and the enjoyment of the glories of the new creation.
David J. Engelsma writes on eschatology in the service of the church’s hope. This volume treats the magnificent subjects of the intermediate state and the millennium. The bulk of this book is devoted to a thorough analysis of the millennium, with a vigorous defense of Reformed amillennialism. Especially thorough is Engelsma’s critique of postmillennialism, which he sees as a threat to Reformed churches. Both postmillennialism and dispensational premillennialism subvert the church’s hope. Postmillenialism fixes the believer’s hope on a golden age within history in which the church will be dominant—a carnal victory. Dispensational premillenialism fixes the believer’s hope on a fictitious rapture, which will snatch the church out of the world so that God can fulfill his program in history with the Jews. Both views leave the church unprepared for the future.
As Engelsma demonstrates, the last things—centrally the coming of Christ—are the purpose and goal of all the revelation of God in scripture, from beginning to end. This book will encourage the Christian as he heeds Christ’s instruction regarding that coming: “Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).
350 pages.
Church's Hope, The - Vol. 1: The Reformed Doctrine of the End - The Millennium is in the following collections:
