The term “millennium” simply means a thousand years. However, to Christians the millennium is specifically the thousand years mentioned in the book of Revelation, of which a variety of interpretations have abounded throughout the centuries of the Christian era. Today, however, there are three principal views. The first is premillennialism, which means Christ's second advent takes place before the thousand years. The second is postmillennialism, which means He comes after the thousand years, while the third is amillennialism, which claims that the thousand-year period in question is not literal. The most popular views in American Christianity have been premillennialism and postmillennialism [1].
Ellen White on the Millennium
All Christians understand that the term millennium refers to the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20:2-7. However, most other Christians view this period differently from Seventh-day Adventists. Rather than looking at all the various interpretations, we will consider the interpretations that fit with what Ellen White says the nominal churches of the end-times will be believing.
Ellen White mentions uses the word millennium 55 times in one of the last CD ROM releases of all her works [2]. However, allowing for repeat quotes and repeated contextual themes, we come down to the following that are of interest to us in the last days:
Christ continues, pointing out the condition of the world at His coming: "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the Flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Christ does not here bring to view a temporal millennium, a thousand years in which all are to prepare for eternity. He tells us that as it was in Noah's day, so will it be when the Son of man comes again [3].
Ellen G. White, in the book The Great Controversy, makes this statement about the time of the Sunday law and its end-time context:
Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium [4].
The context of this quote is the three-fold union of the papacy, the fallen Protestants, and spiritualism vying for the union of church and state and a Sunday law. It is interesting to note that the background setting of the Sunday law appears to be postmillennialism, or at least a similar mindset. Of interest also is this statement:
The churches of our time are seeking worldly aggrandizement, and are as unwilling to see the light of the prophecies, and receive the evidences of their fulfillment, which show that Christ is soon to come, as were the Jews in reference to his first appearing. They were looking for the temporal and triumphant reign of Messiah in Jerusalem. Professed Christians of our time are expecting the temporal prosperity of the church, in the conversion of the world, and the enjoyment of the temporal millennium [5].
The reference to "the temporal and triumphant reign of Messiah in Jerusalem" seems to indicate the doctrine of dispensationalism was around at the time of writing (1877). This was also the approximate time of its introduction in the United States [6].
Again, this time with a specific reference to the coming Sunday law, we see the millennium mentioned again.
They declared that they had the truth, that miracles were among them; that angels from heaven talked with them and walked with them, that great power and signs and wonders were performed among them, and that this was the temporal millennium they had been expecting so long. The whole world was converted and in harmony with the Sunday law, and this little feeble people stood out in defiance of the laws of the land and the law of God, and claimed to be the only ones right on the earth [7].
Postmillennialism
Ellen White is here addressing a popular view in her time, that Christ was to come after the millennium and that during the millennium, the Church would reign and usher in an era of righteousness during which the whole world, or nearly the whole world, was to become converted. This view, which was very popular among American Protestants from the 18th to the mid-19th century, is known as postmillennialism, or often simply millenarianism [8]. It is perhaps best summarized as follows:
Postmillennialism expects that eventually the vast majority of people living will be saved. Increasing gospel success will gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ's return in which faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of nations. After an extensive era of such conditions Jesus Christ will return visibly, bodily, and gloriously, to end history with the general resurrection and the final judgment after which the eternal order follows [9].
That is, the church will experience unparalleled success during the thousand years. Also, temporally, during that time, life here will get increasingly better and prosperity will abound. Contrast this to the Biblical view followed by Seventh-day Adventists, that evil will wax worse and worse (2 Tim 3:13). The Seventh-day Adventist view is re-enforced by this quote from Patriarchs and Prophets.
"The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." 1 Timothy 4:1. The apostle says that "in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1. And he gives a startling list of sins that will be found among those who have a form of godliness [10].
You will note, she often uses the term temporal millennium. The term temporal from the dictionary means, relating to time and also to worldly as against sacred [11]. Therefore, the term refers to affairs on earth during the thousand years. The theological term temporal millennium, while having many meanings and interpretations, is generally viewed as an aggregate, interpreted by contemporary evangelicals to mean the following:
Millennialism, also called millenarianism or chiliasm, the belief, expressed in the book of Revelation to John, the last book of the New Testament, that Christ will establish a 1,000-year reign of the saints on earth (the millennium) before the Last Judgment. More broadly defined, it is a cross-cultural concept grounded in the expectation of a time of supernatural peace and abundance on earth [12].
Ellen White has made it clear that at least some form of postmillennialism or millenarianism will be the prevailing perspective in Christian circles at the time of the Sunday law.
History of American Religion and Millenarianism
A study of the history of American religious thought regarding premillennialism and postmillennialism shows that the popular view has oscillated over time between favoring one or the other. The determining factor as to which is favored seems to have worked as follows:
Premillennialists view the world as becoming a worse place with time, with the second advent occurring at a time of great crisis, with Jesus arriving with the "rescue troops" as such. Postmillennialists, on the other hand, tend to see the world as becoming a better place, in which nearly everyone will become converted. Over time, American though has oscillated between the pessimistic premillennial view and the optimistic postmillennial view, depending on the state of society at the time.
For example, at the start of the American Civil War, the pessimistic view was taken. After the Civil War, which was followed by significant scientific progress and industrial growth in America, the optimistic view was taken. Though these represented the majority view at the time, dissenting views did exist. A portion of this era (1865 to 1877) [is also known as the Reconstruction period in the American South [13], and also covers the formative years of Seventh-day Adventism. One would thus be tempted to say Ellen White was affected by the thinking of that time when she wrote the statements. However, she was quite specific in linking this millenarianism to the events immediately preceding and precipitating the Sunday law crisis.
During the Great Depression, America's churches seemed to be divided between the pessimistic and optimistic views. However, after the Second World War, what with the Cold War, the defeat in Vietnam, and other world events, America's churches began to take the pessimistic view again and during the 1970s, what is called dispensationalist premillennialism became the dominant view, Thus in the 1970s the role of millenarianism in end-time events was somewhat ignored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Contemporary American Religion and Millenarianism
In the 1980s and ‘90s millenarianism began to rise again in America, but this time in a morphed form that makes it appear to be unrecognisable from what Ellen White was talking about. But when examined in depth, Ellen White’s predictions indicate we may be closer than we think to the time when a majority of American Christians embrace the final heresy.
The new, morphed form of millenarianism to which we refer in this context is called dominionism, but it also goes under the names of Christian Reconstructionism and Kingdom Now. The basis of dominionism is that Christ will come at the end of the thousand years, but, unlike the millenarianism of Ellen White's day, they take a pessimistic view of world events. They see the world as under threat from secularism and that God has appointed the true church to take dominion of the world from the secularists and to put it to rights by enforcing "Christian law," thus bringing in a world of righteousness and peace ready for Christ to come [14].
This perspective is a mix of the optimism of classic millenarianism with the pessimism of dispensationalist premillennialism [15]. They see the role of the church to bring in righteousness by force against a secular foe. This differs from the classic view in Ellen White's day of the world spontaneously adopting Christianity and becoming a better place during the thousand years. However, while not having the optimism of Ellen White's day of the world spontaneously converting during this time, they do see the church enjoying a period of great prosperity and influence under this illegitimate union of church and state [16].
Future events will revolve around this union of the church with the state. History consistently shows that when the church is given secular power, she behaves very badly, with corruption, cruelty, and intolerance. We also know from Scripture that God has never authorized the church to seek or wield secular power. We have seen over the last several decades an increasing move by conservative American Christians to acquire secular power, and this has been against a background of dominionism. It would seem reasonable to conclude that if not in detail, then in principle, millenarianism in some form will be in vogue when this power grab becomes realized in a fuller way than we see at the present moment.
REFERENCES
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennialism
2. Ellen G. White Writings Complete Published Edition, 2007
3. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 633.
4. ----The Great Controversy, pp. 588-589.
5. ----The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, pp. 21-22.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism#United_States
7. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, p. 208.
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenarianism
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism
10. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 103.
11. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temporal
12. https://www.britannica.com/topic/millennialism
13. https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United-States-history
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_theology
15. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/endtimes_1.shtml
16. https://www.nae.org/evangelicals-and-politics/
Tony Rigden, a former atheist/deist, came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1980 as the result of a miraculous conversion and the reading of the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White. He has since been a regular Sabbath School teacher, very part-time lay preacher, elder and briefly head elder. Formerly an electronics technician and computer programmer, Tony is currently still part-time programming but mostly retired. Former hobbies included diving and private flying. Currently he is a volunteer guard (train conductor) for one of New Zealand's leading vintage railways.