A Tipping Point
Israel as a whole and its religious leaders rejected Jesus Christ with chapter twelve of Matthew the deciding juncture, a tipping point. They said that Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebub. The Lord declared that it was the treasury of their heart out of which they made that pronouncement about Him. Jesus began teaching in parables so as not to harden them any further. Through these parables He revealed to His own disciples His plan for the new age, calling it “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11).
The kingdom in the age in which we live is not the full millennial reign but a “mystery form” hidden from prior generations. This form mediates God’s rule on earth through the church, without Christ’s physical presence. This began with Christ’s ministry and extends to the end of the age, marked by rejection of Him as King.
Matthew 13 Parables
The parable of the sower in Matthew 13, which reads like a parable of soils, introduces the kingdom’s nature in an age of rejection. The seed (gospel message) falls on four soils, representing human hearts: hard (resistant), rocky (shallow, temporary faith), thorny (choked by worldly cares), and good (fruitful belief). Only one soil yields lasting fruit, illustrating that the kingdom will face widespread unbelief and partial acceptance during this mystery phase, where evangelism continues despite opposition. The disciples expected immediate glory, but Jesus reveals a time of sowing with varied results.
Interpreting the parable of the tares, Jesus says the field is the world, which has both wheat (true believers, “children of the kingdom”), sown by the Lord Jesus, and weeds (false believers, “children of the wicked one”), sown by an enemy (Satan). They grow together until harvest (end of the age), when angels separate them—weeds to fire (judgment) and wheat to shine in the Father’s kingdom. Through this parable, Jesus foretells why evil will persist. The period emphasizes evangelism over execution during this interim. It is, therefore, not the church’s role to uproot unbelievers now.
The Operation of the Present Form of Kingdom
In the prediction made in Psalm 110, Jesus rules in this period from His seating at His Father’s right hand in the midst of His enemies until He will rule directly over the earth with a rod of iron. This corresponds to the parable of the tares. The earth is the Lord’s and He always rules over the earth, just in different manners through history. How He rules now is, again, in the midst of the enemies with Satan as the “god of this world” (2 Cor 4:4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2).
What operates with Christ as their Head in this world are churches. With the template of the parable of the tares, churches are not state churches attempting to obliterate their enemies. Instead, what they do is say as Paul expresses in Romans 12:19:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
This follows the instruction of Jesus in His parable. God is serious about vengeance as seen all over the Bible, but especially in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Again and again in that book, we see the outworking of this vengeance. It is said to be repeatedly as an answer to prayer. The prayers of true believers pray during the moments of persecution from these unbelieving tares in their midst — “Vengeance is yours, Lord — God will answer. The second woe judgment of Revelation 9, which is the sixth trumpet judgment, arises from prayers, as seen in “a voice from the four corners of the golden altar” (verse 13).
Truth Won’t Contradict What Jesus Said
Whatever view of the future one takes, the biblical one will not contradict what Jesus said about this age. The church will not execute unbelievers for not believing. The postmillennial and amillennial view of the world did do that. In essence, the state church itself preached a false gospel and took a view of the kingdom that opposed what Jesus said about the tares. They wanted to burn them before the end of the age, at the stake for instance after an inquisition. Jesus said, “Let both grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:30), but those with the state church history, say, “That’s not ideal.”
This is the era of evangelizing the lost and waiting on God for future vengeance. Nations become a Christian nation by obeying the command to make disciples. The Lord Jesus Christ introduced this new era in which we live with this prediction, knowing all true believers would need it.
I have a friend who is a pastor who has been influenced through online sources to consider post-millennialism as his end-times belief. He said his main hang up is that Jesus said “All power is given unto me” and that Jesus is reigning as was promised to Him in Psalm 2.
I have many reasons not to believe that, some of which you pointed out., but another pertinent passage is Revelation 11:15. The kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of Christ at the seventh trumpet when God’s wrath is poured out on all the nations. No event in history (specifically my friend thinks AD 70 fulfilled Christ’s prophecy in the Olivet Discourse) looks like that passage. It must be a future event. Therefore the kingdoms of this world continue on until Christ is given His kingdom.
This was timely for me based on my recent discussion.
The other point t my friend kept bringing up was that pos-millennialism was so positive, which I’m sure you’ve heard before. Unfortunately, their position presents a situation that is more positive than what the Bible prophecies.
I never wrote this in the article, but it was a point you made in this comment, which could have been, maybe should have been added, that is, Jesus provides the basis for both pessimism and optimism for this mystery period. Most people won’t listen, and that’s a reason for pessimism. Satan is allowed to sow the children of the wicked one into a world where the Lord has sown the children of the kingdom. These might be called pessimistic, but they are known, that we will operate under these conditions, which is why, as I communicated, we wait for vengeance, the theme of a lot of Psalms too.
The optimism stems from the reality of fruit bearing plants, the sowing of the children of the kingdom, and the final judgment that will come to the weeds, the tares.