day no. 17,460: optimillenialism vs. pessimillenialism

"For wise men, one of the rewards of work is to see the work actually accomplished, to see the mission completed. The telos of lawn mowing, one of the great ones, is the satisfaction of seeing the lawn actually mowed. A man’s duty is a man’s duty, regardless, but if the duty is pointless, or seems pointless with regard to the teleology of it, then it might not be long before a man could start to feel like Sisyphus, rolling the rock up the hill again." — Douglas Wilson, How Post-Mill Figures into It

The Great Commission is not a run out the clock kind of offense. It is not the case that the lead is now so insurmountable as a result of Christ's victory that we have nothing to do but take a knee. Rest assured, the victory is secured and the lead is insurmountable, but our plays are still loaded with meaning. The defense is still coming after you and looking not only to stop your forward progress, but to take you out of the game altogether if possible. In addition, they are looking to get the ball back and score points.

In this regard, we could learn from the demons. They know the fight is fixed and yet they are fighting with all of their might. They know their time is short, but they are willing to play the long game for as long as God gives them. They know that their labors are futile and yet they are working hard. We know that our labors aren't in vain and yet we act like they optional. We do not get after what we know will work while our enemies are vigilant in what they know to be vain.

1 Corinthians 9:10

Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

The Great Commission is not a suicide mission and the world is not God's Vietnam. We win down here because God wins everywhere. And He has given us a taste of the glory in the meantime. We get to enjoy the meal He is commanding us to prepare. We reap from the fields i which He has called us to sow as we wait for the final harvest.

"If you aim at losing, you are very likely to achieve your goal." — Douglas Wilson, How Post-Mill Figures into It

Those who live their lives with a "it's all going to burn in the end" mentality do not devote themselves to building projects that outlast them. Why would you give your life to build part of a cathedral you will never worship in and will likely be destroyed by God before it is finished? Those who aim at losing hit their target. But God has not called us to lose, He has called us to conquer. True, in Christ we are more than conquerors, but we are not less.

"An eschatology that teaches 'we lose down here' is an eschatology that may have had something to do with why we are, you know, losing down here? We are right on schedule, apparently." — Douglas Wilson, How Post-Mill Figures into It

If you preach and teach with a pessimistic approach, you cannot be shocked when you get disappointing results. Of course we are losing down here, you weren't trying to win. But we cannot blame our failures on God. The "we lose down here" crowd often takes comfort in what they believe to be God's promise of our defeat. They assuage their cowardice by calling for the curtains. There is a faithful way to say, "Come soon, Lord Jesus!" and a fearful way to say, "Come soon, Lord Jesus!"

We cannot blame God for our failure. We cannot blame the state of the world on His actions in order to take the blame away from our lack of activity.

"We should do what we were told to do, and let God sort out the doctrine." — Douglas Wilson, How Post-Mill Figures into It

If God said, "Go, disciple the nations," who are we to disagree. And who are we to say, "Why disciple nations that are just going to burn anyways?" We cannot use God's sovereignty as an excuse to disobey a direct order from Him. Even if the premise was true and the world was damned to darkness despite our efforts, the command to disciple the nations would still exist. In that scenario, the faithful response would still be to baptize the world because that is what God said to do. And if that is the case for faithful dispensationals, how much more so should it be for faithful postmillennials? We have the same command to disciple the nations, but we believe that it is going to work.

"If you will allow me to zoom out, let me borrow a couple of terms from the late Gary North, and those terms are optimillenialist and pessimillenialist. These terms do not refer to the time after the Second Coming because all Christians are optimistic in that final sense. I am talking about historical optimism and historical pessimism. Out of the three positions—post mill, amill and premill—the postmills are required to be optimillenialists. It is part of the package. But amills and premills are allowed to be." — Douglas Wilson, How Post-Mill Figures into It

Whatever your eschatology, you should be optimistic about the plan of God. Whatever the book of Revelation means, its author ended on an optimistic note, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Rev 22:20)

"I am convinced that America is in the condition we are in today because we have bought into grim eschatologies that discourage, pacify, and enervate the faithful. We really need to be done with that." — Douglas Wilson, How Post-Mill Figures into It

Pessimism lacks faith. It advertises itself as faithful to the dire predictions of God, but it fails to put any stock in the hopeful promises of God. Much of what we call the doom and gloom of the New Testament can be explained by a partial preterist, postmillennial framework. Things were dire for those whose hope still resided in whole or in part in Jerusalem. Jesus had promises its destruction was near. So near, in fact, that the generation to whom he spoke its demise would still be alive to see the fall of temple. And its fall was terrible, as bad as predicted. The promises of God are powerful. When they promise destruction, they destroy in terrible ways, but when they promise advancement, they do so in awesome ways as well.