Or, knocking off the temptation to want to look at the world around us, throw our hands in the air, and whine about it all. 

The postmillennial eschatology, being the victorious expression of our covenant Lord in history, gives us not just a foretaste of the consummation of history, but a paradigm through which we understand victory itself.

If we adopt the humanist version of history, we find that we’re progressing somewhere, but no one knows where this is, and the car has no brakes. If we adopt the premillennial view, the Church is going to give it the old college try, but we’re not going to advance—this car has neutral and reverse, and someone broke the clutch, (which is, incidentally, an apparent fulfillment of biblical prophecy). If we adopt the amillennial view of history, no one knows for sure if the car exists, let alone where it’s going, and we can only hope it’s going somewhere nice. Oh, and perhaps Jesus will send a bus to pick us up? 

Postmillennialism, on the other hand, has a 5.0 engine with all the nitrous oxide one could desire. It can plow through anything because it was manufactured not in Mexico, but Wakanda. This is because the Church has been equipped with the Holy Spirit, and the paradigm of victory is actually quite simple. It’s so simple that we miss it completely. The very definition of victory is wrapped up in the cross of Christ. Evil men meant it for—you guessed it—evil. But what might a sovereign, immutable, all-powerful God do with not only the intentions of evil me, but the consequential actions of evil men? 

Rise victorious. 

The cross appeared to be nothing but evil men accomplishing their lusts. It appeared to be the end of this Jesus character. It appeared that on Good Friday, Satan had won the decisive victory. Hope was lost. The Messiah was dead. Dead kings can’t rule their kingdoms. Now what?

If we define victory by mere appearances then, of course, the previous paragraph would be the truth and final word. But we are not called to judge by appearances only, we are called to judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24). We are called to see through the apparent defeat to catch a glimpse of what God is doing through the chaos. This is the paradigm that postmillennialism, and only postmillennialism, gives you. Why? Because only God can snatch victory out the claws of defeat. 

The cross was the end of Jesus’ life, but it was ultimately the beginning of His resurrection rule. The cross was the defeat of Satan and the destruction of the kingdom of darkness (John 12:31). The cross was the very instrument of not only forgiving sinners, but giving them the judicial standing to go forth, conquering and to conquer. A dead King? Wait three days. A dead Messiah, now a false Messiah? Wait three days. A murdered Lord? Wait three days. 

You have to wait three days. You don’t get to judge history in terms of what you can see. You have to judge history in terms of what the gospel means for history. 

And it just so happens that the gospel in history means the advancement of the Kingdom in and through every apparent defeat. Only postmillennialism gives you this paradigm. Only postmillennialism gives you the ability to look at all the chaos, all the fist shaking, all the drudgery, corruption, and bloodshed, and see victory. #DatPostmil gives you #DatPurpose and no one can steal that from King Jesus.

The culture around us here in the west may have slipped into debauchery, but it has also slipped into the sovereign hands of the Triune God of love who can execute His vengeance and turn it into a decisive victory. Their folly won’t go very far (2 Timothy 3:9).

When you see the enemies of God surrounding you, just remember this: we’ve got them right where we want them; they’ll never get away now.