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I








THE MILLENNIAL HOPE




THE UNI[VERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
THE MARUZEN-EABUSHIEI-EAISHA
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FKUKOKA, SXNDAR
THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY




THE


MILLENNIAL HOPE
By
SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE
Professor of Early Church History and New  Testament
Interpretation in the University of Chicago
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS




COPYRIGHT 1918 BY
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
All Rights Reserved
Published January I9g8
Second Impression March I918
Third Impression February I923
Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicare Press
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.




PREFACE


The primary purpose of this book is to answer
a single question: Are the ills of society to be
righted by an early and sudden destruction
of the present world, or is permanent relief
to be secured only by a gradual process of
strenuous endeavor covering a long period of
years?
The stirring events of recent times have
given new point to this question. Vigorous
propagandists have been urging belief in the
speedy end of the world and the hopelessness of
any remedial measures for effecting permanent
improvement in present conditions. In the
name of religion, it is maintained that human
efforts to make the present world a safer
and better place in which to live are wholly
misguided. On the contrary, God is said
to- will that conditions shall grow constantly worse as the hour of impending doom
approaches.
At the present time this pessimistic view of
the world is especially pernicious. In principle
V




V1


Preface


it strikes at the very heart of all democratic
ideals. According to its fundamental teaching,
God is regarded as an almighty potentate who
has foreordained to failure all the efforts of men
to establish improved forms of government.
For one who holds consistently to this opinion
it is nonsense to talk of human responsibility
for the betterment of society. This type of
teaching, which is being vigorously inculcated
in many circles, readily plays into the hands of
all enemies of social and political reform. By
persuading men that the rapid deterioration
and early destruction of the present world are
determined upon by divine decree, the enemy of
reform has a mighty instrument for strangling
the citizen's sense of civic duty. This is
equally true whether the call to service is
merely local or whether it is national and international.
The following pages are designed to exhibit
the fallacious and harmful character of presentday teaching regarding the imminent end of the
world. The method of treatment is historical.
Different beliefs of this general type current
among the ancients are examined in order to
discover the specific circumstances which called
them into being and their utter futility as




Preface                vii
shown by subsequent events. When viewed in
this historical setting, the absurdity of attempting to solve modern problems in a similarly
fanciful way is readily perceived.
SHIRLEY JACKSON CASE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
December 20, I9I7








TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER                               PAGE
I. GENTILE HOPES.......   I
II. HEBREW AND JEWISH HOPES.....48
III. EARLY CHRISTIAN HOPES......      107
IV. LATER CHRISTIAN HOPES.......55
V. MODERN ESTIMATE OF MILLENNIAL HOPES  206
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY....242
INDEX...........    249


ix








CHAPTER I


GENTILE HOPES
What is to be the ultimate destiny of the
present world? This question has always
made a strong appeal to the popular imagination. This appeal has been especially powerful
at those periods in history when shocking
calamities have overtaken mankind. Sometimes the shock has been occasioned by dreadful
disasters in nature, such as devastating floods,
furious storms, or terrifying earthquakes. At
other times the imagination has been fired by
great social upheavals often accompanied by
bloody civil wars or bitter religious persecutions.
Again, as in more recent times, attention has
been arrested by deadly international conflicts
which seemed to threaten with destruction the
very foundations of all civilization.
In the presence of dire calamities many
persons lose faith in the permanence of the
present world. Horrible outbreaks of distress
are taken to be symptomatic of an incurable
malady which has fastened its deadly grip upon




2          The Millennial Hope
the whole cosmic order. Since the disease
seems too deep-seated to be eradicated by
remedial measures, its progress can be stayed
only by destroying the object upon which it
preys. The only hope for a final triumph over
evil is thought to lie in the complete dissolution
of the present world and the re-establishment
of a new world free from all those calamitous
possibilities inherent in the present order of
things.
Within Christianity belief in the temporary
character of the present age early assumed a
form known as the millennial hope. According
to this hope, in the more or less distant future
the course of human history is to be suddenly
halted by divine intervention, when all evil will
be abolished and the earth completely renovated. Then Christ will establish upon earth
a new kingdom of blessedness to endure one
thousand years; hence the designation "millennial" hope.
Is the millennial type of speculation a valid
hope for modern times? In recent years the
distresses incident to a world-war have given
this question new importance. Instead of
affirming that modern men are in duty bound
to construct a new international order more




Gentile Hopes


3


carefully safeguarded against the possibility of
future disaster, many persons revive ancient
millennial expectations and fall back upon a
belief that the evils of the present world will
shortly be eliminated by the sudden intervention of Deity. To test the validity of this
belief is the main purpose of the present inquiry.
The method of procedure will be to sketch the
origins of the millennial type of hope, to note the
function which it has served at different times in
the past, and in the light of its history to estimate its value as a modern program for the
renovation of the world.
I
Taken in the large, Christian millenarianism
is not an isolated phenomenon. While it shows
certain very distinctive characteristics, the main
problem which it treats and the general type of
solution which it proposes are by no means
novel. The presence of evil powers in the world
has been recognized by practically all peoples
even in very elementary stages of cultural development, and the hope of an ultimate deliverance
to be effected through a sudden dissolution of
the present order is not at all unusual in the
history of human thinking.




4


The Millennial Hope


The ancients held definite though varying
views regarding the meaning and outcome of
humanity's conflict with a hostile world.
Mythology often depicted the emergence of an
orderly universe from chaos as the result of a
mighty battle between warring deities. These
myths reflected in heightened form man's own
experiences in his efforts to escape from or to
conquer the ruthless powers of nature. He
trembled when they displayed their fury in the
destructive hurricane, in the blinding lightning,
in the deafening thunder, in the terrifying earthquake, or in the devastating flood. Even in the
more ordinary experiences of life he often believed himself to be the victim of malevolent
powers. Frequently his very existence-to say
nothing of his efforts to obtain the luxuries of
life-seemed to be threatened by visible and
invisible foes.
The issue of life's conflicts was also variously
conceived, but the hope of some sort of triumph
for humanity was practically universal. Ultimate victory was commonly pictured as the
work of beneficent deities who intervened in
some unusual manner to rescue men from their
distresses. Sometimes final deliverance was
predicted simply for the individual soul-a




Gentile Hopes


5


deliverance to be realized in a blessed abode
beyond the grave. At other times a great hero
was brought upon the scene to confer present
blessings upon humanity, possibly also pointing
the way to a happier destiny in the life to come.
Still bolder thinkers prophesied the complete
destruction of all evils and the final estahlishment of a new and ideal state of existence for
restored humanity upon a renovated earth.
Amid all these variations in detail there runs
the same scarlet thread of hope, more or less
clearly discernible everywhere in the ancient
world.
The idea of a divine deliverance was so
prominent in the surroundings of the early
Christians, and their own daily experiences
often proved so very distressing, that they also
were impelled to speculate about the end of the
world. In describing this event they employed
imagery already current, adding to it certain
new features designed to remedy weaknesses in
the program of their rivals and to give greater
assurances of fulfilment to the distinctively
Christian teaching upon this subject. The very
attempt to cope with a familiar problem, and
the effort to solve it by offering a rival program
of the current type, resulted in considerable




6


The Millennial Hope


similarity between the views of Christians and
those of their contemporaries.
Familiarity with the world of the early Christians discloses, not only the sources of much of
their millennial imagery, but also the secret of
its effectiveness. This type of teaching originally received powerful impetus from specific
historical circumstances, a knowledge of which
is absolutely essential to an understanding of its
full meaning and value in the early days of the
Christian movement. In later times readers of
the Book of Revelation, for example, often
found themselves unable to grasp the exact
meaning of the author or to appreciate the real
service which he originally rendered his contemporaries. This failure was largely due to
neglect of the actual historical conditions which
called forth the book and which make perfectly
intelligible both its meaning and its value to the
particular groups of early Christians whose
specific needs prompted its composition. Similarly, in interpreting millenarianism at successive periods in the history of Christianity,
account should always be taken of the peculiar
circumstance which revived these daring flights
of the pious imagination; and their worth can
be appraised only in relation to contemporary




Gentile Hopes


7


conditions. When removed from their original
environment and injected into an alien setting,
millennial notions often become meaningless or
even absurd.
For the content of their millennial hope the
early Christians were indebted most immediately to the Jews, but Jewish hopes had been
gradually evolving for centuries while the Hebrews were in close contact with a varied gentile
environment. Moreover, Christian hopes continued to expand and function anew as the new
religion became an independent movement
upon gentile soil. Hence acquaintance with
Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and
Roman views regarding the ultimate outcome
of humanity's struggle with a hostile world
is essential for the correct interpretation of
both Jewish and Christian teaching on this
subject.
While occasionally it may become apparent
that earlier gentile hopes supplied the stimulus
or the model for similar Jewish or Christian
beliefs, it is of much greater importance to
understand the general conditions in ancient
times which made possible the millennial type
of speculation and gave it significance for the
ancients. If in modern times those conditions




8


The Millennial Hope


no longer prevail, it is not surprising that millennial expectations seem to lose their meaning.
But it is all the more necessary that the presentday student make himself familiar with the
circumstances of the ancients in order that he
may more fully and more correctly appreciate
both the origin and the functional significance
of Jewish as well as Christian hopes of the
millennial type in ancient times.
II
As life in the fertile Nile Valley was less
strenuous than in most of the lands about the
Mediterranean, the Egyptians took a somewhat
more optimistic view of the universe than did
their Asiatic and European neighbors. In the
primitive nature-myths of Egypt the notion of
struggle is not so prominent as in the mythologies of Babylonia, Persia, or Greece; nor does
the idea of an ultimate destruction of the world
seem to have been native to Egyptian thinking.
Nevertheless, in historical times both the burden of life's ills and the need of divine relief were
recognized. In the presence of deplorable social
conditions resulting from defective government,
an early Egyptian prophet declares his faith in
the advent of a new ruler who will save the




Gentile Hopes


9


people from their distresses. At present normal industrial and commercial activities have
ceased, justice has disappeared, blood is everywhere, and the people wander about like shepherdless sheep; but the prophet looks for the
coming of a brighter day when a deliverer will
arise who will rule justly and bring "cooling to
the flame." When a beneficent prince appears
who brings these hopes to fulfilment, he is hailed
as a mediator of divine help. Merneptah, for
example, is called the divinely appointed protector of Egypt who bestows upon the people in
an especial measure the favor of the great sungod Re. Now there is universal rejoicing in the
land, all fear of enemies has been removed,
lamentation has vanished, the desolated towns
are repopulated, and the husbandman enjoys
unmolested the fruits of his toil.'
Religion also inculcated the idea of a struggle
and of a victory to be accomplished through
divine assistance. This notion was especially
prominent in the popular Isis-Osiris cult which
had a wide vogue, not only in Egypt itself, but
all about the Mediterranean previous to, and
contemporary with, the rise of Christianity.
The myths of the cult tell of a fierce conflict
'J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, III, 263.




IO         The Millennial IHope
between Osiris, the brother-husband of Isis, and
a mighty foe who slays Osiris. But a restoration to life is accomplished by the efforts of Isis,
and the slayer of Osiris is finally conquered.
The myth really depicts the successful struggle
of man against his great enemy death, which is
now no longer to be feared, since the heroic
divinities, Isis and Osiris, have conquered this
foe and provided through the institution of their
cult a sure victory for mortals. While this
scheme of salvation did not include an ultimate
destruction of the world, where death reigned,
it did offer to every individual the hope of a
blessed immortality in a new world beyond the
grave.
III
Babylonian mythology depicts a primitive
struggle between contending powers personifying the principles of chaos and order. The
triumph of the latter under the leadership of the
god Marduk has resulted in the creation of
the world and the appearance of mankind upon
the earth. Marduk has conquered the powers
of chaos, ordered the course of the stars, given
shape to heaven and earth, bestowed upon the
world fertility and prosperity, and now extends
his mercy and compassion toward repentant




Gentile Hopes


II


sinners. According to this legend a new and
ideal order of things to endure forever has now
been inaugurated. Even before beginning his
triumphant onslaught upon the powers of chaos
Marduk is hailed by his fellow-gods as savior,
lord, and eternal sovereign of the whole universe:
O Marduk, thou art our avenger.
We give thee sovereignty over the entire universe.
Thou shalt preside in the assembly, thy word is
supreme.
May thy weapon never become blunt; may it strike
down the foe!
O lord, spare the life of him who trusts in thee,
And pour out the life of the god who seized hold of evil.'
On the other hand, in the Babylonian story of
the Deluge, man himself is made to participate
in the struggle incident to the changing order of
things. Looking down upon the world, particularly upon the metropolis Surippak on the shores
of the Euphrates, the gods perceived that
civilization had become effete and so they
resolved to send a flood. All life would have
perished had not one prudent man, Utnapishtim, been instructed to build a boat in which he
'Morris Jastrow, Jr., in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible,
extra vol., p. 57I.




I2


The Millennial Hope


saved himself, his family, and all kinds of living
creatures. As a reward for his service he and
his wife were transformed into divine beings and
given a special dwelling-place in a distant land
"at the mouth of the streams"-apparently a
hypothetical paradise near the head of the
Persian Gulf. Here they enjoyed a blessed and
untroubled existence, but the new lot of their
descendants was less ideal. Never again would
mankind be destroyed promiscuously, but disasters would fall upon evildoers, lions and
leopards would be let loose to devour men,
famine and pestilence would come upon the
land, and mortals would suffer many ills from
which there is no promise of release.
The legend of Ishtar's descent to the lower
world discloses still another phase of conflict and
triumph pictured by the Babylonian imagination. This mother-goddess was the personification of the vital and reproductive forces of
nature. But when she descended to Hades,
where she was held captive by the evil powers
of the nether world, the vitality of nature
waned, deadly winter spread over the land, and
the complete destruction of human life seemed
imminent. The danger, however, was averted
through Ishtar's fortunate escape from "the




Gentile Hopes


I3


house where those who enter do not return."
With her release nature's vital powers revived,
bringing the joys of springtime back again and
insuring to mortals a fresh supply of food as well
as an increase of flocks. Thus each year had its
period of special distress followed by a season
of hope.
The contrast between the times of distress
and the age of happiness is not confined to the
realm of mythology; it also appears in the
annals of Babylonian and Assyrian history.
Evil days are predicted when the glory of Babylon will decline under the rule of a prince who
will bring upon the people a time of unceasing
warfare and slaughter. Men will devour one
another, parents will barter away their children,
disorders will suddenly overtake the land, the
husband will desert his wife and the wife her
husband, the mother will bolt the door against
her daughter, and a foreign conqueror will overrun Babylonia.
In contrast with the prophecy of evil things
during the reign of an incapable prince, other
rulers are hailed as divine deliverers who inaugurate a truly Golden Age. For example, Hammurabi, king of Babylon, viewed his rule as the
dawn of an ideal regime when the evils of former




I4


The Millennial Hope


days had come to an end with the appearing of
the new kingdom of righteousness:
When the lofty king Anu, king of Annunaki, and Bel,
Lord of heaven and earth, who determines the destiny
of the land, committed the rule of all mankind to Marduk, the chief son of Ea;.... when they pronounced
the lofty name of Babylon.... and in its midst
established an everlasting kingdom whose foundations
are as firm as heaven and earth, at that time Anu and
Bel called me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, the
worshiper of the gods, to cause justice to prevail in the
land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, to prevent
the strong from oppressing the weak, to go forth like the
sun over the black-headed race, to enlighten the land,
to further the welfare of the people. Hammurabi, the
governor named by Bel, am I who brought about plenty
and abundance.... the lord adorned with scepter
and crown whom the wise god Ma-ma has clothed with
complete power.'
Similarly in a letter addressed to the prosperous Assyrian king Asurbanipal we read:
Through their infallible oracle [the gods] Shamash
and Adad have decreed the rule of my lord the king
over the lands [predicting] favorable reign, days of
justice, years of righteousness, copious showers, mighty
freshets, favorable market prices. The gods are well
disposed, fear of God is abundant, the sanctuaries are
overloaded. The great gods of heaven and earth have
R. F. Harper, The Code of Hammurabi, pp. 3 ff.




Gentile Hopes


I5


announced regarding my lord the king: Old men will
leap for joy, children will sing, joyfully will women and
maidens give themselves to the duties of wife, and
being delivered they will give life to sons and daughters.
Animal life multiplies. My lord the king has bestowed
life upon him whose sins had destined him for death.
Thou hast liberated those who were many years in
prison, thou hast given health to those who were a
long time ill, the hungry have become satisfied, the
emaciated have become fat, the naked have been
clothed with garments.'
In addition to its myth-makers and its political historians, Babylonia also had its philosophers who offered their interpretation of
the ever-present conflict between the world's
opposing forces. The Babylonian philosopher
derived his wisdom from a study of the stars,
whose orderly procedure readily suggested that
the universe was not the plaything of chance,
but was governed by fixed laws. He who possessed adequate astral wisdom could read these
laws, and this knowledge enabled him either
to interpret past history or to foretell coming
events. Observation showed that changes in
the position of the heavenly bodies were attended by corresponding changes in the seasons
' R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters, Part I, No. 2
pp. 2 f.




i6


The Millennial Hope


of the year, each season recurring at its
appointed time. Thus the life of nature was
seen to move in cycles controlled by the orderly
movements of the heavens. This fact easily led
the astral philosopher to assume that worldhistory also moved in recurring cycles. Since
each year had its days of youth and its declining
season of old age, so the world was supposed to
pass through a series of births and deaths as the
successive world-years came and went.
According to Berosus, a Babylonian priest of
the third century B.C., fire and flood alternated
in bringing about the end of successive worlderas. When the planets stood in a particular
position, the heat of summer would become so
severe that all the world would burst out in
flame; and at another time, owing to the conjunction of the planets, the winter rains would
descend in an overwhelming flood. Berosus
was so sure of the accuracy of his observations
that he assigned a definite date both for the
conflagration and for the deluge.
The foregoing survey shows the peoples of
the Tigris-Euphrates Valley to have been fully
conscious of the ills that threaten man's life
upon the earth. Babylonian nature-myths
reflect a primitive age when man's subsistence




Gentile Hopes


I7


was threatened by the devastations of storm
and flood or by the rotation of unfavorable
seasons. The victory of a gradually evolving
civilization was pictorially represented as a
heroic triumph of beneficent deities. To be
sure, evil had not been completely annihilated,
but a new and better age had already been
inaugurated. A more advanced stage of reflection appears in historical times, when the hopes
of the people are fixed upon some princely
deliverer whose favorable rule means millennial
blessings for his subjects. Yet the savior-prince
is not the ultimate source of help; he is discharging a divine commission, and his reign is
beneficent because it is a kingdom of God on
earth. In astral philosophy life's immediate ills
and immediate blessings figure less prominently,
since they are merely incidental items in a great
cosmic process. The new world-year may take
delight in its youth, but it is destined for decay.
On the other hand, the dying world may console
itself with the assurance of future renovation.
While this program may offer comfort to the
cosmos, it contains no consolation for the
individual. Those who chance to be alive in
the days of the world's youth share temporarily
in its delights, but all souls are ultimately




I8


The Millennial Hope


destined for shadowy abodes where they dwell
forever in joyless monotony.
IV
The Persians were keenly conscious of a sharp
conflict between good and evil in the world.
This struggle made a mighty appeal to their
imagination, and the course of its progress was
portrayed in vivid colors. Both men and
divinities were thought to participate in the
strife; nor would the conflict cease until the
present evil world is miraculously purged of its
wickedness, cleansed by the purifying fire of a
final judgment, and made the scene of a new
kingdom of perfect blessedness.
The notion of a bitter warfare between the
powers of light and the powers of darkness lies
at the very root of all Persian thinking. At an
early date old nature-myths had been transformed into ideal moral struggles between the
god of righteousness on the one hand and the
prince of evil on the other. The world began
with the good god's creative act in producing
beings worthy of himself. This was followed
by the counter-activity of the evil spirit, who
created many demons and fiends to assist him
in his malicious designs. Henceforth the con



Gentile Hopes


I9


flict raged, every move made by the forces of
righteousness being offset by some new activity
on the part of the powers of wickedness. When
the process of creation had advanced to the
point where man emerged, he at once became
the special object of demonic attack. Ever
since his creation he has been a most active
participant in the ceaseless moral struggle,
arraying himself at will on the side of the good
god or on the side of the demons. Thus the
world has become a great battleground where
God, his angelic assistants, the beneficent
powers of nature, and righteous men are pitted
against Satan, his demonic allies, malignant
natural forces, and evil men.
Persian speculation divided the course of the
world's history into four main periods, each
embracing 3,000 years. During the first period
God's creation remained in a pure spiritual state
with intangible bodies which were unaffected
by the taint of evil. Then came the material
creation, extending over another 3,oo000 years,
during which the will of God was regnant. The
third period was one of great distress because
the Prince of Darkness now became much more
aggressive and filled creation with many miseries. The fourth period, which is the present




20


'The Millennial Hope


age, opened with the coming of Zoroaster, the
alleged founder of the true religion, who communicated a new revelation to men and greatly
strengthened their powers of resisting Satan and
his hosts. After 3,000 years of this struggle
have passed, the present world will come to an
end. Thus the Persians held the doctrine of the
great world-year, an idea which we have already
encountered in Babylonia. The four trimillenniums of the Persian system together make
a I2,000-year period, which evidently is one
world-year of I2 months, each month covering
I,ooo years, the months being grouped into four
great seasons of 3,000 years each.
Legend subdivided the third of the four great
trimillenniums into three different periods, each
representing a distinct stage in the history of
the conflict between good and evil. The first
thousand years constituted a Golden Age ruled
by an ideal hero, Yima the Brilliant. He is the
fabled educator of the human race, who conferred the blessings of civilization upon men and
guided them in the ways of fabulous prosperity.
So rapidly did all good things multiply that on
three successive occasions, 300 years apart, it
became necessary to enlarge the earth in order
to make room for the abundant life which it




Gentile Hopes


21


nourished. The glorious hero and his beneficent rule are thus described:
Brilliant and with herds full goodly,
Of all men most rich in Glory,
Of mankind like to the sunlight,
So that in his kingdom made he
Beasts and men to be undying,
Plants and waters never drying,
Food invincible bestowing.
In the reign of valiant Yima
Neither cold nor heat was present,
Neither age nor death was present,
Neither envy, demon-founded.
Fifteen years of age in figure
Son and father walked together
All the days of Vivanghvant's offspring,
Yima ruled with herds full goodly.'
The Golden Age is followed by a thousand
years of distress when the power of the demons
prevails. During this period the destructive
forces of winter are let loose. The pleasant
pastures which formerly had been filled with
flocks and herds are now buried under snow and
ice, great numbers of living creatures perish, and
the death-dealing demons spread destruction
everywhere. But by a special providence of the


'Yasna IX. 4 f., as cited by A. J. Carnoy in The Mythology
of All Races, VI, 304.




22


The Millennial Hope


good god a remnant of life from the Golden Age
is preserved, stored up in a mythical paradise,
where it awaits the restoration of a new ideal
order of which it is both the model and the germ.
As the end of Yima's reign draws near he is
instructed to build an inclosure four-square and
as long as a riding-ground on each side. When
the structure is completed, it is to be filled with
the choicest representatives of all living things
gathered by pairs. Yima's instructions are:
Gather together the seed of all men and women that
are the greatest and the best and the finest on this
earth; gather together the seed of all kinds of cattle
that are the greatest and the best and the finest on this
earth; gather together the seed of all plants that are
the tallest and sweetest on this earth; gather together
the seed of all fruits that are the most edible and the
sweetest on this earth. Bring these by pairs to be
inexhaustible so long as these men shall stay in the
inclosure.'
This paradise is to be kept tightly shut until
the final destruction of the world's wickedness.
Then the inclosure will be opened in order that
the renovated earth may be fructified by the
pure seed of the holy god's first creation. These
traditions regarding a Golden Age and an ideal


x Vendidad II. 27 f., as cited by A. J. Carnoy, op. cit., p. 308.




Gentile Hopes


23


paradise are modeled after the imaginary age of
future blessedness for which the struggling
spirit of mankind yearned; and this idealized
past served in turn as a support for faith in the
final triumph of good over evil. What once
had been might surely be expected again.
A long period of struggle lay between the
Golden Age of mythology and the coming day
of the world's final redemption. The one
thousand years of darkness which set in with
the removal of Yima were followed by another
thousand years of struggle. During this time
the forces of light made slow headway against
the powers of darkness. A new stage in the
struggle is marked by the appearing of Zoroaster, who was sent by God to bring the divine
revelation to man, thus giving a mighty impetus
to the forces of righteousness. His work marks
the beginning of the final 3,ooo-year period
which includes modern times and is to close
with the catastrophic end of the world, when all
evil will be annihilated.
The events connected with the final triumph
of God were extensively elaborated by Persian
fancy. Shortly before the end the world will
suffer great distress, as the Satanic powers make
a last gigantic effort at self-assertion. Demonic




24


The Millennial Hope


hordes will come from the east and from the
west, the people will be corrupted through the
worship of idols, friends and relatives will
become estranged from one another, and a large
part of the nation will perish. All nature will
be shaken by the shock of battle between the
good spirits and the demons of darkness. Temporarily the latter are so powerful that they fill
the earth with indescribable sufferings. Pestilences break out everywhere, nature ceases to
be productive, rains no longer water the earth,
men die of hunger, the brightness of the sun
diminishes, the days become shorter, the years
pass more rapidly, and the black night of
Satanic darkness threatens to engulf the
universe.
The terrible conditions of the last times are
finally relieved by the appearance of a savior,
Soshyans (Saoshyant), who was born in a
miraculous manner from Zoroaster's seed, which
had been carefully preserved through the centuries by the angels. With the advent of
Soshyans and his companions the resurrection
of the dead takes place. Throughout the centuries the spirits of the departed had taken
up their abode in heaven or in hell, according
to their deserts, but now they are reunited with




Gentile Hopes


25


their former bodies. The bones, the blood, the
hair, and the vital force, which had been
intrusted to the keeping of earth, water, plants,
and fire, respectively, are restored, and each
person rises in the place where his death had
occurred. With the resurrection the power of
death is completely broken. Those who were
still alive when the savior appeared also share
in this victory over decay and corruption.
Each one partakes of the heavenly food of
immortality, and never again will the spirit be
separated from the body. All peoples, having
been taught a common language, with one voice
celebrate their triumph by rendering songs of
praise to God and to the archangels.
Before the state of final blessedness is
attained, judgment must be executed upon
sinners, the powers of Satan must be completely
crushed, and the world must undergo a process
of purification and renewal. After the resurrection all men meet in a common assembly, but
the contrast in appearance between the righteous and the wicked is as sharp as that between
black and white sheep in the same flock. The
good and evil deeds of each are made clearly
manifest in the presence of the entire company,
whereupon remorse and shame overtake the




26


The Millennial Hope


wicked while the righteous rejoice in their own
good fortune. Then comes the separation when
sinners are committed to hell for three days of
torment, their terrible punishments being intensified by a clear vision of the sumptuous
blessings enjoyed in the meantime by the righteous. After judgment the whole world, hell
included, is purified by a baptism of fire, which
causes the mountains to pour forth streams of
molten metal. This cleansing flood sweeps over
all the earth, leveling hills and mountains and
purging evil out of sinners, while to the righteous
it is as pleasant as a bath of warm milk. Above
the earth good and evil spirits fight out their
final battle, resulting in the complete rout of
Satan and his allies. His power is forever
destroyed, he himself is driven back to the
lowest pit of darkness whence he originally
came, and the regions of hell, now purified by
the bath of molten metal, become a part of the
new heaven and the new earth which are to
endure eternally. Thus the curtain falls upon
the last act of the great world-drama.
It is not surprising that the Persians were
extremely sensitive to the presence of evil forces
in their world, or that they looked to the Deity
for a miraculous deliverance from their woes.




Gentile Hopes


27


Their very environment impressed upon them
the seriousness of the conflict, as well as the
seeming futility of their own efforts to secure a
permanent victory. Nature was far from
kindly in the Iranian territory. Men suffered
from violent extremes of temperature, the productivity of the fields was often threatened by
droughts, to overcome the natural sterility of
the soil was a difficult task, beasts of prey
frequently endangered the flocks of the herdsman, and robbers found easy shelter in desert
places or in the fastnesses of the mountains.
Persian national history is also marked by an
almost perpetual struggle, not only with less
formidable foes from the neighboring steppes,
but with such world-powers as Assyria, Macedonia, Rome, and Islam. The preservation of
both individual and national life involved a
constant conflict with opposing powers. Like
many other peoples, the Persians looked to
religion for the hope of ultimate escape from
their strenuous surroundings, and mythology
offered them the fantastic picture of a catastrophic end of the world. Their most famous
religious teacher, Zoroaster, had championed
this teaching, and apparently he had believed
that the catastrophe was already imminent in




28


The Millennial Hope


his day, in the seventh century B.C. But subsequent speculation preserved the sanctity of
the hope by pushing it well forward into the
future, in order that history might not deny
its validity; and assurance was made doubly
strong by asserting that this great expectation
was no mere creation of human fancy, but a
truth which had been divinely revealed.
V
Among the Greeks the experiences of life were
so varied that the hope of a final triumph over
present ills was expressed in several different
ways. Fierce struggle was thought to have
marked the course of the world's history from
the very outset. At an early date stories were
current describing the world's progress from the
days of primeval chaos down to historical times,
and all of these legends portray a constant conflict between hostile forces. From heaven and
earth spring the Titans-gigantic personifications of the elemental forces of nature. Many
a fierce battle has to be fought ere these elemental powers can be brought under the control
necessary to an orderly status of civilized
society. But at last Kronos, the mightiest of
the Titans, is overthrown by his son Zeus, who




Gentile Hopes


29


henceforth is revered as father of gods and men
and ruler of the universe. Thus the primal
forces of nature battle with one another until
order emerges from chaos.
Greek mythology pictured the career of man
in prehistoric times as one long conflict in which
evil grew constantly stronger while man's condition became correspondingly less happy. In
Hesiod's TVorks and Days, composed in the
latter part of the eighth century B.C., these
views find clear expression. The situation
represented is a very human one. Hesiod and
his brother Perses having agreed upon a division
of their patrimony, Perses quickly spends his
portion in fast living, while Hesiod retains the
homestead and prospers by cultivating the soil.
After dissipating his portion of the inheritance,
Perses seeks to recruit his fortunes by means of
litigation. He brings suit against his brother on
the ground that the original distribution had
not been just, and by bribing the judges he
secures possession of the property. Hesiod
appeals to his brother to forsake the law courts
and submit to the righteous judgments of Zeus.
Guided by this practical motive, the poet
gathers up a number of popular tales to point
the moral that industry and justice are the chief




30


The Millennial Hope


virtues to be cherished in these degenerate
times.
Hesiod is firmly convinced that the present
world is full of evil. There is abroad in the land
a spirit of strife which stirs up discord between
brothers and engenders fearful wars. Both by
day and by night unnumbered ills move silently
and unseen among us mortals, striking down
their victims at will. Because of their presence
the earth is slow in yielding its increase, they
prepare destructive insects or blighting scourges
for the growing crops, they cause all manner of
diseases which rack and consume the human
frame, and they have brought upon men the
curse of death. The situation seems all the
more hopeless since it is a direct result of
the effort made by Prometheus (Forethought),
the would-be friend of man, to advance the
status of mortals by teaching them the use of
fire. But man must learn that his only hopeif he may hope at all-lies in absolute submission to the arbitrary will of the gods and not in
any attainments to be reached by human effort.
From this point of view the progress of human
development is downward rather than upward.
The gradual deterioration of mankind is
taught again in Hesiod's description of the suc



Gentile Hopes


3P


cessive ages. At first the Olympian gods
created a race of men free from all ills who lived
many years without growing old, and who died
at last as if merely overcome by sleep. During
this Golden Age earth bore all good things
spontaneously, and all men were rich both in
material blessings and in divine favors. When
this age was brought to a close by the will of
Zeus, its men became kindly ministering spirits
which veil themselves in shrouds of mist and
move everywhere over the earth to direct or to
succor mortals throughout all subsequent ages.
Next comes the Silver Age, far inferior to the
Age of Gold, but still a time of partial happiness. Ultimately the men of this time fall
under the wrath of Zeus because they neglect
the worship of the gods, but being a race of
silver they receive a secondary position of
honor beneath the earth and are known henceforth as "blessed ones." The third age is that
of Bronze, when men learn war and give themselves over to terrible strife, but presently they
are dragged down ingloriously to Hades. The
Age of Iron-which Hesiod regards as the present age-is most wretched of all. Now there
is no respite from toil, no release from care.
This state of affairs will endure until the time




32


The Millennial Hope


arrives for this age to end, for Zeus has also
determined a day for the final destruction of
the Age of Iron.
What will follow the Iron Age? Will the
original cycle then repeat itself, bringing in the
Age of Gold once more? Although the poet
does not essay the r6le of prophet, yet he
expresses a wish that his birth had been delayed
until the cruel Age of Iron had passed. Apparently he dares to hope-perhaps even to believe
-that the best is yet to be.
Greek mythology contains another legend
that is instructive in the present connection.
In the distant past man had been so strongly
prone to wickedness that Zeus determined to
devastate the earth with a flood. The destruction was complete, the righteous Deukalion and
his wife alone escaping from the calamity.
Instructed by an oracle, they cast behind them
stones from which human beings spring; the
earth itself produces plants and animals; and
a new age arises when man is given a fresh
opportunity to prove his mettle in the struggle
against evil. Yet, on the whole, the course of
development moves downward, notwithstanding temporary advances in civilization which are
made possible by the assistance of heroes and




Gentile Hopes


33


demigods. These helpers of mortals give aid in
founding cities, teach men to cultivate the soil,
communicate to them useful discoveries and
inventions, inspire them to worthy attainments
in poetry or song, and instruct them in the
proper observances of religion. But even these
accomplishments were not sufficient to persuade
the Greek myth-maker that the present was not
a degenerate age. He ceased not to look backward with longing eyes to the Golden Age of the
past, or to entertain a faltering hope that those
ideal days might return.
The past Golden Age was not the only model
for future hopes; the mythical fate of heroes
served a similar purpose. Such of these ancient
worthies as had not been rewarded with a position among the gods were thought to be leading
a delightful existence in the isles of the blest at
the confines of the world. There they dwelt
under the rule of Kronos, who had formerly
held sway in heaven when the first Golden Age
was upon earth. Now the blessed heroes
enjoyed a partial return of primitive bliss, for
three times yearly the fertile soil of the Elysian
fields produced spontaneously its honey-sweet
fruits. Toward these delightful regions present
mortals often cast covetous eyes. Sometimes




34


The Millennial Hope


a warrior weary of strife was tempted to forsake
the conflict and to sail westward in search of
this earthly paradise, which legend located on
certain islands in the Atlantic Ocean a thousand
miles or so from the African coast'. In Roman
times Horace2 makes bold to suggest that men
take this Elysian kingdom of heaven by force.
He bemoans the sad condition of mortals in
the present Age of Iron and bids them forsake
its wretchedness, turning their eyes toward
those smiling isles of refuge where the earth
yields her increase without the plowman's care.
It is quite possible, however, that Horace is not
advising his contemporaries to emigrate to the
islands of the Atlantic, but is metaphorically
referring to Rome itself, now under the rule of
Augustus, who is hailed by his admirers as the
restorer of the Golden Age. At this time some
Romans really believed that their millennium
had dawned.
VI
Greek mythology was freely appropriated by
the Romans, who in some respects took the
problem of the world's evil more seriously than
did the Greeks. While Roman writers were


x Plutarch Sertorius 8 f.


2 Epodes I6.




Gentile Hopes


35


busy expounding Greek myths for Latin readers,
the Roman statesman, with his remarkable
aptitude for practical efficiency, undertook the
task of making the blessings of the Golden Age
a reality for his own day and generation.
Roman political philosophy of the first century
B.C. adopted the notion of successive cycles in
historical evolution and saw in contemporary
events evidences of the passing of a decadent age
and the dawn of a new order. The closing years
of the Republic had been a period of much
distress which made men peculiarly conscious
of life's ills and prompted strong desires for
deliverance.  Poets called to memory the
golden days of fabulous happiness when Saturn
had ruled and wars were unknown, while at
present under the dominion of Jupiter there was
no end of war and slaughter.' Craze for war
was said to rest like a curse upon Rome, doomed
by fate thus to bring ultimate destruction upon
herself.2 As early as the year 88 B.C., in connection with the terrible civil war for which
Sulla was held chiefly responsible, premonitory
signs had been observed which were alleged to
indicate the coming of a new age. It was reported that one day out of a clear sky a trumpet
' Tibullus i. 3.  2 Horace Epodes 7.




36


The Millennial Hope


had sounded mournful and terrible, presaging
the advent of internal conflicts which were to
bring more distress upon Rome than she had
formerly suffered from all her enemies.' Again,
at Julius Caesar's funeral the alleged appearance
of a wonderful star in broad daylight was taken
to indicate the exit of one age and the dawn of a
new era.2
During the period of reconstruction following
the death of Julius Caesar and the gradual rise
of Octavian to a position of supreme power
throughout the whole Roman world, Virgil
ventured to prophesy. He was not unmindful
of the ills to which humanity was heir, nor did
he ignore the trying experiences of the times;
yet in spite of all these calamities he was distinctly optimistic. To be sure, he recognized
that the husbandman often found his efforts
thwarted by wild beasts, by robbers, or by
floods, but in struggling against these enemies
man acquired much greater skill than would
otherwise have been possible. In fact, Jupiter
himself had let loose these hostile forces for the
very purpose of encouraging humanity toward
higher attainments.3 But in all his striving
IPlutarch Sulla 7.
2 Servius on Virgil Ed. ix. 46.  3 Georg. i. 12I ff.




Gentile Hopes


37


man remembered that once upon a time there
had been no pests, the very choicest products of
nature had grown spontaneously in great abundance, and now the former Age of Gold was
about to return.
Virgil based his hope upon observation and
revelation. The hope of world-renewal had
been suggested both by legends regarding ideal
times in the past and by the notion of cycles in
the revolution of the ages. The troubles of the
time provided a fitting occasion for the introduction of a new order, while desire and expectancy made it easier to perceive premonitory
signs of coming events. In addition to these
immediate incentives, the Sibylline books-the
"bible" of Roman religion-had also revealed
the approach of a new era. Under the inspiration of all these authorities Virgil uttered his
famous prophecy of the impending Roman
CC millennium ":
The last age prophesied by the Sibyl is come and
the great series of ages begins anew. Justice now
returns, Saturn reigns once more, and a new progeny is
sent down from high heaven. O chaste Lucina, be
thou propitious to the infant boy under whom first the
iron age shall cease and the golden age over all the
world arise. Now thine own Apollo reigns. While
thou too, Pollio, while thou art consul, this glory of our




38           The Millennial Hope
age shall dawn and the great months begin to roll.
Under thy rule all vestiges of our guilt shall disappear,
releasing the earth from fear forever. He [the newborn child] shall partake of the life of the gods, he shall
see heroes mingling with gods, and be seen by them,
and he shall bring peace to the world, ruling it with his
father's might. On thee, O child, the earth, as her
first offerings, shall pour forth everywhere without
culture creeping ivy with lady's glove, and Egyptian
beans with smiling acanthus intermixed. The goats of
themselves shall convey homeward their udders distended with milk, nor shall the herds dread monstrous
lions. Thy very cradle shall blossom with attractive
flowers. The serpent shall perish and the secret-poison
plant shall disappear; the Assyrian balm shall grow
in every field. But as soon as thou shalt be able to
read the praises of heroes and the achievements of thy
sire, and to know what virtue is, the field shall by
degrees grow yellow with ripening corn, blushing grapes
shall hang on the rude brambles, and hard oaks shall
drip with dewy honey.... Dear offspring of the
gods, mighty seed of Jove, enter thy great heritage, for
the time is now at hand. See how the world's massive
dome bows before thee-earth and oceans and the vault
of heaven. See how all things rejoice at the approach
of this age. Oh, that my last stage of life may continue
so long and so much breath be given me as shall suffice
to sing thy deeds!'
This politico-religious faith of the Romans
was still further strengthened by the success of
'Ed. iv.




Gentile Hopes


39


Augustus in establishing order throughout the
Empire. When Virgil had delivered his messianic prophecy in the year 40 B.C., he did
not specifically name the divine child who
was to prove himself savior of the world.
But later, when composing the sixth book of
the Aeneid, the poet was able to point to
Augustus as the promised deliverer who is "to
establish again the Golden Age in Latium,
through those lands where Saturn reigned of
old.",I
Faith in the saving mission of Augustus is not
the peculiar possession of the literary men of the
imperial court; it is also a widespread belief
among the populace, particularly in the eastern
portion of the empire. In these regions it had
been customary for centuries to regard a beneficent prince as a saving minister of Deity. In
Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt powerful
generals and other potentates had often been
hailed as deliverers from ill, and the blessings
which their rule conferred upon their subjects
were esteemed as divine gifts. But at no period
in the memory of man had the stability of life
in the Mediterranean world been more secure
than under the kindly rule of Augustus. These
I 'Aeneid vi. 788 ff.




40


The Millennial Hlope


new conditions, in contrast with the wretchedness of the preceding period, led naturally to
most extravagant praise of the emperor. Surely
his advent had brought an end to the Age of
Iron, and now the process of world-renewal had
begun. Accordingly Augustus' subjects inscribed memorials to him in which they
expressed a belief that Providence had now
fulfilled all the prayers of mankind, "for earth
and sea have peace; cities flourish well governed, harmonious, and prosperous; the course
of all good things has reached a climax, and all
mankind has been filled with good hopes for the
future and good cheer for the present."
The final revelation of divine favor for mortals had now been granted in the person and
work of Augustus, whom Providence "filled
with virtue for the benefit of mankind, sending
him to be a savior for us as well as for our
descendants, bringing all wars to an end, and
setting up all things in order." By his coming
he has not only fulfilled all past hopes and
excelled all previous benefactors, but he has
left to future generations no possibility of surpassing him. In short, when he was born the
dawn of the Golden Age began. Such was the
popular faith of many of Augustus' subjects.




Gentile Hopes


4I


VII
While mythological fancy and political theory
were making their contributions toward the
shaping of Graeco-Roman "millennial" hopes,
the more distinctly religious and philosophical
movements of the time were also exerting an
influence upon the future hopes of the masses.
Most important among the religions were the
mystery-cults. The tendency of these cults
was to turn men's minds away from the notion
of world-salvation and to center attention upon
the salvation of the individual. Yet the myths
and rites of these religions reflected the idea of a
mighty conflict in this world. Moreover, the
conflict was thought to affect, not only the
present welfare of man, but also the fate of his
immortal soul. Each cult offered its devotees
the hope of an ultimate victory over the world's
hostile powers. The myths described how
legendary divinities had warded off from mankind the terrors of winter, having procured, by
means of their own descent to the lower world,
power to revive the life of nature in the springtime and bless mortals with an abundance of
summer fruits. In historical times these material blessings were used to symbolize a victory
for the souls of deceased mortals. As the divine




42


The Millennial Hope


hero of the cult had descended to the nether
regions and returned triumphant, so the soul
of his worshiper would be liberated from the
shades below and transported to regions of
eternal blessedness. Although belief in individual immortality offers escape from, rather than
a solution of, the present world's ills, yet the
picture of future blessedness described in the
mysteries provided suggestive imagery for those
who wished to portray the glories of a returning
Golden Age upon earth.
The Graeco-Roman philosophers also struggled with the problem of the world's evil and
proposed solutions for its removal. The ideal
republic of Plato was to be a utopia of man's
own making, but popular notions influenced
very perceptibly the details of the scheme.
This new model society was really a replica of
the Golden Age of mythology with its more
fanciful features omitted and the primary activities of the gods eliminated. But Plato's state
was not to endure forever; it also was subject to
the universal law of change and decay. First
came the world-year during which humanity
was upon the ascent, this development culminating in the realization of the ideal social order
which Plato's imagination reared for itself.




Gentile Hopes


43


Then another world-year sets in marked by a
gradual process of decline. These two alternating ages will follow each other as long as the
universe endures, each part of each cycle reappearing at its appointed time. Since the
human body and the immortal soul are items
in the process, man may ever rest assured that
some day in the more or less distant future the
Golden Age will return, when all souls and all
bodies will be temporarily reunited under perfectly ideal conditions.
In the case of Epicureanism, its rigid materialism and its emphatic denial that the gods
concerned themselves at all with the present
world left room only for human activity in
combating the ills to which flesh is heir. The
Epicureans neither permitted themselves to
follow mythological fancies nor did they indulge
in idealistic flights of imagination, after the
Platonic fashion. They scorned the popular
belief that the history of mankind had been one
long process of degeneration; on the contrary,
they pictured it as a gradual rise in the arts of
civilization. This process produced its pains
and its pleasures, but the latter would predominate if man would only learn to live each
day wisely and well, eliminating from his mind




44


The Millennial Hope


all traditional religious errors. The greatest
curse on mortals was their inherited fear of the
gods and their dread of death, both notions
being wholly erroneous according to Epicurean
teaching. Since the soul did not survive the
body, death was not to be feared, and since the
gods had absolutely no part in the affairs of
man, present evils belonged to the strictly
human sphere. Under these circumstances conditions could be bettered only through the
activity of better men in the present age,
the primary instrument for betterment being
the cultivation of correct philosophical thought.
The most influential school of philosophy in
the early Roman Empire was that of the Stoics.
Their ideas regarding the present world-struggle
and its outcome are composite in character.
Stoicism retained the traditional picture of an
ideal past when mankind lived free from care
and pleasing to God. Mnan's fall from this
ideal state is ascribed to his own acts. At first
he remained close to nature and was a tiller of
the soil; he was an utter stranger to city life
with its greed for gain and the consequent strife
arising between men and nations. Ascent in
so-called civilization had really meant decline
in happiness and morals. When the first sword




Gentile Hopes


45


was forged and the first ship built, man started
upon that downward course which ultimately
plunged him into wars, led him to undertake
perilous journeys upon the sea, and engendered
every form of jealousy, hatred, passion, and vice.
The only way of escape from the evils of
modern decadent times was said to be a return
to the simple life of nature. The Stoic preacher
strenuously urged his contemporaries to apply
this panacea for the healing of their own personal ills. They were personally responsible for
the outcome of this effort, but the success of the
struggle was partially guaranteed by the presence in their lives of a divine power-an inherent spark of Deity-which God had placed in
every man's breast at birth. The hope of
humanity lay in living true to the inward light.
This ideal, if pursued, would result in the suppression of present evil, the purification of the
world, and a life of ideal happiness.
If this program could have been carried out,
man might have been able to inaugurate his
own "millennium." But the Stoic did not
really believe that this ideal was capable of full
realization under present conditions. The goal
was not to be reached by an evolutionary
process slowly leading back to primitive ideal




46


The Millennial Hope


conditions; on the contrary, it was to be attained by means of a cosmic catastrophe which
would resolve the present world into its primal
constituent elements, from which there would
arise a new world where the Age of Gold would
be restored.
Since Stoic teachers adopted the theory of
cosmic cycles, their new world would not retain
its perfection eternally. The same forces of
deterioration that had wrought havoc in the
past would again appear. Although everything
had been newly created in innocence in order
that no remnant might be left to tutor men in
vice, yet the new race would soon decline. As
Seneca dolefully remarks, vice quickly creeps in,
while virtue is difficult to find; she needs a ruler
and a guide, but vice can be acquired without a
tutor.' Hence Stoic philosophy offered at best
only a temporary release from evil-a release to
be partially attained by the individual through
his own efforts in living true to nature, and to be
exhibited from time to time in the eternal cosmic
process which periodically brought about worlddissolution and world-renewal.
This survey of gentile attempts to solve the
problem both of the world's destiny and of
Natural Questions iii. 30. 7.




Gentile Hopes            47
man's relation to the ills of life shows how generally the ancients depreciate the significance of
actual human effort. There is a prevalent tendency to trust almost exclusively in special supernatural intervention for the hope of deliverance
from evil. Even when the hope seems on the
point of realization under some beneficent ruler,
he is given supernatural credentials as a means
of guaranteeing his validity. Where direct
supernatural aid is rejected, reliance is placed
upon the arbitrary workings of a superior cosmic
process, and thus again the significance of the
human struggle is virtually denied.




CHAPTER II


HEBREW AND JEWISH HOPES
The Hebrew people were particularly sensitive to the presence of hostile forces in their
world. The pressure of life's ills was felt by
them even more keenly than by many of their
gentile neighbors. They also believed that a
final triumph for humanity would be secured
only through the special intervention of Deity.
In fact, rarely or never did any neighboring
peoples hold so tenaciously as did the Jews to
the hope of a glorious divine deliverance.
Throughout a long period of years they suffered
repeated misfortunes, but each new calamity
seemed only to strengthen their confidence in
the coming of a better day when their present
unhappy condition would be completely reversed.
I
By the beginning of the Christian era Jewish
hopes had passed through a long period of
growth. The beginnings of this process are
veiled in obscurity, but very possibly there had
48




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


49


been a time when the ancestors of the Jews, like
most other peoples in that ancient world, had
depicted their fears and hopes in the form of
myths reflecting a dread of nature's elemental
forces and a hope of victory to be secured by
the help of Deity. In historical times the
Hebrews were unique in their efforts to bring
all supernatural activities under the control of
their own national god, Jehovah. Consequently at an early date he assumed the allembracing role of both destroyer and deliverer.
Jehovah is frequently associated with the
terrors of thunder, lightning, and storm. When
angry, he speaks in the roaring tempest or in the
crashing thunder, and the flaming lightning is
the breath of his nostrils. He is also the god
of earthquake and volcanic fire. He causes the
earth to tremble and shakes the mountains to
their very foundations. At times his anger
burns so furiously that he cleaves asunder the
ground and melts the rocks by his presence. He
vents his rage upon his enemies by pouring
forth streams of burning brimstone which utterly
consume everything in their path.
Pestilence, death, and calamities in general
were thought to be the work of Jehovah. He
dragged down to Sheol whom he would, and




54


The Millennial Hope


preserved life according to his own good pleasure. He let loose pests upon the earth to
destroy vegetation, and sent ferocious beasts or
poisonous reptiles to afflict mankind. Drought,
famine, and disease were his instruments for
punishing those who had incurred his displeasure.
While unkind nature furnished picturesque
imagery for portraying the action of Jehovah's
wrath, the assumption of a unique bond of
attachment between him and his chosen people
must have constituted a substantial basis for
the hope of ultimate escape from misery. And
considering the relatively late date at which the
Jews stressed the joys of a blessed life beyond
the grave, the type of hope entertained even in
very early times would probably involve some
form of world-renewal and national redemption.
This form of hope is reflected in popular
legends regarding the beginning of human history and Hebrew national life. The notion of
the decadence of humanity so widely current
among ancient peoples appears in the story of
the creation and the fall. The picture of primitive man in his paradise of innocence is quickly
followed by a description of disobedience resulting in his expulsion from Eden. Then follows
a period of struggle in which human skill slowly




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


51


conquers its unfriendly environment, producing
the instruments and arts of early civilization.
But these attainments are not thought to mark
any permanent progress. On the contrary, evil
increases rapidly upon the earth until the
human race becomes so degenerate as to incur
destruction by a flood.
A new era of history is said to begin with
Noah, through whose instrumentality Jehovah
preserved the life of the world and showed himself the savior of humanity. But as Noah's
descendants spread themselves over the earth
the process of degeneration began anew and
continued until relieved by another act of Jehovah. He did not again destroy the human
race, but selected therefrom a favored individual, Abraham, who was to become the father of
a peculiar people. Thus the call of Abraham as
described in Hebrewlegends marks the inauguration of another era in the history of human hopes.
The ultimate goal of human desire is still far
in the future. Jehovah has disclosed his intention of carrying out a selective program of
salvation, but the consummation of the new
scheme requires time. A long struggle ensues,
until finally the forces of evil become so masterful that they threaten the complete destruction




52


The Millennial Hope


of Abraham's descendants who are now enslaved
in the land of Egypt. Again their God must
intervene to rescue his people and rebuild the
shattered structure of their fallen hopes. Salvation is effected through a miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage and is confirmed
by a new revelation of the divine will made to
Moses on Sinai.
With the release from Egypt and the giving
of the law, Hebrew faith saw the inauguration
of another new era in the people's history, but a
long period of waiting elapsed before they
effected even preliminary possession of the
promised land. And after they crossed its
boundaries it seemed much less fair than when
they had viewed it from afar, imagining that it
flowed with milk and honey. The struggles of
conquest and the dangers incident to contact
with the older Canaanitish civilization which
the Hebrews supplanted or absorbed made this
period of their history also seem to fall far short
of the ideal which had been foreshadowed in the
revelation to Moses.
With the portrayal of David and Solomon
another high-water mark is reached indicating a
new era of divine favor. Once more Jehovah
has intervened, anointing a king to rule over




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


53


his people and to bestow prosperity upon the
nation. A permanent dwelling-place for the
Deity is now provided in Jerusalem, and the national hopes seem on the verge of full realization. But evil days quickly follow. With
Solomon's death his kingdom is disrupted with
internal strife, and in succeeding years neighboring hostile nations harass both Israel and
Judah until at last the people are utterly crushed
by the foreign conqueror or carried away captive into Babylonia.
II
An interesting era in the history of Hebrew
hopes begins with the activity of the pre-exilic
prophets. These interpreters of the national
life spoke chiefly of impending calamities.
They often protested vehemently against the
popular notion that Jehovah's selection of the
Hebrews as a favored race eliminated the possibility of national disaster. On the contrary,
they insisted that calamity was imminent, having been designed by Jehovah himself as an
expression of displeasure with the very people
of his special choice. More remarkable still, the
prophets sometimes said that the heathen powers
had been deliberately selected by Jehovah as




54


The Millennial Hope


his instruments for the punishment of the
Hebrews. From ancient times earthquake,
storm, or pestilence had served to express the
wrath of Deity, but now the menacing heathen
nations were alleged to be his chosen instruments of chastisement.
As in the case of Hesiod,' it was a consciousness of social ills that prompted the earliest
prophets to reflect upon the outcome of history.
In his arraignment of the evils of his day, Amos
is representative. He sees the poor oppressed
by the rich, the judges sell their decisions, the
morals of the people are corrupted, and religion
has degenerated into mere ritualism. Amos is
confident that his own violent revulsion of feeling toward this state of affairs is shared by God,
who will surely punish his people for their sins.
In impassioned language the prophet repeats
the words of doom pronounced upon Israel,
"Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may
shake; and break them in pieces on the head
of all of them; and I will slay the last of them
with the sword: there shall not one of them flee
away, and there shall not one of them escape."
The prophets are not always specific in their
description of the divine vengeance. SomeSee above, p. 29.    2Amos 9:I.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


55


times they speak vaguely of a time when Jehovah will unleash predatory hordes from the
remote north country to descend upon Palestine
with terrible destruction, or else a mighty concourse of all heathen nations will move with
terrific tumult against the Hebrew people.
Apparently these terrors are themselves merely
preliminary to a still greater catastrophe to
occur with the coming of the "day of Jehovah."
This is to be a terrible time of disaster and darkness from which men shall seek in vain to
escape: "Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them in the day of
Jehovah's wrath; but the whole land shall be
devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will
make an end, yea a terrible end, of all them that
dwell in the land."'
Even as early as the time of Amos the Hebrews were awaiting the advent of the day of
Jehovah. But as pictured in popular expectation this momentous day was to issue in a
complete destruction of Israel's enemies and a
unique display of Jehovah's favor for his chosen
people. Against this current belief Amos raised
an insistent protest. He declared that on the
impending day of catastrophe sinful Israelites
' Zeph. I: I8.




The Millennial Hope


would suffer equally with their heathen neighbors. To him it seemed sheer folly for the
people to desire the speedy coming of the day
of Jehovah. In their present state of wickedness it could mean disaster only. It would be
as if a man when fleeing from a lion is met by a
bear, or on going into the house for safety is
bitten by a serpent hidden in the crevices of the
wall. That day will be a moment of great disillusionment for those who sit at ease in Zion
and think themselves secure in the mountain of
Samaria.
Amos is so emphatic in his pronouncement of
doom that hope scarcely looms upon his horizon.
Is there really no silver lining to the.storm cloud
of disaster that lowers in his sky? He is familiar with the ancient legends depicting Jehovah's
choice of the Hebrews and the favors bestowed
upon them throughout the course of their
history. But on this very account their sinful
conduct seems particularly culpable. Because
they have broken faith with Jehovah his anger
burns even more furiously against them than
against other peoples with whom he has established no unique covenant. Yet hope is not
completely dead. Disaster may still be averted,
though only at the cost of strenuous moral




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


57


reform. The preaching of Amos was designed
to accomplish this reform, but he was sadly
disappointed. The leaders of the people ridiculed him for his righteous zeal and scoffed at
his predictions of disaster. Whatever hope he
may have retained on behalf of the poor and
oppressed, who surely were entitled to some
form of divine vindication, the future of the
nation as a whole seemed exceedingly precarious. The fragments of the children of Israel to
be saved-if such an outcome can be called
salvation-will be like a couple of legs or a piece
of ear recovered by a shepherd after the lion has
preyed upon his flock.
Hosea, a younger contemporary of Amos, was
also moved by the social and religious ills of his
day to predict impending disaster. When described in the rhetorical language of the prophet,
conditions seem most deplorable: "There is no
truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in
the land. There is nought but swearing and
breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and
committing adultery."' Falsehood, perjury,
avarice, theft, robbery, murders, drunkenness,
idolatry, and political intrigues are among the
sins of which people, rulers, and priests are alike
'1 Hos. 4: I f.




58


The Millennial Hlope


guilty. In enumerating the immoralities of his
day Hosea does not follow Amos in stressing the
injustice done to men, but emphasizes the sin
against Jehovah involved in such conduct.
The God who had loved the Hebrew nation in
its infancy and delivered it from bondage in
Egypt has now been forsaken by the people of
his choice and therefore disaster is inevitable.
Hosea gives no detailed description of the
coming catastrophe, but evidently he is looking
for the advent of the day of Jehovah. Recent
international events had made it possible for
him to be somewhat more specific than Amos
had been in his references to the political situation. Yet even Hosea is uncertain as to whether
Assyria or Egypt will be the agent chosen by
God to punish Israel. But punishment is sure
and terrible: "Therefore am I unto them as a
lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way; I
will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her
whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart;
and there will I devour them like a lioness; the
wild beast shall tear them."' Although the
divine anger could be averted by repentance,
Hosea feels as did Amos that the response to his
message has been too feeble to warrant any
'1 I3:7 f.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


59


bright outlook for the future of the nation.
The capital city, Samaria, shall be laid waste in
punishment for her rebellion against God. Her
men shall be given to the sword, her infants
shall be dashed in pieces to the ground, and her
women shall be massacred.
The fears of Amos and Hosea had been aroused
by conditions in the Northern Kingdom. A
few years later similar conditions in Judea
awakened new prophetic voices. In his revolt
against the social and religious ills of his day,
Micah bears a strong resemblance to Amos.
He severely upbraids the rulers for their iniquitous conduct. They lay schemes to deprive
men of lands and houses, women are robbed of
their inheritance, and children are sold into
slavery. In the picturesque language of the
prophet the rulers are said to "eat the flesh of
my people, and flay their skins from off them,
and break their bones, and chop them in pieces,
as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron."'
Even religious leaders join in the pursuit of
wealth and in the oppression of the poor.
To Micah's sensitive soul these enormities
seem to demand a mighty outburst of divine
wrath upon Judah. Self-satisfied individuals
' 3:3.




60


The Millennial Hope


were affirming that no evil could befall them.
Since they were Jehovah's chosen people, he was
in their midst and insured their safety. Micah
meets this smug confidence with a bold declaration of impending disaster. Not only will
Samaria be razed to her very foundations, but,
because the religious leaders have proved false
to their trust, even Jerusalem, where the holy
temple stands, shall be made desolate, and Zion
shall be plowed as a field. It is quite probable that Micah regarded the threatening
Assyrian armies as Jehovah's destined instrument of destruction.
Of future hope Micah has nothing to say.
When Jehovah's anger has spent itself on
sinners in Judah, will the innocent have perished along with the guilty? It seems as
necessary for Micah as for Amos to expect some
form of divine vindication for those who had
been unjustly oppressed. Nor is it easy to
imagine that a prophet could have abandoned
completely his fathers' time-honored faith in
Jehovah's care for his chosen people. It might
become necessary to purge them in the refining
furnace of terrible affliction, but the thought of
utter annihilation is hardly conceivable. Bad
government, a corrupt social order, and degrad



Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


6i


ing religious practices might be wiped out, along
with all persons responsible for this unhappy
condition of things, but it would be quite another matter to cut off completely every child
of the covenants which had been made with
Abraham and Moses.
Isaiah seems to have taken a keener interest
in politics than did his contemporary, Micah.
Yet in the case of Isaiah also the fundamental
incentive for prophetic activity was a feeling of
sharp revolt against current social and moral
ills. When Jehovah looks for justice he finds
only oppression. The rich landowners enlarge
their estates by crowding out the small farmers.
Surrounded by luxury, the wealthy revel from
early morning until late at night. The chosen
Hebrew people, nourished and reared by Jehovah, no longer yield allegiance to him, but have
given themselves over to iniquity. They have
despised the holy one of Israel, they have become estranged and degenerate. Judges, rulers,
priests, and professional prophets are equally
guilty. The elders and princes have devoured
the vineyard and crushed the needy; it is
impossible for poor men, widows, or orphans to
obtain just decisions in the law courts; and in
vain do priests multiply sacrifices and prophets




62


The Millennial Hope


utter smooth words while the masses remain
uninstructed in the ways of true righteousness.
Isaiah is confident that his own hatred for
the wicked deeds of the people is but an echo of
the divine displeasure. To the self-satisfied
leaders who call for the speedy advent of the
day of Jehovah, the prophet announces impending doom. In that day the proud and haughty
shall be humbled, while God alone shall be
exalted. Terrified by his glory, men shall flee
from his presence, seeking refuge in the clefts of
the rocks and the caves of the earth. Drastic
punishment is to fall both upon Israel and upon
Judah. From Israel Jehovah will cut off "head
and tail, palm branch and rush in one day";
the people will be consumed as fuel in the furnace and the land itself shall be burned up. Or,
changing the figure, the Lord will swoop down
upon drunken Ephraim like a destructive hailstorm with a mighty flood of waters, leveling
everything in its pathway. A like fate awaits
the sinners of Judah, upon whom Jehovah will
pour out the purging fires of his wrath, for
"Jerusalem  is ruined and Judah is fallen"
as a result of their words and deeds against
their God.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


63


In the political disturbances of his environment Isaiah detected the avenging hand of God.
The coalition of Syria and Israel against Judah
in 735, the triumph of the Assyrians over the
Northern Kingdom in 721, Judah's fear of
Egypt on the one hand and of Assyria on the
other, and particularly the invasion of Judea by
Sennacherib in 701, were impressive items in
Isaiah's experience. At one time he declares
that the Syrians in front and the Philistines in
the rear shall devour Israel with open mouth;
and again he thinks that both capitals, Damascus and Samaria, shall be despoiled by the
Assyrians. Nor is Judah to escape unscathed.
Jehovah will send the Assyrian against Judah
and her idols as well as against Samaria. The
foreign conquerors shall be empowered to take
vengeance upon the profane nation, spoiling its
treasures and treading down its citizens like
mire in the streets. Again, the prophet speaking for Jehovah declares that God will summon
distant nations to act as his instruments for
punishment. Immediately they will respond
with arrows ready upon the string. The hoofs
of the horses shall be as flint, and the chariots
shall move with the speed of the whirlwind.
The noise will be as the roar of the lion or the




64


The Millennial Hope


resounding of the deep, and there will be no
escape from the terrors of that destructive onslaught.
Does the consuming zeal of the prophet's
denunciation leave any room for hope? Since
he pleads with his hearers to forsake their evil
ways and to walk in the paths of righteousness,
certainly the possibility of salvation must be
assumed. But in a more pessimistic mood,
when stung by disappointment at the seeming
failure of his mission, Isaiah affirms that God
has designedly dulled the understanding and
blinded the eyes of the people lest they should
repent and be saved. There is no escape for the
nation in its present state of social, political, and
religious decay. Yet the prophet has a band
of faithful disciples who perpetuate his teaching
and confidently wait for Jehovah to act.' Are
not they, and others who have been innocently
oppressed by wicked rulers, to escape the national wreck? It is difficult to imagine that
Isaiah could have thought otherwise. Indeed,
in the midst of his vivid description of the terrible doom to overtake sinners in Jerusalem, he
incidentally refers to the safety of those who
trust in Jehovah and the sure foundation stone
1 8: I6-I8.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


65


laid by him in Zion. When the politicians seek
to insure the future of the nation by means of
alliances with Assyria or Egypt, Isaiah counsels
trust in Jehovah as the only source of safety.
Failure to heed this advice must result in utter
destruction of the corrupt political and social
regime, but surely the select few who remain
loyal to God will be delivered. When the fiery
trial is passed, a new order of just judges and
counselors like to those of former days will be
established and Zion shall be called "the city of
righteousness.",
Zephaniah and Jeremiah followed in the footsteps of Isaiah. Zephaniah directed his polemic
especially against the foreign religious practices
current among the Hebrews. Jerusalem is
termed a rebellious and polluted city, no longer
trusting in Jehovah. Her princes and judges
devour on every hand, her professional prophets
make light of their calling, and her priests profane the sanctuary. Therefore Jehovah will
wreak awful vengeance upon the disobedient
people.
Jeremiah is similarly emphatic in his denunciation of contemporary evils. He affirms that
rulers and princes are guilty of gross sins,
' 1: 24-26.




66


The Millennial Hope


falsehood and deceit are rife among priests and
prophets, worship of strange gods fills the land,
and a desire for political alliances with Egypt or
with Assyria shows lack of faith in Jehovah. In
opposition to the current belief that all is well
because the Hebrews are divinely chosen, Jeremiah asserts not only that their immoralities
have canceled the alleged unique obligations of
God to them, but that he has actually determined upon their destruction. Before his fierce
anger all the fields shall be laid waste and all the
cities shall perish.
The new element of terror projected into that
ancient world by the activities of Scythian
hordes seems to have intensified the sense of
impending disaster both for Zephaniah and for
Jeremiah. The latter also lived to see Babylonian pressure upon Judea grow so intense that
the downfall of the nation became inevitable.
Under these circumstances it was not strange
that he should be the gloomiest of all the gloomy
prophets. Apparently he did not anticipate a
favorable hearing for his message, nor is he
reserved in his sweeping pronouncements of
doom upon the nation. Yet he certainly entertains a firm future hope, especially for the
earlier exiles who had been carried off to Baby



Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


67


lonia in 597 B.C. Their deliverance is yet a
long way off, and in the meantime drastic
punishment will be meted out to the remnant
of the nation left in Judea. But ultimately
Jehovah will assemble his faithful captive people
from among the nations and restore them to
their inheritance.'
In their attitude toward contemporary culture there is a striking similarity, notwithstanding fundamental differences, between the
ancient Hebrew prophets and the later Stoics.
The Stoic deplored the suffering brought upon
mankind by commercial and political activities.
The present order of society seemed to him to
be a sad deterioration from conditions of an
earlier time when men had lived close to nature.
And the only hope of deliverance from present
degenerate ways lay in an approaching cosmic
catastrophe. Similarly the ancient prophets
condemned the new structure of society which
had grown up among the Hebrews after their
migration from the desert into the more artificial environment of Canaan. In their new
surroundings the people learned commercial
greed, they instituted rivalry between rich
and poor, religious ceremonies became more
'24:I-IO; 25:8-14; 29:I-32.




68


The Millennial Hope


elaborate and more formal, the administration
of justice was less certain, political schemes infected both domestic and foreign relationshipsin short, the unsophisticated life of the nomad
was gradually giving way to a new social order
which invited the exercise of human initiative in
many new fields.
Every fresh experiment in cultural development necessarily liberates both good and evil
forces. New skill, new wealth, new knowledge,
and new power are equally capable of use or of
abuse, and the latter often seems to run far in
advance of the former. So it seemed to the
ancient Hebrew prophets before whose eyes the
evils of their day loomed so large that all possibilities of good in the new national experience
were almost completely obscured. Help was
not sought in any gradual process of reform
designed to offset new evils by means of new
forces of righteousness. To be sure, the
prophets were most vigorous in demanding
individual moral reform, but their program was
essentially a return to the standards of earlier
days. When they found themselves unable to
turn the stream of the national life back upon
its course, they looked for relief through a
mighty act of divine intervention. Jehovah




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


69


would completely destroy the new degenerate
civilization and restore the old ideal order.
As viewed by the prophet, his chief duty was
to upbraid sinners and announce impending
doom. Consequently his hopes for the future
of the people are usually implied rather than
clearly expressed. Apparently no remnant of
the national life as organized at present is to
survive. Hosea sees no hope of salvation in
kings or princes whom God gave to Israel in his
wrath and takes away in his fury, and Isaiah
looks forward to the restoration of a former
condition when judges and counselors administer the government in primitive simplicity.
Jehovah had not abandoned his people even
though he might be compelled in the near future
to annihilate the present social order. Regarding the details of the new order as they lay in the
imagination of the prophet, we know little or
nothing, but doubtless current myth and legend
furnished ample imagery for constructing a very
realistic and attractive picture of a new theocratic community.
III
The downfall of the kingdom of Judah in
586 B.C. marked a distinct turning-point in the




70


The Millennial Hope


history of Hebrew hopes. Notwithstanding the
severity of the national catastrophe, hope still
survived. Neither removal from Palestine nor
the trying experiences of subsequent years could
shatter the confidence of the Jews in the ultimate triumph of their God. But the experiences of the post-exilic period did necessitate
important changes both in the form and in the
content of their hope. In comparison with the
vaguer notions of earlier times, Jewish thinking
now constructed a more varied, elaborate, and
doctrinaire program of final redemption and
world-renewal.
Apparently the earlier prophets had expected
that the culmination of national disaster would
either coincide with, or immediately precede,
the coming of the day of Jehovah. But, as
events turned out, the victory of the foreign
conqueror was not attended by any unusual
cosmic display. The day of Jehovah still
remained to be revealed in the future. The
opinion of Amos and his successors, who had
pictured this day as the hour of Israel's doom,
was now superseded by the older and more
popular belief that it would be the moment of
Israel's vindication. Jehovah was still a God
of terror, and the present world was doomed to




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


7I


disaster, but surely the chosen people had already suffered their share of calamity. They
were more confident than ever before that the
end would bring affliction for Gentiles but
exaltation for Jews. Preparation for this anticipated event and speculation regarding the
details of the program now engaged the attention of various leaders.
Even with the downfall of the nation the
destructive work of Jehovah is not finished,
nor will it be at an end until the final day of
judgment has passed. But on the judgment
day he will vent his rage mainly upon the
Gentiles. Sometimes their complete annihilation was anticipated, while at other times destruction was planned only for the actual
enemies of Jehovah's people. As would be
expected, the doom of Babylon was portrayed
in lurid colors. When provision was made for
the escape of certain Gentiles on the day of
final disaster, it was assumed that thereafter
they would be servants of the Jews and worshipers of Jehovah. In still other circles more
stress was placed upon the conversion of the
heathen, not merely by miraculous intervention of God, but by the missionary efforts of
the Jewish people in the days preceding the




72


The Millennial Hope


judgment. But ultimately Israel's triumph
would be supreme over all the earth.
It was assumed that the Jews also must
suffer further agony while waiting for the fulfilment of their hopes. A final outburst of hostility on the part of their heathen enemies was
to be expected. In addition to their old foes
from Egypt and Babylonia, new attacking
armies led by the mythical Gog were to appear
in the last days. Nature, too, would become
more hostile and refuse to yield her accustomed
fruits. Jehovah's fire would burn up fields and
forests, leaving both men and beasts without
shelter and without food. Frightful natural
phenomena would add to the agony as the sun
grew dark and the moon turned red like blood.
The execution of judgment was to be a terror
to Jews as well as to Gentiles. Post-exilic
teachers agreed with the early prophets in maintaining that mere ancestry would not deliver
the sinful Israelites. Jehovah would provide
ample opportunity for repentance, even sending
Elijah back to earth to admonish the people,
but unrepentant Jews as well as Gentiles would
perish in the day of judgment. That great
assize will mean a final sifting even for Israel,
when the wicked will be burned as stubble,




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


73


while upon the faithful the sun of righteousness
shall rise with healing in its beams.
The restoration of the captives to Palestine
was the outstanding item in the hope of postexilic Judaism. This was to be a glorious triumph accomplished by the direct intervention
of Jehovah, who would summon his children
from the north, from the south, from the east,
and from the west, bringing them back to the
land of their ancestors.I When hope grows dim
with weary years of waiting, a new prophet
comes forward with a message of comfort and
assurance, declaring again that the time is at
hand when the glory of Jerusalem is about to be
restored. Jehovah will lead the exiles back
from captivity through the wilderness by a marvelous highway miraculously prepared. Every
valley shall be filled up, every mountain and
hill shall be thrown down, and all rough places
shall be converted into a smooth plain for the
passage of the returning exiles back to Zion,
where "everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads."2 As the earlier prophets had longed for
the restoration of ideal nomadic conditions, so
the prophets of the exile turned wistfully toward
their more immediate past and proclaimed the


Ezek. 36: 24-28.


2Isai..35: 8-IO; 40: I-I I 




74


The Millennial EHope


coming of the day when the idealized national
life of Palestine would be restored.
In depicting the anticipated glory of the
restored nation, pious imagination rose to dizzy
heights. The new age was to witness a miraculous transformation of the land of Palestine.
The hill of Zion, capped by a magnificent new
temple, would rise conspicuously above the
surrounding country. All hills and ravines
would be converted into one vast plain, sloping
away in every direction from the Holy City.
From Jerusalem there would flow forth streams
of living water both eastward and westward
throughout summer and winter. All waste
places were to be made fruitful, and the whole
land would yield spontaneously an abundance
of all good things. The very mountains would
drip with sweet wine, unlimited supplies of
butter and honey would be found in every man's
larder, both priests and people would be sated
with fatness.
Jerusalem was to be rebuilt in great magnificence. The devastated city would rise so
gloriously from its ashes that no vestige of
former humiliation would remain. The decorations of the city were to be provided by Jehovah
himself: "I will set thy stones in fair colors, and




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


75


lay thy foundations in sapphires, and I will
make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of
carbuncles, and all thy border of precious
stones."' Sun and moon would no longer serve
the city for light, since these natural luminaries
would be outshone by the radiance of Jehovah
dwelling in the midst of his people. Under
these new conditions Jerusalem would enjoy
fabulous prosperity as commerce and trade from
all parts of the earth streamed through its gates.
A wonderful transformation of humanity is
also anticipated. Jehovah will sprinkle clean
water upon his people, and thus purge them of
all evil. Everyone not cleansed shall be destroyed, and nothing unholy will come into the
midst of the renewed community. The stony
heart is to be replaced by a heart of flesh, upon
which Jehovah will write his law in indelible
characters. Henceforth religious instruction
will be unnecessary, for instinctively every man
from the least unto the greatest will have perfect
knowledge of God. A new divine spirit will also
take possession of mankind. This divine gift
will be shared by all the people: "I will pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, your old men
Isa. 54: II f.




76


The Millennial Hope


shall dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions: and also upon the servants and upon
the handmaids in those days will I pour out my
Spirit."'
Even the wild beasts will be included in the
process of renewal. All ferocious animals and
poisonous reptiles will be either driven away or
rendered harmless by a miraculous transformation. It will become perfectly safe for a man
to tarry in the wilderness or to lie down to sleep
in the forest. The wolf will no longer devour
the lamb nor the leopard the kid, the calf will
sport fearlessly with the young of the lion, and
the little child will be safe in their presence.
The cow and the bear will feed peaceably together, and the lion will be as harmless as the
ox. Thus does knowledge of Jehovah transform even the most ferocious of the wild beasts.
Society will also be completely transformed.
Injustice, oppression, hunger, poverty, sickness,
and all other ills which ordinarily afflict mortals will find no place in the new social order.
Under these ideal conditions sorrow will flee
away, dispelled by perpetual rejoicing in the
blessings of the new age. Life will be so greatly
prolonged that he who dies when only one
' Joel 2:28 f.




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77


hundred years of age shall be accounted as a
youth snatched away by an untimely fate. No
man will be put out of his possession or robbed
of his reward, but everyone shall be privileged
to enjoy in full the fruits of his own labor. All
men's needs will be anticipated by Jehovah;
before they call he will answer, and while they
are yet speaking he will hear.
Even politics will undergo a complete transformation. All civic and international affairs
will be placed upon an absolutely ideal basis.
The whole world will be ruled from Palestine
with Jerusalem as its capital. All hostile heathen nations will be annihilated or subdued, and
such Gentiles as are permitted to survive will
yield unhesitating obedience to the new Jewish
regime. The new government will be administered by a vicegerent whom Jehovah will select
and especially anoint for this task. This
"Anointed One," or "Messiah," to use the
Hebrew word, will be a member of the royal
Davidic line. Since remarkable longevity is to
characterize the new order of existence, the first
messianic appointee will undoubtedly hold office
for many years. Yet he is not necessarily
eternal.' But the new type of government is to
Ezek. 45: 8; 46:16.




78


The Millennial Hope


be permanent, because established by Jehovah
himself, and it will remain the same throughout
eternity whether administered by a single prince
or by a legitimate succession of anointed rulers
belonging to the Davidic house.
The new theocratic regime is to be one of
perfect peace and righteousness. Swords will
be converted into plowshares, and spears into
pruning-hooks, and wars will forever cease.
The regal glory of Jehovah will be exhibited in
surpassing splendor, but his messianic vicegerent will be less ostentatiously equipped. Justice and salvation, coupled with humility, will
be his distinctive insignia as he appears at the
head of the royal procession riding upon an
ordinary beast of burden. Jehovah will establish him in power over all the earth. Henceforth the restored throne of David will never
lack an occupant who will rule justly and wisely,
guided by the unerring divine spirit with which
he has been abundantly endowed.
It was an awe-inspiring faith that dared to
paint so gorgeous a picture of the restored kingdom of Palestine to which the waiting exiles
hoped to return. The grandeur of their hope
is all the more conspicuous just because it
soared so far above all possibility of realization.




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79


After half a century the conquest of Babylonia
by the Persians made possible the return of a
few Jews, and this event stimulated new
national aspirations. But the return did not
bring the hoped-for day of Jehovah when the
Jews' enemies were to be destroyed and the
land and people miraculously transformed.
The rehabilitation of the shattered nation was
found to be a much more difficult task and more
truly dependent upon human endeavor than the
first idealists had imagined. Yet hope was not
abandoned, although readjustments had to be
made to meet new conditions. Since Jehovah
had disappointed his people, his failure to act
was taken as evidence of further displeasure.
Hence an effort was made to establish Jewish
life upon a new plane of holiness consonant
with supposed divine requirements. The earlier
prophets had stressed right moral action, to
which post-exilic leaders added the demand
for careful ritualistic observances. Since Jehovah had not restored the temple by his own act,
the people inferred that its rebuilding by them
might bring the desired consummation of their
hopes. At one time the efforts of their local
prince Zerubbabel to complete the temple were
thought to presage the advent of the new age




80


The Millennial Hope


when he would be installed in the messianic
office, restoring the royal house of David.' But
even in this reduced form the early messianic
hope was not realized. Jehovah did not intervene to destroy the enemies of his people and to
make the Jewish nation supreme.
IV
Events in Palestine during the early part of
the second century B.C. gave a new turn to
Jewish hopes. The Persian domination of
Western Asia had been supplanted by Greek
supremacy under Alexander and his successors.
Palestine now belonged to the territory of the
Seleucids, who were descended from one of
Alexander's generals. In i68 B.C. the Seleucid
ruler, Antiochus IV, surnamed Epiphanes, determined to break down the narrow spirit of
nationalism fostered among the Jews, and to
make them more truly an integral part of his
kingdom. As a means to this end he made it a
penal offense to perpetuate Jewish religious
rites. Heathen observances were introduced
throughout the land, an altar to Zeus was
erected in the temple inclosure, and there a sow
was sacrificed on December 25, I68 B.C., thus
'Hag. 2: 20-23.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


8i


desecrating the one spot on earth most sacred
to every true Jew.
The Book of Daniel was written to interpret
these new experiences and to cheer the faithful
in their dark hour of distress. The author
employs a comparatively new method for accomplishing his purpose, thereby contributing
some significant new items to the formal development of Jewish hopes.
The literary method of the author of Daniel
is that of the so-called apocalyptic writers who
present their convictions and teachings in the
form of visions or revelations. These disclosures may be made in the author's own name or
in the name of some ancient worthy to whom
God is supposed to have revealed long ago the
ultimate outcome of world-history. The writer
of Daniel adopts the latter of these two literary
forms, and presents his message in terms of the
trying experiences and triumphant faith of the
Babylonian exiles of earlier days. But his
contemporaries suffering under the cruel oppressions of Antiochus would have no difficulty in
discovering that the author's words reflected
their own trying situation.
The writer of Daniel offers a bold solution
for the ills of his day. First he encourages his




82


The Millennial Hope


readers to remain loyal to the sacred traditions
for which they are being persecuted, remembering that Jehovah's reward is sure. Then in a
series of four visions the seer is divinely instructed regarding the whole course of history
and its ultimate outcome. In his first vision he
sees four great beasts typical of four great
world-powers. The first beast, like a lion with
vulture's wings, represents the Babylonian
Empire. The second beast is a bear, identified
by the author with the kingdom of the Medes.
Then comes a third beast, resembling a leopard
and typifying the Persian rule. The fourth
beast, Alexander and his successors, cannot be
identified with any known earthly animal. It
is a terrible creature with teeth of iron and claws
of brass. It has ten horns, and as the seer looks
upon it an eleventh horn, more terrible than the
others, quickly springs up. This eleventh horn,
with its human eyes and mouth and boastful
speech, represents the persecutor Antiochus,
whom the author reckons as the eleventh king
of the Seleucid line.
Presently Daniel is favored with another
vision depicting the final judgment. God
appears in the likeness of an aged man clothed
in white, riding upon a chariot of fire, and sur



Hebrew and Jewish Hlopes


83


rounded by a host of angels. These events
happen while the eleventh horn is still carrying
on his depredations against Jehovah's people.
But the divine punishment is speedy. The
fourth beast, that is, the Greek dynasty to
which Antiochus belongs, is slain and devoured
by fire, an especially severe punishment being
meted out to the eleventh horn. After this
judgment has passed, a new figure appears upon
the scene, a being in the likeness of mankind who
is wafted upon the clouds into the presence of
God. This "one like a son of man" typifies the
new kingdom of the Jewish people to whom
Jehovah now gives universal dominion. The
particulars of this vision are explained to Daniel
by an angel, who intimates that the day of final
judgment is near at hand. Just three and a
half years from the time that Antiochus desecrated the temple in i68 B.C. the end of the
present world is to come and the new ideal order
is to be established.
Daniel's third vision merely repeats in different imagery his previous message. He sees
a ram with two horns, one representing the
empire of the Medes and the other that of the
Persians. Then suddenly from the west there
arises a goat with one horn, and it makes a




84


The Millennial Hope


furious onslaught upon the ram. The goat
represents the Greeks, and Alexander is its great
horn; but suddenly it is broken off and four
others take its place. These represent the four
divisions into which Alexander's kingdom was
parted by his successors. From one of these
horns comes a little horn, Antiochus IV, that
grows rapidly toward the south and west, making war upon the Jews in an effort to overthrow
the religion of the true God. The angelic
interpreter explains that God will presently
smite this scourge of the chosen people, and
their polluted sanctuary shall be cleansed.
The fourth and last vision furnishes still
another epitome of history under the guise of
revelation. The Persian and the Greek kingdoms are described in turn, particular emphasis
being placed upon the events leading up to
Antiochus IV and his persecution of the Jews.
This ruler shall exalt himself in his pride, even
speaking against God, but his end is near.
While he is on his way from a victorious expedition against the Egyptians, Jehovah will suddenly smite him within sight of Jerusalem.
Following the death of Antiochus the people of
God will have to endure a brief period of terrible
suffering as the powers of evil make their




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


85


supreme effort at self-assertion. But Israel's
guardian angel Michael will champion the
afflicted people, effecting deliverance for the
righteous, after which the dead will be raised
to receive fitting rewards and punishments in
the new age. Daniel heard the angel Gabriel
solemnly declare that the period of great distress
under Antiochus IV would last for three and
one-half years, after which God would intervene
to reward the faithful and establish a new
regime upon earth.
As compared with the views of the post-exilic
prophets, the Jewish hope depicted in Daniel
shows much less interest in the restoration of
the idealized kingdom of pre-exilic times. The
Davidic Messiah is never mentioned. The only
"Anointed One " referred to in the book is either
the Persian king Cyrus or a Jewish priest whose
career is to come to an end before redemption is
fully accomplished.' The agent employed by
Jehovah in establishing the new order is an
angel from heaven, who is wholly devoid of
previous earthly connections. There is really
no Messiah at all in Daniel, but only God and
the angels working together to bring about the
redemption of the afflicted people. And when
9:24 f.




86


The Millennial Hope


the task has been completed and the new age
established, it will be not so much a restoration
of the ancient regal glory of Israel as the institution of a new heavenly regime upon earth.
The hopes of the writer of Daniel, like those
of his prophetic predecessors, failed of fulfilment. Antiochus IV did not die in the sight
of Jerusalem as Daniel had predicted, nor did
three and a half years bring an end to the
troubles of the Jews. On the other hand, the
Maccabean princes after a long struggle gained
a measure of independence for the nation, but,
with foreign oppression removed, new troubles
arose within the national life, resulting at times
in bloody civil warfare. When Rome appeared
upon the scene, taking over Palestine in 63 B.C.,
the national independence of the Jews came to
an end. Under the Herods, who ruled as vicegerents of Rome, conditions were tolerable at
times, but unrest and discontent never ceased.
In the year 70 A.D. the climax of woe seemed
to be reached, when the Roman conqueror
destroyed the temple, and the rebellion of Barcochba in the next century brought only new
distress upon the much-afflicted people. Yet
during all these years of repeated calamity their
hopes survived, kept alive by the visions of




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


87


various apocalyptic writers who followed in the
footsteps of Daniel.
A collection of apocalyptic writings pseudonymously connected with Enoch constitutes
another important repository of Jewish hopes
during a part of the second, and throughout
the first, century B.C. These visions of the
future, issued at different times and finally
compiled into a single book, represent the
efforts of various seers to stimulate the faith of
the Jewish people. Enoch's eyes are said to
have been opened by God, to whom he was
introduced by the angels, who instructed him
regarding events to come.
The first assurance offered by the book is a
picture of the eternal God coming forth from
his heavenly dwelling to tread upon the earth.
He will execute judgment upon sinners, but the
righteous shall inherit rich blessings. Having
been purified from all evil, they will enjoy
eternal gladness and peace all the days of their
life.' Then follows a more detailed picture of
this earthly blessedness of the new age. After
God has removed all evil from the face of
the earth, the renovated land is to become
marvelously fruitful and the righteous are to
' Chaps. I-s.




88


8The Millennial Hope


multiply abundantly. Upon this renewed earth
rich blessings from heaven will descend; "truth
and peace shall be associated together throughout all the days of the world and throughout all
the generations of men."' Jerusalem will be
the center of this new regime with God himself
as ruler. The righteous dead will be raised to
participate in the delights of the coming age, one
of their privileges being the pleasure of witnessing the sufferings of apostate Jews in Gehenna.
A somewhat different description of the future is presented in another section of the book
(chapters 83-go). The destiny of the world
is revealed to Enoch in two, dreams covering all past history, as well as the days to come.
Enoch discovers that God had intrusted the
welfare of Israel to seventy angels who began
their activity at about the time of the exile.
They represent hostile rulers whose task was the
chastisement of Israel, but they performed their
work with greater zeal than God had intended.
These angelic masters were divided into four
groups, one group officiating during the exile,
another during the Persian rule, a third during
the Greek rule down to a time when certain
Jewish reforms were championed by a great
I II:2.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


89


leader of the now obscure party to which the
author himself belongs. This leader is a warrior prince, perhaps one of the Maccabean line,
whose career falls under the regime of the fourth
group of angels and is to be followed by the
introduction of the day of Jehovah. The exact
date of this event is not specified, but manifestly
the author regards it as imminent.
The near future holds in store a brilliant
victory for God, who himself descends to
execute judgment upon sinners. Prominent
among those to be punished are the seventy
angels representing the foreign powers which
had afflicted Israel. They are to be cast into
a fiery abyss, while apostate Jews suffer similar
torture in the valley of Gehenna near Jerusalem.
The old Jerusalem is to be folded up like a discarded tent, its place being taken by a new
heavenly Jerusalem where God himself will
dwell. All Gentiles in the surrounding country
are to become subject to Israel, and the righteous are to be raised to join the new community.
As the climactic event on the program, the
Messiah will be born and assume a position of
leadership in the new society.
Still other portions of this composite book
furnish interesting variations in imagery. One




90


The Millennial Hope


seer has a vision of the whole course of history
divided into ten world-weeks (chapters 9I-104).
The end of the first seven successive weeks is
marked respectively by Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Moses, Solomon's temple, the exile, and the end
of the righteous party of Jews to whom the
writer belongs. The eighth week, soon to come,
will usher in a new age of triumph for the faithful, when they will be given power to slay the
wicked. The ninth and tenth weeks are a
messianic period of happiness when the righteous dwell in the new Jerusalem which has been
set up upon earth. During this time the world
at large learns of impending judgment. On the
last day of the tenth week the great final judgment takes place, after which there will be a
new heaven and "many weeks without number
forever and all shall be in goodness and righteousness and sin shall no more be mentioned
forever."
One more picture from the collection of
Enoch apocalypses especially merits notice.
This is contained in a series of three parables
which the Lord of spirits teaches Enoch in order
that he may recount them to those that dwell
upon the earth (chapters 37-7I). Transported
to heaven, he sees the future abodes of the




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


91


righteous now occupied by angels and by the
pre-existent heavenly Messiah. Then follows
a description of this Messiah, who is presently
to come in judgment to take vengeance upon
hostile earthly rulers. Enoch sees the picture
of this impending event which is to strike
terror into both men and angels. The heathen
will make a terrific assault upon Jerusalem, but
their efforts will result in self-destruction. The
really triumphant host now appears in the form
of the returning Israelites who come riding upon
the winds to Jerusalem, where they fall down
and worship the Lord of spirits.
The final parable describes the consummation of the new kingdom, when the "Son of
Man," the pre-existent heavenly Messiah, is
finally revealed. Judgment is set up by the
Messiah, who now occupies the very throne of
God. Angels as well as men are subject to the
judgment, and condemnation is passed upon all
sinners. The earth, purged of all evil, will
become the fit and eternal dwelling-place of the
Messiah and his companions, who revel in the
glories of an incorruptible heavenly world now
established upon the renovated earth.
During the first century A.D., as a means of
offsetting contemporary evils, the apocalyptic




92


The Millennial Hope


type of hope continued to thrive among the
Jews. At some time in the first part of this
century another apocalypse, the Secrets of
Enoch, was issued in the name of Enoch,
describing what he saw as he was journeying
up through the seven heavens until he arrived
in the very presence of God. After residing in
the highest heaven for a month he returned to
earth for a similar period in order to encourage
holy living among men, lest they miss the
mansions prepared for the righteous and fall into
the torments awaiting the wicked. This future
hope is mainly an affair of the individual, but
in one passage the author intimates that the end
of the present world is to be expected seven
thousand years from the date of creation.'
This date is obtained by making each day of
creation-week represent one thousand years.
Since God created the world in six days, it will
endure under present conditions six thousand
years; then will come a thousand years of peace
-the millennium-corresponding to God's Sabbath day of rest. This last world-day will be
followed by the judgment, when the present
world will cease, the righteous being transported
to mansions in heaven, while the wicked find
'33: I f.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


93


their place in hell, itself located in the third
heaven.
A different reckoning is proposed by another
apocalypse commonly known as the Assumption
of Moses. It sketches the history of the Hebrews from the time of Moses to the advent of
the expected messianic age. The end is to come
seventeen hundred and fifty years after Moses'
death, which is said to have occurred twentyfive hundred (or twenty-seven hundred) years
after the creation. The author lived early
in the first century A.D. and apparently believed
the new day to be near at hand when he wrote.
The present rulers are denounced, but their
career is to be short-lived. The writer portrays
in usual fashion the terrible woes immediately
to precede the end, when God himself will
punish the enemies of Israel. Yet it is not at all
certain that the seer expects the establishment
of any messianic age upon earth. After God
intervenes Israel shall be exalted and the
days of her sorrow ended. But seemingly
her reward is simply translation to heaven:
"God shall exalt thee and bring thee to
the heaven of the stars, the place of his
habitation."'
I lo:9 f.




94


The Millennial Hope


The two most elaborate apocalypses of the
first or early second century A.D. received their
final form soon after the fall of Jerusalem in
the year 70, and were designed especially to
strengthen hopes which had been severely
shaken by that dire calamity. One of these
works was issued in the name of Baruch, the
scribe of Jeremiah.' God is represented as
announcing to Baruch the destruction about to
overtake Jerusalem, but the scribe's grief is
relieved by a divine assurance that in due time
the triumphant glory of God will be fully
revealed. Baruch himself is to live to see the
day of God's victory. True, the holy city has
fallen apparently at the hands of the Gentiles,
but in reality by the act of four angels sent from
God, who thus punishes his people in order that
they may be more thoroughly sanctified. Particulars regarding the great tribulation are disclosed, but those persons who keep the law
faithfully will survive all these terrible trials.
As Rome has destroyed Jerusalem, so this
heathen nation shall itself perish at the hands
of the heavenly Messiah soon to be revealed,
who will establish temporarily his triumphant
rule upon the earth. Ultimately this material
'Jer. 36:4 ff.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


95


world will pass away, the reign of the Messiah
will come to an end, and he along with his faithful followers will be given a place in heaven.
The second of these late apocalypses bears
the name of Ezra.' In a series of seven visions
the divine will is disclosed to the seer. In his
first vision he learns that God has purposely
given this world over to the powers of evil,
intending that wickedness should increase rather
than diminish with the passage of time, for God
does not design to reform the world but to
destroy it at an appointed hour. The date of
the end is not definitely known by men, but the
signs of its approach may be clearly perceived
in the degeneracy of the times and in unusual
natural phenomena. In the author's own day
these signs already indicate that the present
age is drawing rapidly to its close.
The first stage in the program of renewal will
be a temporary messianic kingdom upon earth.
After the period of final tribulation has passed,
a new Jerusalem will be revealed, along with
the pre-existent Messiah, whose reign is to
continue four hundred years. The appearing of
the Messiah will mean the utter downfall of


1 It is often called IV Ezra and is identical with II Esdras,
chaps. 3-I4, in the Old Testament Apocrypha.




96


The Millennial Hope


Rome and a gathering together of all Israel to
participate in the delights of the new kingdom.
When the day for the cessation of the messianic
kingdom arrives, all men, even the Messiah
included, shall die, and the earth will lie in
primeval silence for seven days. Then God
himself will appear and institute a seven-year
day of judgment. All the dead will be raised,
the wicked to receive eternal punishment in
Gehenna and the righteous to enter upon a life
of eternal bliss in the new heavenly world now
to be established.
While the apocalyptic seers often differed
widely from one another in the details of their
respective pictures, they all represent the same
general tendency in the evolution of Jewish
hopes. The main features of their outlook may
be briefly epitomized. In the first place, their
chief interest is in a coming heavenly deliverance rather than in the restoration of a Davidic
national kingdom. Hope is not directed toward
a glorious national life constructed according
to an idealized past model, but the new status
of Israel is patterned after a heavenly model yet
to be revealed. Frequently the figure of the
Messiah does not appear at all, or else he plays
a very insignificant r8le. God himself is the




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


97


prime actor, and the consummation of salvation is attained only after he has completely
destroyed the present world, supplanting it
with a new and incorruptible world of heavenly
origin.
Sometimes a slight concession was made to
the ancient national type of hope by inserting
a messianic interregnum-four hundred years
or one thousand years, as the case may bebetween the end of the present world and the
final establishment of the new heavenly world.
This intermediate period satisfied the ancient
demand for a triumphant earthly dominion of
Israel under the rule of a Messiah. But to the
apocalyptic writers it is only a passing phase in
the scheme of redemption. Still another way
of preserving the notion of a Messiah is seen
in other apocalypses, where he is represented
as a pre-existent, angelic being at the outset.
According to this representation he is entirely
without earthly connections, but holds a
superior heavenly position which makes him
an integral part of the new order yet to be
revealed.
Other features of apocalyptic hope are of
the conventional type. Before the advent of
the new age the present world will suffer a




98


The Millennial Hope


preliminary period of terrible distress. Each
seer in turn seems to think that in his own day
the period of final agony has begun or is soon
to break. A return of Elijah is also expected
to fulfil the preparatory mission predicted by
Mal.4:5 f. As the Messiah, when present at all,
belongs more particularly to the heavenly world,
so the powers of evil are similarly transcendentalized. They are no longer merely hostile
heathen nations, but demonic forces of the air,
and the underworld, who array themselves in
battle against God, the Messiah, and the angelic
host. When a messianic interregnum is given
a place in the program, it is usually inserted at
this point. Upon a renovated earth the Messiah establishes a new community of saints,
gathering together the scattered peoples from
all parts of the earth. But there is to be a
further outbreak of evil before the ideal order is
ultimately established. With the final defeat
of all evil powers come the resurrection of the
dead and a universal judgment. Then the
righteous enter upon a life of eternal blessedness, the wicked are condemned to eternal
torment, and the whole cosmos assumes its
new, incorruptible status to endure throughout
eternity.




Hebrew and Juewish Hopes


99


V
While the apocalyptic seers were turning
their eyes heavenward for visions of the coming
deliverance, other Jews continued to cherish the
ancient ideal of a new national supremacy to be
realized upon the present earth. Sometimes
hope was directed toward a definite princely
deliverer anointed by God to establish the new
kingdom. At other times it was thought that
God himself would act directly in the capacity
of savior.
Occasionally messianic hopes attached themselves to the Maccabean princes who by successfully resisting the power of Syria secured
national independence for the Jews. It is quite
probable that Psalm i io was composed in honor
of Simon Maccabeus, whose success in establishing the political independence of Judea
stimulated the messianic hopes of the contemporary psalmist. This national type of hope
also persists in the book known as the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, composed near
the beginning of the first century B.C. The
Testaments sometimes make this national hero
a priestly king, that is, a descendant of Levi
rather than of David. It is declared that the
seed of Levi has been chosen by the Lord to lbe




I00


The Millennial Hope


king over all the nation.' On one occasion the
coming hero is described as king, priest, and
prophet in one, an honor borne by the Maccabean prince John Hyrcanus (I35-I04 B.C.).2
This national Messiah is pictured as a mighty
ruler who brings an end to all evil, triumphs
over all enemies, opens the gates of Paradise to
the righteous, and establishes an eternal kingdom of God on earth.
In describing the Jewish national hope the
author of the Sibylline Oracles (belonging to
the late second century B.C.) revives the imagery
of the post-exilic prophets. A consummation
of evils is pictured, after which God will send
his people a new king "from the sunrise."  This
ruler will establish an ideal regime, turning the
wealth of the world toward Palestine and causing both earth and sea to abound in good things.
This period of earthly bliss will be followed by a
new outbreak of evil, whereupon God himself
shall intervene, destroying all the forces of
wickedness and executing judgment upon mankind. This event will be followed by the establishment of a universal kingdom with Jerusalem
as its center and God himself as its king.
'Reuben 6: I- 2; Simeon 5:5.
2 Test. Levi 8:II-15; Josephus, Ant., XIII, x, 7.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


IOI


Another late second-century document, the
Book of Jubilees, also depicts the advent of the
messianic age upon earth. There will come
days of great tribulation when calamities follow
fast upon one another. These are God's punishments upon an evil generation. But, as the
children of Israel return to the path of righteousness, by a gradual process of transformation
there will come a time when the activities of
Satan will completely cease. The adversaries
who have formerly afflicted the people so sorely
shall be utterly destroyed. The Lord himself
will heal all their ills, and they shall dwell in
peace forever. After years of happiness upon
the restored earth, the righteous will die, their
bones resting peaceably in the earth, while their
spirits find a joyous dwelling-place elsewhere.
About the middle of the first century B.C. the
national form of hope emerged again in a book
known as the Psalms of Solomon. It presents a
vivid picture of future hope, including the
return of the scattered tribes to Palestine, the
destruction of Israel's foes, the execution of
judgment upon all sinners, the resurrection of
the righteous to eternal life, and the condemnation of the wicked to eternal punishment. At
the close of the book the Messiah is described




I02


The Millennial Hope


as a righteous and divinely equipped prince
descended from David. He will purify the
Jewish people, purge Jerusalem, and destroy the
ungodly heathen. Apparently the book reflects
the hope of certain pious Jews in the decades of
distress following the conquest of Palestine by
the Romans in 63 B.C.
Philo, a leading Jew of Alexandria in the first
half of the first century, was also a champion of
the national type of kingdom to be established
upon the present earth. In opposition to the
Stoic notion that this world is to be dissolved by
a sudden conflagration, Philo affirms the immutability of the universe.' Yet he expects a
better day for the Jews. When through affliction
they have been led to repent, God will prove
himself their merciful savior, restoring all the
scattered tribes to Palestine in a single day.
This sudden deliverance will strike terror into
their gentile masters, who will release the Jews
because ashamed to hold in subjection men who
are better than themselves. The dispersed
people are to be led back to the Holy Land by a
superhuman figure invisible to all others except
to those who are being delivered. God will
suddenly effect a complete transformation in
' On the Incorruptibility of the World, I2 ff.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


I03


their condition. Their ruined cities will be
rebuilt, the depopulated territory will overflow
with inhabitants, unfruitful lands will become
fertile, past prosperity will be as nothing when
compared with present abundance, and all former adversaries will be put to utter confusion.'
The hope of national restoration came to
emphatic expression during the first and second
centuries A.D. in various attempts to throw off
the rule of Rome. The spirit of revolt was
directly fostered by the current belief that God
would intervene to assist his people and restore
their political independence. In early life the
Jewish historian Josephus had been a party to
the revolt of 66-70 A.D., but later, on becoming
friendly toward the Romans, he endeavored to
minimize the significance of the political aspirations of his kinsmen. In deference to his
Roman readers he accuses the Jews of stupidity
in failing to perceive that the emperor, Vespasian, really fulfilled the national Jewish hope.
Nevertheless the vitality of this hope is clearly
reflected in Josephus' pages. From the first
decade of the first century until the fall of
Jerusalem the restless people were ever ready
to follow any leader who gave promise of ability
'On Curses, 8 f.; Rewards atnd Punishments, 15-20.




I04


The Millennial Hope


to inaugurate a new era of national independence.' As Josephus candidly admits, the revolt
against Rome rested upon the belief that God
would lead his chosen people to victory and give
them a prince who should become ruler of the
habitable world.2  And after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Roman emperors took pains to
remove any Jew of Davidic descent who seemed
capable of instigating a messianic uprising.
In spite of Rome's watchfulness Jewish belief
in the appearing of a national messianic deliverer was still sufficiently strong to inspire
another serious revolution, continuing from
132 to I35 A.D. The leader of this revolt is
best known by the surname Barcochba, meaning "Son of a Star." He set himself forward
as the Messiah raised up by God to deliver the
Jews from Roman domination, and his claim
was regarded as valid, not only by the masses,
but also by leading Jewish teachers such as
Rabbi Akiba. The revolt was so enthusiastically supported that the emperor Hadrian summoned from Britain one of his most powerful
generals to suppress the uprising. In I35 A.D.
' See Josephus, Ant., XVIII, i, i; XX, v, I; viii, 5; War, II,
viii, I.
2 War, VI, v, 4, an idea repeated by Tacitus Hist. v. 13:3 and
Suetonius Vesp. 4.




Hebrew and Jewish Hopes


I05


the Romans finally triumphed, and Jewish efforts
at securing national independence by force of
arms came to an end.
VI
With the defeat of Barcochba Jewish hopes
were not crushed, but in succeeding generations
they became much less spontaneous and vivid.
They were now the creation of the schools or of
individual rabbis who allegorized or "spiritualized" the heritage from the past. The imagery
of prophets and apocalyptists was repeated or
recast in academic fashion as new dates were
fixed for the expected end of the world. The
woes to precede the end, the preliminary mission
of Elijah, the advent of the Messiah in one form
or another, the glories of his rule, the complete
destruction of Israel's enemies, the resurrection,
the judgment, and the establishment of a new
eternal order continued to be outstanding items
of messianic speculation.
Fancy occasionally painted highly overdrawn
pictures of the coming age. The fruitfulness
of the earth was so magnified that the trees
were to bear ripe fruit every day, and prosperity
would be so abundant that the righteous would
feast upon cake and clothe themselves in silk.
An abundance of children would also be insured,




Io6


The Millennial Hope


for every wife would bear children every day.
Occasionally the delights of the messianic banquet were depicted in extravagant imagery.
One delicacy to be served was the flesh of a sea
monster slain by God himself in preparation for
the feast. Another dish would be the flesh of
oxen reared in Paradise and reserved for the
occasion. Also the flesh of a mammoth bird,
and geese so fat that their feathers fell out
spontaneously, would be served. In addition
to these delicacies a glorious wine which had
been stored up from the beginning of the world
in Paradise would be imbibed in great abundance by the saints as they sat upon precious
stones about the banquet hall.
These vagaries do not represent the main
stream of later Jewish hopes, although they
have a very natural basis in the imagery of
earlier times. But except for an academic
interest Jewish millennial expectations gradually lost their significance. With the hope of
national restoration indefinitely deferred by
political disaster, and with the failure of apocalyptic prophecy to materialize, faith found
more immediate satisfaction in the thought of
a blessed future for the individual soul immediately after death.




CHAPTER III


EARLY CHRISTIAN HOPES
the earliest Christians were Jews of Palestine
who shared the fears and the hopes of their race.
During the first century A.D. the hopes of the
Palestinian Jews were very perceptibly influenced by contemporary political events. In
the latter part of the previous century Herod
the Great had served as a buffer between Rome
and the Jews, but after his death in 4 B.C. the
yoke of the foreign conqueror became more
burdensome and the pressure of this situation
soon awakened new discontent in the hearts of
the people.
Since Maccabean times the hope of national
restoration under the leadership of a Davidic
messianic prince had partially faded out, being
supplanted in certain circles by the expectation
of a heavenly kingdom to be established upon
earth either by a direct act of God or through
the mediation of an angelic Messiah. But as
time passed, the latter hope came no nearer to
fulfilment than the former. This delay, and
I07




Io8


The Millennial Hope


the new unrest due to increased Roman interference in Palestinian affairs, resulted in a
temporary recrudescence of the national type
of hope. Jewish enthusiasts were ready to
advocate open revolt against Rome, even as
the Maccabees had rebelled against the tyranny
of the Seleucids. This spirit of revolution was
fostered by a belief that Jehovah would employ
an earthly representative as his agent in effecting political deliverance for his people.
The first formal outbreak of this new national
enthusiasm occurred in connection with a census
taken by the Romans as a basis for taxation
soon after 6 A.D. A certain Judas of Galilee
stirred up the people, declaring that the Jews
were being enslaved and that unless they
asserted their freedom by appealing to the
sword they need not expect God to come to
their assistance. If they were to receive deliverance from him, they must show a willingness
to sacrifice themselves in his cause. Although
Judas and his followers were soon crushed by the
might of Rome, the new national movement survived and gathered strength with the years until
it precipitated the two disastrous revolutions of
66-70 and 132-35 A.D. All through these years
the possibility of a successful national uprising




Early Christian Hopes


Io9


and the appearing of an earthly messianic deliverer were prominent items in Jewish thinking.
Occasionally prospective leaders were successful
in attracting followers and in initiating revolutionary movements, but usually the watchful
Romans quickly and harshly suppressed all
incipient messianic revolts.
Side by side with the new national movement the quietists maintained that the only
hope of deliverance lay in the avoidance of
political entanglements and the advent of a
purely heavenly messianic age to be established
by an outright act of Jehovah. The advent of
the kingdom would occur at the divinely
appointed moment independently of human
initiative. In the meantime the sufferings endured by the righteous, being a necessary part
of the reign of terror to precede the new age,
were neither to be shunned nor to be resisted by
force. The primary duty of Jehovah's people
was to live righteously lest they be found
unworthy of a place in the new kingdom. They
did not themselves attempt to transform the
present social order into an ideal kingdom of
God, nor did they expect this to be done even by
Jehovah. They hoped for a complete destruction of the present order and the institution




IIO        The Millennial Hope
of a new heavenly society upon a miraculously
purified earth.
The political turmoil in Palestine during the
first and second centuries A.D. left its mark upon
early Christianity. Any individual, such as
John the Baptist or Jesus, who attracted the
eye of the populace was readily suspected of
political designs and was liable to be summarily
disposed of by the authorities. These exigencies certainly hastened the end of Jesus'
public career, and possibly Herod's arrest of
John had been prompted by a fear that this
prophet of the desert might use his influence
with the people to stimulate revolutionary tendencies. The political contentions between different Jewish parties, and the demand that
Jesus' followers take sides in these disputes,
made a very lasting impression upon the early
Christians. It was this situation that largely
furnished them the problems, the terminology,
and the imagery employed in shaping their own
distinctive hopes.
Apparently John the Baptist held to the
heavenly apocalyptic, rather than to the national Davidic, type of hope. He heralded the




Early Christian Hopes


III


advent of a day of judgment when a wrathful
God would suddenly appear to hew down
sinners. There is no intimation that John
advocated a revolt against Rome, or that he
looked for a Davidic messianic prince to inaugurate a new earthly regime. On the contrary,
John took his stand with those who waited upon
the Almighty for deliverance and prepared for
his coming by purity of life. Like the prophets
of old, John warned men of impending judgment and exhorted them to repent lest God
strike down sinful Jews along with their hereditary enemies. The vehemence of John and his
picturesque activity as a man of the desert
suggest that he believed the catastrophic end
to be near at hand. Under these circumstances
the pressing need of the hour was to deliver a
summons to repentance in order that the Jews
might be prepared to enter the heavenly kingdom at its coming.
Jesus had been attracted by the preaching of
John and had so far approved of the new
prophet's message as to receive baptism at his
hands. Later, when Jesus started out upon his
own career of preaching and teaching, he too
showed indifference, if not open hostility,
toward the national hopes of the revolutionists.




II2


The Millennxial Hope


He seems to have advocated the principles
of the quietist party, leaving the solution of
political problems entirely in the hands of
Jehovah. Although Jesus met his death as a
political offender, there is no evidence that he
was in reality an advocate of revolt. At times
his popularity may easily have led some of his
disciples to suspect that he might become a
successful revolutionary leader whom God
would employ as his agent in a war against
Rome, and the ever-suspicious Roman authorities might without difficulty be persuaded to
class him with other agitators who had used
their popularity for political ends. But apparently Jesus himself entertained no such thought.
Since Jesus did not adopt the hope of the
national revolutionists, he probably agreed
with John in expecting the ultimate establishment by divine intervention of a purely heavenly regime upon earth. In the meantime, by
cultivating a genuinely righteous type of living,
men were to prepare themselves for entrance
into this new kingdom. Only those who had
purified their inner motives and attained a truly
godlike quality of life would find favor with
Jehovah when he came to inaugurate the new
order. Jesus was less severe than John in




Early Christian Hopes


I13


describing God's anger. Divine love rather
than divine wrath was set in the foreground of
Jesus' teaching as he summoned his contemporaries to prepare for the future. Yet those
who refused to heed the call of love would
undoubtedly be rejected from the kingdom.
In stressing chiefly God's initiative in establishing the new order, both Jesus and John
followed the main current of Jewish apocalyptic
thinking, in which the Messiah usually played
a minor role. He was to be prepared in heaven
by God himself, in case God chose to use a
Messiah at all. This official would be an angel
in human form, one like a man, or a heavenly
"son of man." But whatever his form, he was
a pre-existent being who would appear upon the
clouds with his angelic hosts when Jehovah
finally determined to act. In the meantime the
apocalyptists were chiefly concerned with the
preliminary preparation of the people for membership in the coming heavenly kingdom.
Under these circumstances it would not be
strange if both John and Jesus said little or
nothing about the Messiah's part in the consummation of the people's hopes. Nor would
it be surprising if Jesus refrained from speculating about his own official status. To be sure,




II4


The Millennial Hope


soon after his death the disciples began to affirm
that he had now been inducted into the office of
the heavenly Messiah soon to be revealed, and
naturally they concluded that while upon earth
he must himself have anticipated this result.
It was comparatively easy for them in the later
stage of their experience to identify the glorified
Jesus, who had now become a heavenly figure,
with the coming apocalyptic MAessiah. But
naturally they had not succeeded in making
this identification while Jesus was their personal
companion, for current Jewish thinking provided no place for a preliminary earthly career
in the program of the apocalyptic Messiah.
Nor is it absolutely certain that the earthly Jesus
ever altered the current apocalyptic program so
radically as to identify himself with its angel-like
Messiah.
II
When Jesus was crucified, the previous hopes
of his disciples suffered collapse. Evidently
they had expected that he would accomplish
some sort of release from the burden of ills
under which the Jewish people were suffering.
Some of his closest companions had left homes
and occupations to cast in their lot with him,
doubtless expecting to share in a glorious tri



Early Christian Hopes


II5


umph. Then sudden death snatched him away
while they were attending the Passover feast
in Jerusalem. Now their hopes were shattered
and they returned home to resume their former
occupations.
What had been the nature of their expectations? It should be remembered that they
were Palestinian Jews by birth and training
and shared that revulsion of feeling which every
loyal Jew naturally entertained toward Roman
oppression. They too were inheritors of all
past hopes of the Hebrew race, and they belonged to the populace, who were usually ready
to see in any striking individual a potential
deliverer, or at least a herald of coming deliverance. Under these conditions the very fact
that Jesus attracted followers is in itself evidence of his disciples' readiness to regard him
either as a possible leader of a national messianic
revolt, or else as a prophet whose teaching
would presage the advent of an apocalyptic
kingdom. While the latter seems to have been
Jesus' own expectation, it would not be strange
if some of his followers entertained a faltering
hope that he would prove to be God's chosen
agent for throwing off the Roman yoke. But
Jesus died, and neither hope was fulfilled.




Ii6


The Millennial Hope


After the disciples had returned home to
Galilee, first one and then others of their company became convinced that Jesus had appeared
to them in person after his death. With this
new conviction their shattered hopes underwent
a sudden transformation. The earthly Jesus
had not proved himself a national deliverer from
Roman domination, nor had the apocalyptic
kingdom come as the immediate result of his
preparatory work. Now a new thought took
possession of them. Since the crucified Jesus
had appeared to his disciples, they concluded
that he had broken away from the realm of the
dead in Sheol and had ascended to heaven.
And since he had been taken up to heaven, they
might continue to believe that this impressive
individual would after all prove himself a
genuine mediator of messianic deliverance.
Their previous desire for a Davidic messianic
kingdom was now completely abandoned in
favor of a revised form of apocalyptic expectation. Their distinctive contribution to the
evolution of the apocalyptic hope-a contribution which seemed to them to be a veritable
revelation-was the identification of the heavenly exalted Jesus of their new-found faith with
the pre-existent Messiah of contemporary Jew



Early Christian Hopes


II7


ish apocalypticism. Now they confidently affirmed that through the resurrection and the
exaltation God had inducted the crucified Jesus
into the office of apocalyptic Messiah and had
given him authority to inaugurate at an early
date a new kingdom upon earth. The words
reported from Peter's sermon on the day of
Pentecost epitomize this new Christian conviction: "Let all the house of Israel therefore know
assuredly that God hath made him both Lord
and Christ [that is, "Messiah"], this Jesus
whom ye crucified."'
III
Christian hopes for the next two generations
revolve about this primitive notion of the
heavenly Christ soon to return to inaugurate
a new regime upon a miraculously renovated
earth. This was the message with which the
earliest preachers sought to win their Jewish
kinsmen, and it was also a fundamental item
in the early preaching to the Gentiles. In
giving a summary of his work in Thessalonica,
Paul reminds the new converts that they had
"turned unto God from idols to serve a living
and true God and to wait for his son from
'Acts 2:36.




II8


The Millennial Hope


heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus who delivereth us from the wrath to
come."' These same readers are admonished
not to forget that the catastrophic end of the
world will overtake them suddenly like a thief
in the night, and it will fare ill with those who
are caught unawares.
At first this longed-for event was thought to
be so near realization that practically all Christians would live to witness the day of Jesus'
return. It came as a shock to the Thessalonians to have some of their number die before the
advent of the Messiah. What a misfortune it
was to be snatched away by death before the
privilege of entering the new kingdom could be
realized. By way of allaying their fears Paul
assures the Thessalonians that on the last day
he and others, who remain alive until the Lord
comes, are to be no more highly favored than
are the deceased Christians. And then he
ventures a specific description of the final
spectacle: "The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven, with a shout, with a voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are
alive, that are left, shall together with them be
'I Thess. I:9 f.




Early Christian Hopes


II9


caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."'
In addressing these same Christians on a
later occasion, Paul indulges in further speculations. He follows familiar Jewish imagery in
portraying a climactic outbreak of lawlessness
at the end of the present age. The last hours
of agony have not as yet actually overtaken
mortals. Some restraining power still holds in
check the "man of sin," the great demonic
enemy of Christ. But in due season he will be
released to fill the world with all manner of
deceptions and agony before the Lord Jesus
appears to slay this foe with the breath of his
mouth.2  Ever since the days of persecution
under Antiochus Epiphanes, Jewish apocalyptic
had anticipated a final period of distress modeled after that of Maccabean times, a kind of
darkest hour before the dawn, when hostile
powers would make a supreme but vain effort
to intrench themselves impregnably in the
universe.
On still another occasion Paul enters upon a
vivid description of the resurrection as an item
of Christian hope. As Christ completes the
establishment of his kingdom, the last enemy
' I Thess. 4: i6 f.  2 II Thess. 2: I-I2.




I20


The Millennial Hope


to be conquered is the dreaded death-demon.
Deceased Christians are rescued from Sheol, and
those still living are so gloriously transformed
that death has no more power over their former
mortal bodies. This change having been accomplished, the triumph of Christ is complete
and "death is swallowed up in victory." Then
follows the final act of the great drama of
redemption, when Jesus hands over to God the
finished product of his triumphant labors.,
Paul frequently stresses his belief in the
impending end of the world and the speedy
coming of the day of judgment. On more than
one occasion he signifies his own expectation of
living to see that eventful day. He rejoices at
the thought of being able to present the converted Thessalonians as his crown of glory
"before our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming,"
and he gladly endures all the afflictions attending his missionary efforts, buoyed up by the
thought that he will soon be able to present the
fruits of his labors before God on the last day.
Frequently he speaks of the brevity of the time
preceding the end. The Corinthians are advised to refrain from litigation and await God's
impending judgment day for the righting of
I I Cor. 15:24-28, 51-57.




Early Christian Hopes


I2I


their wrongs. Again, Paul refers to the faithful
as persons who are daily expecting the revelation of Jesus when the work of every man will
be tested by the fire of judgment. The duration of the present age is so brief that the
marriage relationship and other social obligations are to be avoided. Presently the new age
will break, and the time spent in attending to
the ordinary affairs of this present life will be
virtually wasted. In writing to the Romans he
reminds them that the night is far spent and
that the new day, when all shall presently stand
before the judgment bar of God, is at hand.
Similarly he encourages the Philippians to go
on unto perfection until the day of Jesus Christ,
confident that the Lord is at hand.
Paul's expectation of a new age and his
depreciation of present conditions are an integral part of his cosmic philosophy. As he
viewed the world, the supernatural powers were
temporarily engaged in a tremendous conflict.
On the one side stood Satan and his hosts of
evil demons who had virtually taken possession
of the earth and had established their dominion
even in the regions above the earth. As victims
of these demonic powers, men needed to be
delivered "out of this present evil world."




I22


The Millennial Hope


Misfortune, sickness, death, and the ills of life
in general were regarded as a direct result of
Satan's activity. Paul's own infirmity of the
flesh was caused by "a messenger of Satan,"
and the death of Jesus had been brought about
by the "rulers of this world," who thereby
unwittingly contributed to their own downfall.'
Over against Satan and his hosts stood God,
the good angels, and now the triumphant heavenly Christ. According to Paul's imagery,
Christ had been a pre-existent angelic being of
high rank before he came to earth in the person
of the historic Jesus. But for having voluntarily submitted to the humiliation of an earthly
career, enduring an ignominious death upon the
cross, God had rewarded him with even a higher
heavenly authority than he had previously
possessed. When the forces of evil supposed
that they were procuring a triumph by bringing
about the death of Jesus they were really making it possible for him to be exalted to a position
of lordship in heaven whence he would presently
deal a death blow to all demonic powers. Because of his lowly career upon earth, ending in
crucifixion, "God highly exalted him, and gave
unto him the name which is above every name;
'I Cor. 2:6-9.




Early Christian Hopes


I23


that in the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven and things on earth
and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."' For Paul the
crucified Jesus, exalted to heaven and inducted
into the messianic office, virtually stands at the
head of the heavenly host already arrayed for
battle against Satan and his supporters.
As an outcome of this final conflict the
present order of existence is to perish, supplanted by the new heavenly order brought to
earth by Jesus. Believers in Christ will be
miraculously transformed in the twinkling of an
eye, their mortal nature becoming suddenly
immortal in order that they may be truly heavenly. But unbelievers will perish along with
the present evil world of which they are a part.
Paul believes that the earnest of victory is
already realized by the individual Christian
even before the end comes. The triumphant
Christ even now, by his spirit's presence in
believers, enables them to work miracles, to
heal the sick, and to live fearlessly in this world.
For the present they tolerate the evil world,
obeying heathen rulers, serving as slaves in
Phil. 2:9-II.




124


The Millennial Hlope


heathen households, living with heathen companions, and submitting to the present social
order. This they do because God in his wisdom
allows these conditions to continue for a brief
space of time. The spirit-filled Christian patiently endures present ills, feeling that he is
proleptically a member of the new heavenly
kingdom to be ushered in by the speedy advent
of Christ. The present evil order is not to be
transformed by any gradual process of social
betterment brought about through the preaching of Christianity. Catastrophic annihilation
awaits the present order, and the task of the
Christian missionary is to effect such transformations in the lives of individuals as will
prepare them for admission into the new impending kingdom of heaven. Apparently Paul
had almost no appreciation of the power of the
Christian propaganda to transform society in
this present world, a power amply demonstrated
in subsequent years when the catastrophic end
did not materialize and the new religious movement gradually permeated wider areas of life.
IV
Another distinct phase of early Christian
hope has been preserved in the closely related




Early Christian Hopes


125


Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke-the
so-called "Synoptic Gospels." Athough these
writers do not carry their story beyond the
lifetime of Jesus, their books nevertheless give
clear indications of the type of Christian hope
cherished by them and their contemporaries
during the years 70-I00 A.D. The particular
words or deeds of Jesus which they choose to
report often reveal their own special interests,
and as a matter of course their interpretations
of him and his teaching follow the lines of their
own immediate needs.
The Christian hope represented by synoptic
tradition is apocalyptic rather than national.
These Christians were glad to recall that Jesus
had taught non-resistance, that he had admitted
the propriety of paying tribute to Caesar, and
that he had set aside, as a temptation of Satan,
the suggestion to possess himself of the kingdoms of this world. These phases of Jesus'
teaching stood his followers in good stead both
during the troubled period preceding the fall of
Jerusalem and in succeeding years when compelled to face the charge of disloyalty hurled
at them by Jewish nationalists. They did not
desire the restoration of a Davidic national
kingdom, nor did they believe that Jehovah




I26


The Millennial Hope


would employ a revolutionary leader as his
messianic agent.
The new kingdom was to be heavenly, and it
would be revealed with the return of Jesus. It
is very true that this event had been longer
delayed than earlier Christians had expected.
Yet the momentous day would surely come.
When Mark was written, it was still confidently
affirmed that Jesus had promised to return
while some persons belonging to his own generation were still alive.' Mark does not venture to
predict the exact date of the end, but he is in a
state of lively expectancy. It is incumbent
upon all Christians to keep careful watch lest
they be taken off their guard, for the Lord will
come suddenly, perhaps at evening, at midnight,
at early dawn, or in the morning.2  The other
synoptic writers live in this same hope of seeing
Jesus come triumphantly upon the clouds of
heaven to destroy his enemies and set up his
new kingdom.
In its main features the synoptic hope conforms to the hope of the first generation, yet
there are some interesting new details in the
synoptic picture. These have been occasioned
by the delay in Christ's return and by a growing
'8:38; 9:; 13:3-32; I4:62.  2I3:33_37.




Early Christian Hopes


I27


interest in the saving significance of his previous
earthly career. As the years passed, Christians
found themselves confronted by new tasks and
undergoing new experiences which contributed
significantly toward their thinking regarding
the events to precede the end of the world.
They had endeavored to secure a suitable membership for the new kingdom by preaching to
the Jews, but their efforts had not been crowned
with abundant success. Then they undertook
the task of bringing in the Gentiles; they must
go out into the byways and hedges in order to
procure the proper quota of guests for the
messianic banquet. Once this task was undertaken, they soon assumed that the new message
must be proclaimed throughout all gentile lands
about the Mediterranean before the end was
to be expected. They made haste to accomplish this work, nor did they think its completion a long way off. Even late in the fifties
Paul could say that the territory from Palestine
northward and westward to Illyricum had been
fully evangelized, and since Rome had already
received the gospel Paul was desirous of hastening on to Spain.' Doubtless at that time, or
soon afterward, others were working in Egypt
'Rom. I5:I9-24.




I28


The Millennial Hope


and North Africa, consequently Mark did not
have to think of the return of Christ as a fardistant event even though the evangelization
of the nations was a preliminary necessity.'
For him, as for his contemporaries, the "nations " meant merely the ancient Mediterranean
world and not the eastern and western hemispheres of modern times.
The fall of the Jewish nation, accompanied
by the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., was
another event of significance for determining
certain new features in the evolving Christian
hope. At first it had been assumed that the
membership of the new kingdom would be constituted solely of Jews who acknowledged belief
in the messiahship of Jesus. After a few years'
experience the Christian preachers found Gentiles more ready than Jews to accept this new
teaching. Even Paul, who had spent a large
part of his life evangelizing Gentiles, believed
that his own Jewish kinsmen would ultimately
be converted and would constitute the bulk of
the new kingdom's membership. Israel was
the main trunk of the olive tree, while gentile
converts were merely ingrafted branches.2 In
synoptic tradition a new stage of development


I3: IO.


2 Rom., chaps. io f.




Early Christian Hopes


I29


is reached, a result due in no small measure to
the fall of Jerusalem. The disappointed Christian preacher was now more ready than Paul
had been to admit that God had finally cast off
his chosen people, and was about to prepare
himself a new people selected from among the
Gentiles. Were not the fall of the Jewish
nation and the destruction of the temple clear
evidence that the Jews had been abandoned?
The Synoptic Gospels are pervaded by this
conviction.
Another feature of Christian thinking which
assumed more definite form in synoptic times
was the relation of Jesus' earthly career to the
coming of the kingdom. The earliest Christians had their eyes fixed steadfastly upon the
future. Their life of association with Jesus
was a blessed personal memory, rich no doubt
both in example and in precept. But official
messiahship was thought to belong to the
heavenly Christ, and its exhibition before the
eyes of men was an affair of the future. This
early view had been appropriated by Paul, who
in spite of his doctrine of pre-existence never
ventured to ascribe messianic glory to the
earthly Jesus. Upon earth he had been a model
of humility and servitude, unadorned by any




130


The Millennial Hope


marks of official dignity until God raised him
from the dead, thereby designating him the
unique son of God with new messianic power.'
By the time the Synoptic Gospels were
written, reflection upon Jesus' earthly career
had discovered numerous evidences of messianic
dignity in his reported words and deeds. For
example, the demons had recognized him as
Messiah and had openly affirmed the fact, notwithstanding his efforts to suppress this information. It was also thought that later on in
his career he had tried, though on the whole
without success, to reveal this truth to chosen
disciples. At Casarea Philippi Peter had
caught a temporary glimpse of the light, but
the next moment he is as blind as ever and
would hold out to Jesus the Satanic temptation
to establish a victorious earthly kingdom of the
national Davidic type. But, according to the
synoptic writers, all the while Jesus knows that
he is both the herald and the inaugurator of a
new heavenly kingdom. Hence his personal
companions might certainly have perceived this
fact had they not been dull of hearing and short
of vision. A later and a wiser generation, to
which the synoptic authors themselves belong,
I Rom. I:4; Phil. 2: I-IO.




Early Christian Hopes


I3I


believes itself now in full possession of the
truth.
By regarding the earthly Jesus as already in a
preliminary way the official apocalyptic Messiah, the synoptic writers showed the new
heavenly kingdom to be a realizable, and partly
realized, fact in Jesus' lifetime. The beginning
of the end had already come. Ever since the
days of John the Baptist, when a voice from
heaven had officially designated Jesus as the
chosen son of God, the kingdom had been
proleptically present, so that discerning and
aggressive persons were able even then to insure
themselves a place therein-" from the days
of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force."' This preliminary realization is not a substitute for the final, climactic
event when Christ will return in full glory, but
it serves admirably to strengthen fainting hopes
during days of weary waiting. Since the kingdom is partially present, and since Christ's
official dignity has already been displayed
in preliminary fashion, hope seems surer than
it would be if the first act in the final drama
had not as yet been staged.
'Matt. II:I2.




I32


The Millennial Hope


An evidence of the kingdom's presence during
Jesus' lifetime was seen in his teaching activity.
As a prophetic teacher he was to the synoptic writers not only a herald of the coming
age, but its actual minister. The necessity of
cultivating a righteous life in preparation for
the kingdom's advent was a commonplace of
apocalyptic thinking. But Jesus' synoptic admirers believed his message to be so significant
that to heed his words and follow his precepts
meant the anticipatory inauguration of the
kingdom of God on earth, realized in the lives
of his disciples. Jesus' message falling as seed
into the hearts of men and transforming their
lives by its power marks the beginning of the
new regime whose full glory is not yet manifested. But the potency of the seed insures
successful growth and final fruitage. It is easy
for moderns to view this success in terms of the
gradual transformation of individuals and of
society by a long process of historical development. But it was equally easy, if not inevitable, for Christians in the last half of the first
century to picture the consummation of the
kingdom as a catastrophic event following a
brief and obscure preliminary period of existence
upon earth extending from the beginning of




Early Christian Hopes


133


Jesus' public career until the day of his return
in glory.
A further evidence that the new order had
already forced itself proleptically upon the
earth is seen in the miracles of Jesus. The
synoptists, like Paul, hold to a dualistic view
of the world. Normally Satan and his emissaries are very much at home in this present
world, but when Jesus appears the demons
recognize that he is the mediator of a new order
from above, deadly opposed to their regime.
In the story of the temptation, when the representatives of the old and the new orders, respectively, encounter one another, Jesus is easily
victor. Henceforth Satan's subjects-the demons-immediately recognize Jesus, and, full of
fear, they hurl imprecations at him whenever
he comes into their presence. Since sickness,
storms, and other harmful phenomena were
credited to demonic activity, Jesus as healer
and miracle-worker is the mediator of a new
regime, the minister of the kingdom of God upon
earth. To be sure, the new kingdom is not
yet fully revealed, and its benefits properly
accrue only to those who exercise faith, which
is the indispensable condition of membership
in the new order to be finally established by




I34


The Millennial Hope


Christ at his coming. In the meantime, however, the ultimate victory has been foreshadowed by the success of the earthly Jesus,
who has bound the strong man Satan and
plundered his house, wresting from him a part
of his power over mortals.
Still other evidences that the anticipated
blessings of the heavenly kingdom of God were
realized in part during Jesus' lifetime appear
somewhat less pervasively in the Synoptic
Gospels. When John the Baptist is equated
with Elijah, whose return was to precede the
advent of the new order, the beginning of
Jesus' public career is assumed to be the initial
appearance of the new age. And since the new
kingdom, with an earthly Messiah at its head,
temporarily exists within the present world,
might it not be placed in loose relationship with
the national Davidic type of hope? This
possibility appealed to certain Christians in
synoptic times, and they proceeded to show that
Jesus fulfilled the messianic ideals of the ancient
prophet and was also a lineal descendant of
David. It was very true that the kingdom
established by Jesus, as described by these same
Christians, was not of the original Davidic type,
but it strengthened their faith in the coming of




Early Christian Hopes


I35


the apocalyptic kingdom, when they were able
to believe that all the credentials of every type
of messianic hope were summed up in Jesus.
While Christians of this period were discovering that the heavenly kingdom of God had
already been introduced upon earth, they did
not abandon the hope of a catastrophic end of
the present world. They awaited impatiently
the return of Christ and the annihilation of evil
when distresses would cease for the righteous
and the wicked would receive due punishment.
The signs of Christ's coming and the days of
excessive tribulation to precede the end are
items of vital interest to all the synoptic writers.
In the wars of the Jews against Rome, in earthquakes, in famines, and in their own sufferings
as Christian missionaries, they see premonitions
of the final world-catastrophe. They refuse to
follow contemporary claimants to national
messianic leadership, whom they regard as false
Christs or false prophets aiming to lead astray
the elect. On the contrary, they cling to faith
in a returning apocalyptic Messiah, confident
that God will not permit the days of tribulation
to continue beyond his elect's powers of endurance.'
' Mark 13: I9-22.




I36


The Millennial Hope


V
The Gospel of John represents a very interesting phase of development in early Christian
hopes. Its author has no sympathy with the
national ambitions of the Jews, and he is only
half-heartedly interested in apocalyptic expectations. A return of Jesus is predicted, and
several references are made to the resurrection
on the "last day,"' but in the immediate context
these more primitive ideas are overlaid by other
notions having little or nothing in common with
traditional views. Although when about to be
removed by death Jesus says, "I come again,"
the purpose of his return as described by John
is not to introduce an apocalyptic kingdom
upon earth. On the contrary, he comes to
remove faithful Christians from their earthly
labors to mansions awaiting them in heaven.2
This use of popular apocalyptic terminology
might possibly satisfy one who still believed
in a literal second coming, but the author's own
thinking has moved far away from this primitive
imagery.
Similarly references to the resurrection and
the judgment are hardly more than mere points
'5:2I —29; 6:39-54; II:24-26; I2:48.
2 I4:2 f.




Early Christian Hopes


I37


of departure for the exposition of a fundamentally different type of teaching. At one
moment the final resurrection of the dead and
the execution of judgment on the last day are
affirmed as prerogatives of the returning Jesus,
but in the next breath our author declares that
resurrection to eternal life is a present experience, which virtually nullifies the older teaching
about judgment. The matter is stated very
emphatically: "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth him
that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not
into judgment, but hath passed out of death
into life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The
hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that
hear shall live."' Yet, side by side with these
affirmations regarding the determining effect
of Jesus' present work, we again read: "The
hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs
shall hear his [Jesus'] voice, and shall come
forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of judgment."2  A
perusal of the Gospel as a whole, however,
makes it perfectly clear that the author is
5:24 f.            25:28 f.




I38


The Millennial Hope


chiefly interested in the resuscitating and determining power of Jesus' teaching rather than in
traditional apocalyptic imagery. There is no
outright opposition to the latter, but it is
largely divested of its earlier importance by a
new interpretation of the significance of Jesus'
mission upon earth.
According to this Gospel, the kingdom of God
had already been inaugurated through the
earthly work of Jesus. This kingdom is not a
rehabilitation of Jewish national supremacy,
nor is it a mere foreshadowing of an imminent
apocalyptic regime to be consummated by an
impending catastrophe. Yet it is purely heavenly in its nature, a kingdom not of this world,
but from above; neither national nor apocalyptic, but a kingdom of divine truth. When
asked if he is a king, Jesus affirms, "To this end
have I been born, and to this end am I come
into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Every one that is of the truth
heareth my voice."' Thus a new heavenly
regime has been begun upon earth through the
communication of newly revealed divine knowledge brought down from heaven by Jesus.
Those who enter this kingdom must themselves
118:37.




Early Christian Hopes


I39


be born from above,' and the new order approaches consummation gradually as men in
increasing numbers appropriate heavenly wisdom and cultivate the truly enlightened type
of life.
Thus the new age has already dawned. It
began with the incarnation when the divine
Logos, the "Word," entered the fleshly abode,
thereby becoming concretely observable by
men. The process of growth was greatly
stimulated through Jesus' public ministry as
he went about declaring himself to be the
embodiment of God's message of truth and
light to a world lying in darkness. As many
as received his word became children of the light
and full-fledged members in the new kingdom
of truth. After Jesus' death the task of perpetuating the kingdom fell to the lot of the
disciples, who were henceforth possessed of an
especial measure of the Spirit to guide them
into all truth. As this revelation is conveyed
through ever-expanding circles, the establishment of the new order becomes more nearly
complete. The process is a gradual one, and
the results are to be obtained through the
activity of human agents. Yet it would be a
'3:3, 5.




I40


The Millennial Hope


grave error to imagine that the writer of the
Fourth Gospel regarded the new regime as in
any fundamental sense a product of human
effort. Its founder, Jesus, came from heaven
with the new light, a divine enlightenment
equivalent to a new birth was necessary for
admission into the new society, and the gift of
eternal life which membership conferred was
synonymous with the knowledge of God as
revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.', The hope of Christians of the Johannine type
was pre-eminently individualistic. They retained certain formal aspects of the older
apocalyptic hope, and spoke of a far-off day
when the dead would be raised and the final
judgment enacted. But their primary interest
was to secure the salvation of the individual by
establishing in him the new kingdom of divine
enlightenment. When this task was accomplished, the believer had undergone a veritable
resurrection to life, and had nothing to fear for
the future. On the other hand, he who rejected
the light was immediately and eternally condemned. At death the deceased went directly
to his reward, and his status would not be
altered by any event to occur on the day of judg' I7:3.




Early Christian Hopes


I4I


ment. The Fourth Gospel offers no immediate
hope of escape from the present order of existence through any sudden annihilation of evil.
Hope lay rather in appropriating the divine
assistance which God had provided. It was
not Jesus' purpose to destroy this world, nor
would he be unduly hasty in removing from his
disciples the pressure of its ills. But he would
give them ample power to resist evil, and they
were guaranteed a blessed abode with him in
heaven when their work upon earth was
accomplished.
VI
With the passing of the years, as the Lord
delayed his return and Christians began to feel
more at home in the present world, they easily
drifted into the habit of believing that the new
regime had already been inaugurated, at least
in some substantial preliminary manner. This
tendency, as we have had occasion to note, was7
already manifest in the Synoptic Gospels, and
it had made remarkable progress in the circle
of Christian thinking represented by the Gospel
of John. But among those groups of Christians who first experienced persecution at the
hands of the Roman authorities, the smoldering
embers of the apocalyptic hope occasionally




142


The Millennial Hope


burst into new flames. New trials readily suggested the last woes depicted in apocalyptic
imagery, and the helplessness of the Christians
to defend themselves against the gigantic power
of Rome impelled them to picture a purely
supernatural triumph to be procured by the
coming of Christ with his angelic hosts.,-I'he first epistle of Peter was written primarily to encourage Christians in an hour of
persecution. They were admonished to endure
present ills, being comforted by the thought
that the end of all things was at hand. Their
sufferings merely marked a preliminary stage
in the final period of agony which apocalyptic
thinking placed immediately before the day of
judgment. On that day the sufferings of their
enemies would be manifoldly greater than their
own had previously been.' Since Jesus is on
God's right hand, and endowed with supreme
authority, the hope of the persecuted Christians
is secure. Present distresses are as nothing in
comparison with the praise and glory which
presently are to be theirs when Christ is
suddenly revealed coming in power on the
clouds to destroy sinners and establish a kingdom upon earth.'


4: 7, I7 f,


2 31: -7;    4: 1   f.; S: 4.




Early Christian Hopes


I43


The Book of Revelation is the classic Christian document exhibiting the use of the apocalyptic hope as an antidote to the sufferings of
the persecuted. The book reflects conditions
affecting more or less widely groups of churches
in Western Asia Minor in the last decade of the
first century. By this time the worship of the
Roman emperor had been established at various
places about the eastern Mediterranean, and
certain zealous officials of the cult discovered
that Christians would neither confess the lordship of Caesar nor offer incense before his
image. Some of their number had been arrested, put to the test, and severely punished
for their refusal to conform to Rome's demand.
The author of Revelation, who styles himself
sinlply "John your brother and fellow partaker
in tribulation," was among the suspected. He
had either fled, or been banished, to the lonely
island of Patmos, where he meditated much
upon the recent misfortunes of Christians and
painted in gorgeous colors his picture of coming
deliverance.
One Lord's Day, while reflecting upon the
troubled state of affairs, John had a remarkable
experience. He seemed to hear a mighty voice
speaking to him and to see wonderful visions in




I44


The Millennial Hope


heaven, disclosing the secrets of God's purposes
in history. This type of experience was not
an entirely novel thing. It had already been
depicted in numerous Jewish apocalypses, with
some of which John was no doubt familiar.
The stress of his own times, the memory of
similar periods of tribulation in the history of
the Jews, and his own ecstatic temperament, all
combined to produce that exalted and confident state of mind which enabled him to
portray with absolute assurance the speedy
advent of Christ to bring an end to the present
world. The daring flights of his own imagination, whether resulting from deliberate reflection
or from ecstatic inspiration, or from both,
greatly strengthened his powers of endurance,
and he passed on his convictions to his afflicted
friends in the hope they they too might be
similarly heartened. The theme of his book
is tersely stated: "Behold he [Christ] cometh
with the clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they that pierced him; and all the tribes
of the earth shall mourn over him."' At the
moment Christians were mourning because of
their troubles, but in future their sorrow would
be turned into joy as they beheld their enemies
' Rev. I: 7.




Early Christian Hopes


I45


lamenting at the approach of the victorious
Christ.
The main features in John's portrayal of the
Christian hope stand out clearly.' First he
addresses a series of warnings to the churches,
admonishing the members to purify themselves
in preparation for approaching judgment. In
all apocalyptic teaching purity of life is a prerequisite to admission into the new kingdom.
Sometimes John is able to commend the churches
for their past conduct, while at other times he
utters harsh reprimands. He is particularly
severe upon those who show a disposition to
compromise with heathenism. Firmly believing that the present world is soon to perish, he
adopts a policy of open defiance rather than one
of adjustment to prevailing conditions. Other
Christians may have been less confident that
God would intervene thus violently to relieve
them of their foes, and consequently they may
at times have been disposed to adopt a con —
ciliatory policy. With such a course of procedure John had not the slightest sympathy.
For an analytical paraphrase of Revelation see S. J. Case,
The Book of Rcvelation, an outline Bible-study course of the American Institute of Sacred Literature, Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois;
reprinted from the Biblical World, L (I9I7), I92-200, 25I-64;
32I-28; 382-90.




I46


The Millennial Hope


After delivering warnings to the churches,
the seer proceeds to describe his heavenly
visions. In the first place, he assures suffering
Christians that the power and glory of heaven
remain unsurpassed. God is seen seated upon
his throne and resembling a magnificent, jewelbedecked rainbow. He is surrounded by a
stately court of angelic beings, who cease not
day nor night to proclaim his holiness, declaring
him to be "the Lord God Almighty, who was,
and who is, and who is to come." Christ, also
seen in God's presence, exhibits his superior
power by opening a magic book whose seals no
one heretofore had been able to break. To this
mighty Christ the angelic choir renders fulsome
praise, ascribing to him honor and glory and
eternal dominion. Surely persecuted Christians
who are suffering in loyalty to this almighty
God and his powerful Christ need have no
doubt as to their ultimate vindication.
Then follows a series of visions revealed in
the great picture book which the heavenly
Christ has unsealed. These make evident the
fact that earthly woes are not due to God's
neglect of his creatures, but are a part of the
divine plan. Assurances of God's care become
doubly strong when John sees the souls of




Early Christian Hopes


I47


Christian martyrs stored up under the altar in
heaven where they cry to God to avenge their
blood. Their cry is not in vain, but before they
can be avenged their fellow-servants and
brethren must be given a fitting opportunity to
win the martyr's crown. Amid all the terrors
of these last days, when the earth is to be
smitten with destruction, the seas troubled, and
the sun darkened, God's saints shall be preserved in safety, having been marked by a seal
upon their foreheads. Language almost fails
the author when he tries to describe his vision
of the glory awaiting those who have come out
of the great tribulation into the presence of
God: "They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike
upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb that
is in the midst of the throne shall be their
shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains
of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every
tear from their eyes."'
After learning from his visions that God
intends to smite the earth with still greater
woes, John is privileged to observe the future
activity of the demonic powers. He sees a
picture of the battle to be staged between the
' 7:I6 f.




I48


The Millennial Hope


angelic hosts of heaven led by Michael and
the demonic hosts with Satan at their head.
The consequent ejection of Satan from heaven
means the inauguration of the period of final
tribulation for mortals, upon whom the demons
now center their attack. During this period of
three and a half years Christians will endure
great agony, but their ultimate rescue is certain.
Nor is the day of their deliverance to be long
postponed. Even Satan himself knows that he
has been allotted "but a short time" for his
final onslaught upon Christians.
During the period of great tribulation Satan's
chief representatives upon earth are the arrogant Roman emperor and the priest in charge
of his cult, the two individuals whom John
pictures as "beasts." The zealous priest will
require even those engaged in the ordinary
pursuits of life to be provided with a certificate
showing that they have taken part in the rites
of the imperial cult. The number that would
be stamped upon the certificate suggests to
John a veiled way of revealing to his readers
the identity of the imperial "beast" to rule
during this final period of distress. By selecting
_   as the cryptic number John points to Nero,
the number being obtained by adding together




Early Christian Hopes


I49


the numerical values of the letters in the words -
"Nero Caesar." This thoroughgoing insistence
upon the worship of the emperor will be an
especially severe blow to the Christians, but
their courage is reinforced by a new picture.
A band of triumphant saints is seen singing an
exclusive hymn of praise to God in honor of
his saving power.
John's description of the afflictions to be
endured by the righteous is followed by a still
more vivid picture of the destruction and doom
to overtake sinners. Angels of destruction sent
by God smite the earth with portions of the
divine wrath, but the punishment to be meted
out to Rome is especially severe. Again in a
veiled way John assures his readers that the
end of the imperial regime is near. The
demonic ruler who holds sway in the period of
final tribulation is reckoned as the eighth
emperor, yet he is one of the seven who have
preceded him; that is, he is a reincarnation of a
previous ruler. Since Nero, already identified
by the number 666, was remembered as the
worst of the Roman emperors, his return
seemed to John a fitting climax for the course
of Satan's activities upon the earth. In order
to assure Christians that the day of their




I50


The Millennial Hope


deliverance is not far off, John informs his
readers that the emperor (Domitian, 8I-96
A.D.) under whom they are now suffering will
be followed by another who shall reign for
only a brief period before the demonic Nero
returns to set up his Satanic dominion which is
to endure just three and a half years.' Hence
John must have expected the end to come early
in the second century A.D.
John's imagination glows with a white heat
as he pictures the final scenes in the impending
world-drama. Seven angels are commissioned
to pour forth upon earth the last plagues. The
heathen Romans are to be smitten with pestilences, the sea and the rivers are to be turned
into blood, the heat of the sun is to become
unendurable, the throne of the emperor is to
be demolished, and the river Euphrates is to be
dried up in order that mythical demonic hordes
from the East may assemble for the final conflict
at Har-Magedon. Then follows a vivid description of Rome's downfall, when all her wealth
and power perish in an instant. "Woe, woe,
the great city, wherein all that had their ships
in the sea were made rich by reason of her
costliness! for in one hour she is made desolate.
'II:2f.;  I2:6, 14;  I3:5.




Early Christian Hopes


I5I


Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints,
and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath
judged your judgment on her."'
The destruction of Rome will be followed by
further misfortunes for Satan and his subjects,
who are now to be driven from the earth as
effectively as they had previously been ejected
from heaven. This victory is to be accomplished by the armies of heaven under the
leadership of a warrior Messiah. With eyes
like flaming fire and wearing many crowns, this
champion comes forth in blood-sprinkled garments to perform a mighty feat of carnage.
Only the emperor and his prophet are saved
alive, but this is in order that they may be cast
into the burning lake of fire. All other foes
are slaughtered, birds of heaven being summoned to feast upon the carcasses of the slain.
At the same time Satan himself, bound by an
angel, is cast into the abyss.
At this point John introduces into his picture
a feature not previously exhibited in Christian
apocalyptic thinking, but one familiar in certain
Jewish circles. He describes an intermediate
messianic age to be established on earth for
one thousand years-a millennium-when the
11I8: 19 f.




152


The Millennial Hope


souls of those who have died for the faith are
restored to earth where they spend one thousand
years of bliss with Christ. As in similar Jewish
imagery, the old prophetic idea of a blessed
earthly kingdom is thus reinstated, but its glory
is quite outshone by the picture of the new
heavenly kingdom to be established at the close
of the millennium.
The final picture in Revelation is one of
complete triumph. As the millennium draws to
an end, Satan will be released from the abyss
to assemble new enemies from more distant
parts to attack the saints now dwelling with
Christ in Jerusalem. But a devouring fire will
descend from heaven to destroy Satan's armies,
and he himself will be cast into the lake of fire
where the persecuting emperor and his priest
have been in torment during the past one
thousand years. Then comes the final judgment when all the dead shall be raised to receive
eternal rewards and punishments according to
their deserts. A new heaven and a new earth
will be revealed, and the righteous shall dwell
eternally in a new Jerusalem, let down from
heaven and adorned as a bride for her husband.
But the wicked shall be cast into the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone. The author




Early Christian Hopes


I53


well-nigh bankrupts language in his efforts to
describe the glories of the New Jerusalem with
its jeweled gates and its golden streets.
John not only holds out to his suffering
brethren the hope of participation in the glories
of the New Jerusalem, but he insists that his
visions insure an early relief for their present
distresses. The return of Christ to destroy the
power of Satan and to establish the millennial
interregnum is to be looked for in the very near
future. John is convinced that his own visions
are God's means of showing unto his servants
"the things which must shortly come to pass."'
The book is not to be sealed up for use in some
distant day; it is designed for immediate
application to the present conditions of Christians, "for the time is at hand."2  And in order
doubly to emphasize his conviction that no
long years would intervene to demand alterations in his imagery, he solemnly pronounces a
curse upon any man who shall add to or subtract from the words written in his book.3 Yet
how freely millenarians in subsequent years
have disregarded his warning, distorting his
language to suit the flights and the flightiness
of their own imaginations.


' 22:6


2 22: 10


3 22: i8




I54


The Millennial Hope


While this sketch of early Christian hopes
shows certain variations due in large measure
to occasional demands for readjustment, their
main content during the first century was
distinctly Jewish and apocalyptic. Even the
first Christians had no incentive for desiring the
restoration of an idealized Jewish nationality,
and this type of hope became utterly impossible
when the new religion abandoned Palestine and
made its home in gentile lands. But at no
time in this period did Christians generally
come to realize that it was their mission to win
the world by a gradual process of spiritual
transformation. Only in the Fourth Gospel
does the consciousness of this task seem to be
awakening, but even here it does not come to
clear and full expression. In the main, Christianity still felt itself so foreign to the genius of
the present world that conquest by a normal
process of expansion seemed out of the question.
To Christians of that day the catastrophic end
of the present order and the inauguration of a
miraculous kingdom from above seemed to be
the only adequate way of expressing worthily
their faith in the triumphant power of God.




CHAPTER IV


LATER CHRISTIAN HOPES
As the Christian movement gathered momentum, gradually winning for itself a more
substantial place within the ancient world, the
millennial type of hope suffered a corresponding
loss of popularity. The lapse of time proved
that the vivid expectancy of earlier days had
not been justified, and the success of Christianity on the present earth lessened the demand for
an early catastrophic end of the world. With
the passing of the years believers became
increasingly content to hope for a blessed
abode in heaven to be attained by individual
souls immediately after death. Millennial speculations were not always completely abandoned,
but they were projected farther and farther
into the future, thereby losing their original
spontaneity and becoming more doctrinaire
in character. It remains to sketch briefly
the course of this development from the
second century A.D. down to the present
time.
155




I56


The Millennial Hope


I
While the new religion was struggling for
recognition in the Roman state, certain Christian leaders still cherished millennial hopes.
As early as the first decade of the second century
a handbook of instruction prepared for the use
of Christian communities in Syria closed with
the admonition to watch, "for you know not
the hour in which our Lord cometh." The
last days are to be times of distress when lawlessness will multiply and deceivers arise to lead
astray the faithful. Then will appear the archdeceiver working wonders and signs and taking
possession of the earth. When evil has reached
its zenith a fire of testing will fall upon the
earth, destroying many, but Christians will be
saved. A rift will be seen in the heavens, a
trumpet will sound, the dead saints will be
raised, and the Lord will appear coming upon
the clouds of heaven.'
In the next decade Ignatius of Antioch and
his contemporary Polycarp of Smyrna believed
that they were already living in the last times
when the end of all things was imminent. In
this confidence each of these worthies ultimately
met a martyr's death, exhorting their con' Didache, chap. i6.




Later Christian Hopes


I57


temporaries to fear the wrath to come when the
wicked would be cast into the unquenchable
fires of eternal torment, while deceased believers
would be raised to participate in the triumphs
of the judgment day and to reign with Christ
in glory.'
Another Christian of this period, probably
residing in Egypt, expresses the same type of
hope in a document wrongly ascribed to Barnabas. He exhorts his readers to shun the works
of lawlessness, loathing the error of the present
time, in order that they may be favored in the
time to come. The season of final distress is
already drawing to a close, the time having been
shortened in order that the victorious Christ
might more quickly enter into his inheritance.
The imminent day of judgment will bring an
end to all evil. Those who crucified Jesus will
behold him descending from heaven attired in
regal splendor to punish the wicked and to
receive into his kingdom all who have suffered
affliction in consequence of their loyalty to him.
As a preliminary stage in the process by which
the creation is finally to be restored to its
original perfection, through the remission of


-Ignatius, Eph. II:          f.; I6:I f.; Mag. 5:I;  Polycarp, Phi!.
2:I f.; 5:2;    Ii:2; Martyr. Poly. 2:3;  II:2.




I58


The Millennial Hope


their sins Christians have already become a
new type, a re-created humanity. The full
consummation of this process is presently to be
realized when believers are to be made perfect.
The end is to be attained six thousand years
after the creation, each day of creation week
representing one thousand years in the duration
of the world. Then God will send his son to
abolish the reign of the lawless ones, to judge
the ungodly, to change sun, moon, and stars,
and to introduce a rest day of one thousand
years answering to the Sabbath following the
work of creation. At the close of this millennium a still greater transformation will be
accomplished, inaugurating an eighth day which
is the beginning of another world at present
typified by the Christian Sunday.'
Papias, a Christian of Hierapolis, also
belonging to the first half of the second century,
portrayed the blessings of the impending millennium in extravagant imagery drawn freely
from Jewish sources. In fact he believed that
Jesus himself had thus pictured the future.
The new age when the righteous will rise from
the dead and reign in glory will be attended by a
marvelous transformation in the fertilty of
Barnabas 4:I-3; 7:9 f.; 6:ii if.; I5:i-9; 2I:3.




Later Christian Hopes


I59


the earth. Vines will grow so luxuriantly that
each vine will yield ten thousand shoots, each
shoot ten thousand branches, each branch ten
thousand bunches, each bunch ten thousand
grapes, and each grape twenty-five measures of
wine. Grain will be similarly fruitful, each
stalk producing ten thousand ears, and each
ear ten pounds of fine flour. Not only will the
products of the earth grow in great abundance,
but ferocious beasts will become docile, submitting peacefully to the dominion of mankind.'
The unknown author of II Peter, perhaps
a contemporary of Papias, knew individuals in
the Christian church of his day who were
skeptical regarding both the catastrophic end
of the world and the expected return of Christ.
These doubters affirmed the perpetuity of the
present order and remarked upon the fact that
time had denied the first Christians' confident
declarations of faith in Christ's early return.
The writer of II Peter upbraids these skeptics
for their lack of faith and apologizes for the
delay by affirming that one day is with the
Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years
as one day. A more practical explanation is
that this delay is designed to give a larger
x Irenaeus, Against Heresies V. 33:3 f.




I60


The Millennial Hope


number of persons an opportunity to repent
and be saved. Notwithstanding the postponement of the event, the author is himself confident that the hope of the catastrophic end will
soon be realized.'
At Rome in the middle of the second century
the hope of a new age is entertained by the
devout Christian Hermas. He is oppressed by
a keen sense of human sinfulness, from which
he seeks ultimate release through the inauguration of a new order. In a vision he is confronted by a terrible beast whose head is
marked by four colors. It is explained to
Hermas that the black color represents the
present world, the fiery red signifies impending
destruction by blood and fire, the golden color
typifies faithful Christians who pass through the
fiery trials of the last days, purified like gold
from the furnace, and the white stands for the
new age to come. God himself, who created
the world, will effect the final change. The
heavens, the mountains, the hills, and the seas
will be removed as God in fulfilment of his
promise makes all things level for his elect.
In the meantime by performing righteous deeds
and enduring patiently the great tribulation
x II Pet. 3:I-I3.




Later Christian Hopes


I6I


men are to prove themselves worthy of the
divine favor, but sinful Christians and all
Gentiles will be rejected. In this world to come
the righteous shall flourish as the luxuriant
foliage of summer, but the wicked shall wither
and be burned as fuel. The end is imminent.
Jesus' earthly career had inaugurated the period
to which the last days belong, and the consummation will arrive as soon as Christianity
has done its work. Hermas sees the tower
representing the church so near to completion
that the workmen have to be dismissed for
a short time awaiting the return of the
owner, Christ. Although his coming is delayed, Hermas is assured that the owner will
presently arrive to inspect the structure and
that the tower shall be brought to completion
quickly.'
Another Roman Christian, Justin, writing
soon after the middle of the second century,
stoutly affirms his belief in the near approach
of the end of the world. As he viewed the
present world, it seemed to be so thoroughly
infested by demons that an ultimate destruction by fire was inevitable. Prompted by


'Hermas, Vis. I. 3:4; II. 2:7; III. 8:9; 9:5;          IV. I-3;
Sim. IV. I-8; IX. 5; I2:3.




i62


The Millennial Hope


the demons the Jewish and gentile enemies of
Christians have instituted frightful persecutions
which Justin expects to continue until Christ
comes again to visit eternal punishment upon
all the powers of evil. This climactic event is
delayed in order to give the human race time to
repent. In fact Justin thinks that the delay
may continue long enough to give some persons
yet unborn an opportunity for repentance. But
when the number of the faithful, foreknown by
God, is complete, the end will come. In the
meantime hostility toward Christians will
increase until the man of apostasy, the Antichrist, appears. Then suddenly Christ will
return upon the clouds accompanied by the
angelic hosts, to deal out deadly punishments to
all foes of the Christians. Christ himself will
execute judgment, condemning to eternal fire
Satan and all his servants, both demonic and
human. The dead will be raised in order that
the righteous may be endowed with blessed
immortality while wicked men and the devils
are condemned to a life of conscious and eternal
torment in the fires of hell. The present evil
world will be consumed by a devastating conflagration, even as the effete world of former
times perished in the flood.




Later Christian Hopes


I63


Justin expects the restoration of Jerusalem
and the transformation of Palestine in accordance with the post-exilic prophetic model. He
freely adduces Old Testament passages in
support of his contention that the transformed
land of Canaan is to be the future possession
of the saints. From all parts of the world those
who have believed in Christ shall escape the
impending judgment and inherit the restingplace prepared for them in Jerusalem. Here
Christ himself will dwell with the faithful,
distributing to them goodly possessions in the
land even as in earlier times Joshua had allotted
Canaan to the Israelites. Jerusalem, rebuilt in
magnificent fashion, will become the capital of
the new heavenly kingdom on earth to endure
one thousand years. Although Justin himself
entertains no doubts, he candidly admits that
many sincere Christians of his day have
rejected this realistic picture of the restoration
of Jerusalem and the return of Christ for a
millennial reign upon earth.'
Millennial hopes found still another ardent
champion in Irenaeus of Lyons, who flourished
in the latter part of the second century A.D. In


I Justin, Apol. I. 28, 45, 51 f., 60; II. 7 f.; Dial. 30 f., 39, 58,
80 f., IIo, 113, I2I, I38 f.




i64


The Millennial Hope


opposition to doubters, particularly among
gnostic Christians, he expounds his views in
doctrinaire fashion, employing both Old and
New Testament proof-texts. The present world
is to endure six thousand years, corresponding
to the six days of creation. As the end draws
near, suffering will be greatly increased until at
last the incarnation of all wickedness will be
made manifest in the person of the Antichrist.
After he has completed his devastating work he
will take his seat in the temple at Jerusalem,
reigning for three and a half years. Irenaeus
indulges in much fanciful speculation about
the identity of the beast designated by the
number 666 in the Book of Revelation, but
finally remarks that it is impossible to pronounce positively upon the identity of the
Antichrist. When the allotted time of Satan's
rule has expired, Christ will come in heavenly
glory, triumphing over all his foes.  This
event is to be followed by the resurrection
of the saints, a veritable rehabilitation of the
fleshly body. The faithful dwell henceforth in
a new kingdom established by Christ upon
earth, in fulfilment of the promise that the
meek shall inherit the earth. This period of
millennial bliss corresponds to the seventh day




Later Christian Hopes


I65


of rest following the six days of creation
described in Genesis. During this time the
earth is marvelously fruitful. Jerusalem is
magnificently rebuilt, and the righteous joyfully become accustomed to the new life of
incorruption. After this preliminary regime of
bliss has passed, a final judgment of all the
world is instituted, and the new heaven and the
new earth are revealed. In this final state of
blessedness the redeemed shall live in the
presence of God, world without end.'
In North Africa at the very beginning of
the third century millennial hopes find another
advocate in Tertullian.2 With him, as with
Irenaeus, discussion of the subject is called forth
by the opposition of both Jewish and Christian
doubters. In his treatise on the resurrection of
the flesh Tertullian cites the imagery of Paul
and of the Revelation as proof of a millennial
reign of Christ upon earth when believers will
be raised bodily to participate in the privileges
of the new kingdom. There must occur first a
falling away, that is, a decay of the present
Roman Empire, before the Antichrist appears
Irenaeus, Against Heresies V. 25-36.
2Representative passages are Apol. 23; Shows 30; Against
Marcion III. 25; On Resur. 24 f.




i66


The Millennial Hope


to wage war upon the church of God. After
the work of the Antichrist is finished Christ will
come suddenly upon the clouds in heavenly
glory, causing the whole earth to quake and
filling with lamentations all who are not Christians. The advent of Christ will provide a
magnificent spectacle, compensating believers
for their sacrifice in refraining from attendance
upon the public entertainments of the heathen.
The triumphant splendor of the Lord, the
exultation of the angelic host, the glory of the
rising saints, the blessedness of the new kingdom, and the splendors of the new Jerusalem
inflame the imagination of Tertullian almost
beyond even his exceptional powers of vivid
description. Although God alone knows the
exact moment when Christ will return, yet the
event is imminent. The work of Jesus and
the apostles belongs to the "last times,"
and the end of the present order may be
expected to occur at an early date.
The advent of Christ will be followed by the
first resurrection, when the righteous will be
revived to participate in the glories of the new
Jerusalem let down from heaven to earth.
Tertullian believes that this new city is occasionally seen even now suspended in the clouds.




Later Christian Hopes


i67


The new kingdom will endure one thousand
years in order to provide the righteous adequate
compensation for their earthly suffering.
Throughout this period the saints continue
to be raised earlier or later according to the
amount of blessing they severally deserve.
At the expiration of the millennium the final
judgment will be enacted, when Christians will
be changed into the likeness of angels and
transported to their final reward in heaven.
The present earth will be completely destroyed
by fire, and all its inhabitants cast into the
furnace of everlasting torment. Tertullian
gloats over the scene of a world in flames, where
Christianity's persecutors endure fires more
fierce than any they have kindled around
believers whom they have burned at the
stake.
Throughout the third century and early in
the fourth, millennial hopes continued to have
representatives in different parts of the Christian world. Returning to Rome, in the first
half of the third century we find Hippolytus, a
pupil of Irenaeus, fixing more specifically the
date of the end, which is to occur not only six
thousand years from creation, but also five
hundred years after the birth of Jesus. It is by




i68


The Millennial Hope


no means certain, however, that Hippolytus
followed Irenaeus in expecting the earth to be
the seat of the millennial kingdom.
A generation or two later realistic millennial
views find a vigorous champion in Commodian
of North Africa.' He summons unbelievers to
repentance in preparation for the speedy end of
the world, which is to take place when the
impending seventh persecution breaks upon the
church. In the tribulation of the last days
Nero will reappear as the first Antichrist,
taking possession of Rome and afflicting Christians for three and a half years. Then a second
Antichrist, a man from the Persians, will appear
upon the scene to conquer Nero, destroy Rome,
and establish himself in Judea, where the Jews
will render him worship. Finally Christ appears, destroying Antichrist and his hosts,
subjecting the nations, and establishing his
kingdom upon earth. The Christian dead will
be raised to share the joys of the new Jerusalem.
Here the saints will live in peace, marrying and
begetting children for one thousand years. The
earth will yield abundantly, and all the revenues
of the world will pour into the Holy City. In
the meantime all the wicked are shut up in
'A gainst the Gods of the Heathen, chaps. 43-45.




Later Christian Hopes


I69


torment, awaiting final condemnation when the
millennial reign of Christ comes to an end.
Early in the fourth century Lactantius,'
another native of North Africa, offers a fresh
exposition of millennial views, based largely
upon the Sibylline books. Since God completed the creation in six days, the present
world will endure six thousand years, and since
the first man was created on the sixth day, the
creation of the new man, the Christian people,
marks the beginning of the last age of the world.
Already the overthrow of the weary and wasting
world is imminent. First there will come a
period of dire distress. Righteousness will
diminish almost to the vanishing-point, while
all kinds of wickedness will thrive. So thorough
will be the decay that "there will be no faith
among men nor peace nor kindness nor shame
nor truth, and thus also there will be neither
security nor government nor any rest from
evils." Wars will rage throughout the earth,
but with particular severity in Egypt as a
penalty for her foolish superstitions. This
political chaos will be the direct result of the
downfall of the Roman Empire, when the
dominion of the world will again return to
I Divine Institutes VII. I4-26.




I70


The Millennial Hope


the East. The Sibyl has decreed that Rome
is doomed to perish by the judgment of God
because it has hated his name. Yet Lactantius
dreads this coming disaster and urges his readers
to entreat God to delay the coming of that
destructive tyrant, apparently the Antichrist,
who is to put out the eye of the world, the
city of Rome, whose downfall will be speedily
followed by the collapse of the present world.
When six thousand years of the world's
existence are completed, the son of God will
descend from heaven to execute judgment upon
the wicked. He will raise the righteous dead
and remain one thousand years among men,
ruling them in justice. The faithful who are
alive at his coming shall not die, but shall
continue alive throughout the millennium,
producing an infinite number of holy offspring
beloved by God. They who have been raised
from the dead shall preside over the living as
judges. The heathen will not be completely
destroyed, but will be made to serve the
righteous, who have been gathered from all the
world into the sacred city which is situated in
the middle of the earth. Here God himself
dwells, ruling over the faithful. The moon will
become as bright as the sun, and the brightness




Later Christian Hopes


I7I


of the latter will be increased seven fold. The
earth will become miraculously fruitful, the
mountains will drip with honey, wine and milk
will flow like water, and perfect peace shall hold
sway over all the earth. The heathen kings
from distant parts shall bring gifts to God, the
supreme king, "whose name shall be renowned
and venerated by all the nations which shall be
under heaven and by the kings which shall rule
on the earth." At the close of the millennium
God will enact the final judgment, when no
nation save that of God only shall be left in the
world. Then the heavens will be folded up,
the earth renewed, men changed into the likeness of angels, and the wicked raised to receive
everlasting punishment, burning "forever with
perpetual fire in the sight of angels and the
righteous."
Eastern Christendom produced an early
fourth-century defender of millenarianism in
the person of Methodius,' bishop of Olympus
in Lycia. The day of judgment and the first
resurrection are to be followed by a period of
one thousand years in the company of Christ,
but Methodius is not specific as to the locality.
After the millennium the body of the righteous
Banquet of the Ten Virgins IX. 5.




I72


The Millennial Hope


is to be changed from a corruptible and human
form into one of angelic size and beauty.
Thereupon it will be transported "into the very
house of God above the heavens."
II
Hostility toward millenarianism, especially
in its more realistic forms, emerged at a relatively early date. Apparently explicit objections first crystallized in gnostic Christian
circles. Since the Gnostics regarded matter as
wholly evil, they rejected belief in the resurrection and the establishment of a new regime
by Christ upon earth. Their supreme quest
was the complete deliverance of the soul from
the realm of matter. To assume that the soul
must return to the body, even for participation
in the privileges of the millennial kingdom, was
virtually a denial of the gnostic idea of salvation. On the contrary, at death the soul of
the righteous was thought to pass at once
to its heavenly rewards, hence all millennial
imagery was rejected outright. Probably it
was gnostic skepticism that called forth II
Peter's reaffirmation of belief in the catastrophic end, and one of the strong incentives
for Irenaeus' insistence upon millenarianism




Later Christian Hopes


I73


was his desire to offset the skepticism of the
Gnostics.
Other Christians, who cannot be charged
with gnostic leanings, also rejected millenarianism. The resurrection was not generally denied,
nor was any doubt necessarily cast upon the
return of Christ to execute judgment, but the
idea of a future millennial reign upon earth
rapidly lost favor, and was ultimately declared
to be heresy. Nor was the end of the present
world awaited with the same degree of expectancy that characterized the Christian hopes of
earlier times. This decline of millennial expectations was a natural result of Christianity's
success in making conquest of its contemporary
world. While the new movement was largely
dominated by its Jewish inheritances and while
its prospects of triumph over heathen foes
seemed dark, the speedy end of the world and
the establishment of Christ's millennial reign
upon earth were vital factors in the Christian
faith. But as Jewish ways of thinking were
gradually -'supplanted or overlaid by Graeco-^:
Roman notions, and as the new religion slowly
rose to a position of supremacy in the Mediterranean world, millennial imagery lost its vital
significance. In its less sensuous forms it often




I74


The Millennial Hope


survived unquestioned, perpetuating itself
merely by virtue of its former momentum. But
occasionally it was either definitely opposed or
else so thoroughly recast as to be hardly
recognizable.
Origen, an eastern Christian who flourished
during the first half of the third century, was
one of the earliest and severest critics of millenarianism. Its literalism was condemned by
him in a classic passage:
Certain persons then refusing the labor of thinking,
and adopting a superficial view of the letter of the law,
and yielding rather in some measure to the indulgence
of their own desires and lusts, being disciples of the
letter alone, are of opinion that the fulfilment of the
promises of the future are to be looked for in bodily
pleasure and luxury; and therefore they especially
desire to have again after the resurrection such bodily
structures as may never be without the power of eating
and drinking and performing all the functions of flesh
and blood, not following the opinion of the apostle Paul
regarding the resurrection of a spiritual body. And
consequently they say that after the resurrection there
will be marriages and the begetting of children, imagining to themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem
is to be rebuilt, its foundations laid in precious stones,
and its walls constructed of jasper, and its battlements
of crystal; that it is to have a wall composed of many
precious stones, as jasper, and sapphire, and chal



Later Christian Hopes


I75


cedony, and emerald, and sardonyx, and onyx, and
chrysolite, and chrysoprase, and jacinth, and amethyst.
Moreover, they think that the natives of other countries
are to be given them as the ministers of their pleasures,
whom they are to employ either as tillers of the field
or builders of walls, and by whom their ruined and
fallen city is again to be raised up; and they think
that they are to receive the wealth of the nations to
live on, and that they will have control over their
riches; that even the camels of Midian and Kedar will
come and bring to them gold and incense and precious
stones. And these views they think to establish on the
authority of the prophets by those promises which are
written regarding Jerusalem and by those passages also
where it is said that they who serve the Lord shall eat
and drink, but that sinners shall hunger and thirst,
that the righteous shall be joyful, but that sorrow shall
possess the wicked. And from the New Testament
also they quote the saying of the Savior in which he
makes a promise to his disciples concerning the joy of
wine, saying, "Henceforth I shall not drink of this cup
until I drink it with you new in my Father's kingdom."
They add moreover that declaration in which the
Savior calls those blessed who now hunger and thirst,
promising them that they shall be satisfied; and many
other scriptural illustrations are adduced by them, the
meaning of which they do not perceive is to be taken
figuratively. Then, again, agreeably to the form of
things in this life, and according to the gradations of
the dignities or ranks in this world, or the greatness
of their powers, they think they are to be kings and
princes, like those earthly monarchs who now exist,




I76


The Millennial Hope


chiefly, as it appears, on account of that expression in
the gospel, "Have thou power over five cities." And
to speak shortly, according to the manner of things in
this life in all similar matters do they desire the fulfilment of all things looked for in the promises, viz.,
that what now is should exist again. Such are the
views of those who, while believing in Christ, understand the divine Scriptures in a sort of Jewish sense,
drawing from them nothing worthy of the divine
promises.'
Origen's solution of the problem was to treat
the millennial imagery of the Bible figuratively
rather than literally, a method far less true to
Scripture than to the demands of Origen's own
situation. In reality he believed the world to
be eternal. He could not accept the notion of
a literal physical resurrection, nor could he
entertain the idea of a final judgment day with
its attendant phenomena as pictured in popular
faith. Yet he did not reject the biblical
language upon which this faith commonly
rested. Instead of criticizing the Scriptures, he
rejected the literalist's interpretation of Scripture, and thereby escaped what he regarded as
the utter absurdities of millenarianism. Origen
could say that the present world will come to an
end, but in what manner? Behind all the
'De Prin. II. II:2.




Later Christian Hopes


I77


catastrophic imagery of Scripture he found a
"spiritual" meaning which seemed to him to be
fully substantiated by other Scripture and
clearly to indicate that the change from the old
order to the new was to be a gradual process
effected through the religious development of
individuals and humanity. To use his own
language, since
different movements of rational beings and their varying opinions have brought about the diversity that
is in the world.... there is no doubt that its end
must be sought amid much diversity and variety, which
variety, being found to exist in the termination of the
world, will again furnish ground and occasion for
the diversity of the other world which is to succeed the
present... Accordingly we are to suppose that at
the consummation and restoration of all things those
who make a gradual advance and who ascend [in the
scale of improvement] will arrive in due measure and
order at that land and at that training which is contained in it where they may be prepared for those
better institutions to which no addition can be made.
For after his agents and his servants the Lord Christ
who is king of all will himself assume the kingdom, that
is, after instruction in the holy virtues he will himself
instruct those who are capable of receiving him in
respect of his being wisdom, reigning in them until
he has subjected them to the Father who has subdued all things to himself..... Then accordingly
as a necessary consequence bodily nature will obtain




I78


The Millennial Hope


that highest condition to which nothing more can be
added.'
By this allegorical method of interpretation
Origen not only spiritualized the whole range of
earlier millennial hopes, but set an example
which has been widely followed by critics of
millenarianism even down to the present day.
Dionysius of Alexandria,2 a pupil of Origen,
employed a somewhat different method of
attack. His polemic was called forth by the
work of a certain Egyptian bishop named
Nepos, who had composed a treatise entitled
Refutation of Allegorists. In opposition to the
method employed by Origen, Nepos advocated
a literal interpretation, and he had secured a
large following among the Egyptian churches.
But, as the result of a three-day conference held
in Arsinoe, Dionysius persuaded the presbyters
and teachers of the village churches to abandon
their crude fancies. Subsequently, in writing
of the affair, Dionysius raises doubts about the
authority of the Book of Revelation. He
knows some Christians who reject it entirely,
pronouncing it without sense or argument, and
maintaining that it is a fraudulent work composed by the heretic Cerinthus. Dionysius'
De Prin. II. 1:3; III. 6:9.  2 Eusebius, Hist. VII. 24 f.




Later Christian Hopes


I79


own attitude is less radical. He is certain that
the book is not to be taken literally, but assumes
that it may have a hidden meaning too deep
for him to grasp. He generously remarks, "I
do not reject what I cannot comprehend, but
rather wonder because I do not understand it."
Yet for all practical purposes he may as well
have rejected it, since he refused to expound the
views it contained. Although not dismissing
the book as a forgery, he did maintain that the
author was not John the Apostle but some other
Christian of that name.
During the fourth century Christianity made
such rapid progress that it became the legal
religion of the Roman Empire, thus making it
possible for Augustine in the first quarter of
the fifth century to write his famous treatise
describing the church as the city of God on
earth. The millennium was now no longer a
desideratum; it was already a realization.'
Working from this point of view, Augustine lays
the ghost of millenarianism so effectively that
for centuries thereafter the subject is practically
ignored.
Augustine employs the allegorical method
of interpretation, but applies it in a new way
City of God XX.




I80


The Millennial Hope


appropriate to the new conditions of his own
time. He affirms his belief in a final judgment,
when the dead will be raised in incorruptible
form and the present world completely transformed, but this event is not pictured as imminent. On the other hand, the millennial
imagery of the Book of Revelation is thoroughly
spiritualized. There is to be no specific second
advent of Christ before the day of final judgment, for his coming "continually occurs in his
church, that is, in his members, in which he
comes little by little and piece by piece since
the whole church is his body." Similarly the
first resurrection mentioned in Rev. 20:5 f., as
occurring at the beginning of the millennium, is
understood figuratively. This resurrection is a
present realization for believers, and is identical
with the change in their status before God as
they die to sin and rise to new life in the church.
As for the one-thousand-year reign of Christ
upon earth, Augustine asserts that it began
with the career of the earthly Jesus, who bound
the strong man, Satan (Mark 3:27). Ever
since that time Satan has been confined to the
abyss, in order that he may not seduce the
nations from which the church is gathered, and
over whom he held sway before Jesus appeared.




Later Christian Hopes


But the "abyss" for Augustine is not a chaotic
pit in the regions beneath the earth, but "the
countless multitude of the wicked, whose hearts
are unfathomably deep in malignity against the
church of God." Thus Satan's kingdom is no
longer the Roman government, which is now
formally Christian, but the group of scoffing
heathen individuals who continue their hostility
toward the church. While the devil is thus
bound the saints reign with Christ a thousand
years, even as the author of Revelation affirms.
It is the present church that is the kingdom of
Christ and the kingdom of heaven, wherein the
saints reign both while living and after their
decease. This militant spiritual regime is to
grow more prosperous with the passing of the
years "until we come to that most peaceful
kingdom in which we shall reign without an
enemy, and it is of this first resurrection in the
present life that the Revelation speaks."
Although the present world is not to grow
worse, but constantly better, as the end
approaches, yet Augustine accepts the statement in Revelation that the devil is to be loosed
from the abyss for a short time before the end
of the thousand years. But this loosing is
interpreted to mean that the enemies of the




I82


The Millennial Hope


church will be especially active in their opposition for three and one-half years before the
inauguration of the final judgment. However,
these special activities of the devil are doomed
to failure. During this short period he may
prevent any more persons from adopting
Christianity and he may cause a few to fall
away, but such will be no loss to the church, for
"these do not belong to the predestined number
of the sons of God." The true church will
stand firm and pass gloriously through this
period of attack. Augustine disposes of the
beast mentioned in Revelation by identifying
it with "the community of unbelievers set in
opposition to the faithful people and the city
of God." And his image is that false show of
piety which certain people make who pretend
to be Christians, but are not so at heart. Thus
to the beast belong, not only the avowed
enemies of the church, but also those members
of the community who are as tares among the
wheat.
On the final day of judgment the wicked will
be consigned to eternal fire, the nature and
location of which are unknown "unless perhaps
the divine spirit reveal it to someone." Then
the world will be transmuted, but not com



Later Christian Hopes


i83


pletely destroyed, by a universal conflagration,
in which "the qualities of the corruptible
elements which suited our corruptible bodies
shall utterly perish and our substance shall
receive such qualities as shall by a wonderful
transmutation harmonize with our immortal
bodies so that as the world itself is renewed to
some better thing, it is fitly accommodated to
men themselves renewed in their flesh to some
better thing." Thus is established the new
Jerusalem, which may be said to come down out
of heaven "because the grace with which God
formed it is of heaven." Such was the marvelous transformation effected by Augustine
as he recast the vivid millennial imagery of the
Book of Revelation to suit conditions in the
early fifth century.
III
As the year 1000 A.D. drew near, hopes for a
speedy end of the world revived. Following
the program of Augustine it was now time to
expect that consummation of perfection toward
which the church was supposed to be gradually
approaching. In Western Christendom this
impending event was proclaimed by various
preachers, but the views of these enthusiasts




i84


The Millennial Hope


were discountenanced by the more responsible
leaders of the church. As the position of
organized Christianity became constantly
stronger, the desire for the inauguration of a
new order lost its vitality. Traditional millennial formulas and cognate notions were
perpetuated, but in general throughout the
Middle Ages Christians were content with the
triumph of the church in the present world and
the hope of a blessed immortality for the
individual soul after death.
After Augustine the most important developments in the millennial type of thinking
related to the more complete spiritualization
of the church as the present kingdom of God on
earth. The Augustinian scheme presupposed
that the church would gradually arrive at
perfection, but in later times certain observers
became skeptical regarding the progress of the
contemporary ecclesiastical organization. It
was believed that the end of the world would
not come until the church experienced a
rebirth through the return of the Holy Spirit
and the restoration of primitive apostolic
conditions, from which Christianity was
thought to have departed in the course of its
history.




Later Christian Hopes


I85


The first noted advocate of this new type of
hope is Joachim of Floris, an Italian monk of
the last half of the twelfth century. Three
formative factors are observable in the making
of his system of interpretation. In the first
place he was an ardent admirer of the monastic
life in its stricter forms; consequently his future
church was to be an idealized monastic order.
He was also inclined toward ecstasy and was
fond of meditating upon the supposeidhidden
schemes of God in history. Thirdly, he applied
his mystical temperament to the interpretation
of the Bible, and particularly to its prophetic
elements, as a means of determining the future
course of events. The outcome of Joachim's
reflections was a new division of human history
into three epochs. First, there was the age
of law, or the age of the Father, when the
supreme demand upon men was obedience.
The appearance of John the Baptist marked the
transition to the second age, which is that of
the gospel, or of the Son. This is the age to
which the present earthly church belongs, when
men are striving toward the attainment of
mystical knowledge. The third age, which is
that of the Spirit and of the truly spiritual
church, has not yet dawned. The date for the




I86


The Millennial Hope


end of the present order and the inauguration
of the age of the Spirit was fixed at the year
I260, the years during which the true church
had remained hidden being equal to the days
that the woman mentioned in Rev. I2: i-6
remained in the wilderness. When the new era
arrived the present church would not be
abolished, but marvelously purified and restored
to its primitive simplicity. The elect would
be assembled from the west and from the east,
both Jews and Gentiles being converted.
After a final conflict with the powers of evil, to
be followed by the final judgment, a new order
would be inaugurated. This new society was
to be organized after the model of a great
monastery in which monks as the truly spiritual
men would displace the ecclesiastical hierarchy,
and humanity would enter upon its final Sabbath day of peace and purity.
Although Joachim's views were espoused
and perpetuated by the more rigorous Franciscans, they left no very permanent impression
i upon Catholicism. His fundamental incentives
-dissatisfaction with the established ecclesiastical order, the pursuit of mysticism, and the
study of apocalyptic prophecy-found more
fruitful soil in Prptstaxt circles. The stirring




Later Christian Hopes


i87


events connected with the Reformation and the
sufferings endured by Protestants in the early
days of their history all contributed to produce
a conviction in many quarters that the last
days had come. The pope now seemed to be
the very Antichrist incarnate, the true church
must be as yet invisible, and the Book of
Revelation could easily be treated as a compendium of church history portraying in the
most minute detail the career of the kingdom of
God. In the agitation of the times, when the
reformed faith was reaping its first harvest of
martyrs, pious fancy easily detected thousands
of marvelous occurrences in the heavens or
upon the earth. Nor were wonderful visions,
dreams, and apparitions lacking, all of which
seemed to portend the near end of the world.
This period of political, social, and religious
upheaval supplied a host of new stimuli for the
revival of millennial hopes.
In the latter part of the fourteenth century
Militz of Kromeriz, a forerunner of John Huss,
protested against the corruption of the times
and sought in Scripture a solution of the world's
ills. As a result of his study Militz became
convinced that all references to Antichrist
pointed toward present conditions and that the




i88


The Millennial Hope


end of the world was to occur some time
between the years 1365 and I367. Huss himself did not lay stress upon the imminent end,
but he often spoke of Antichrist as a present
evil power lying in wait to devour the faithful.
During the period of the Hussite wars (I4I5 -36), which followed the treacherous arrest and
violent death of Huss, the Bohemian people had
ample incentives for suspecting that the old
order of existence was on the verge of collapse.
At this time among the Bohemians millennial hopes were revived with peculiar strength
by the so-called Taborites. Their zeal and
courage were stimulated by leaders who painted
glowing colors of the present evil days of final
tribulation, when the wrath of God was being
filled up in preparation for judgment. Signs
of the approaching end were seen on every hand.
Rumors of war were everywhere; nation was
rising up against nation and kingdom against
kingdom; false prophets were abroad in the
land; even within their own circles traitors to
their own cause had been discovered; and other
terrible phenomena to precede the coming of the
Son of Man were a part of their daily experience. The day of judgment when the sinful
earth would be smitten with the fire of divine




Later Christian Hopes


[89


wrath was believed to be so near that five cities
of Bohemia were selected as centers of refuge
to be spared in the day of world-conflagration
because they had not yielded to the Antichrist.
Thither the villagers and peasants assembled
from all parts of the country, selling their property and placing the proceeds in the hands of
their religious leaders as had been done by the
first Christians. Thus the movement developed
into a communistic society.
The restoration of peace was quickly followed by a decline in the Taborites' fanatical
zeal, but in a milder form similar millennial
notions survived in the sect known as the
Bohemian Brethren. Their preachers on occasion identified the pope at Rome with the Antichrist and proclaimed the nearness of the
second advent. These ideas were revived again
in the period of stress known as the Thirty
Years' War, when Bohemia suffered so tragically. The experiences of these years, and his
own natural bent toward mysticism, led the
famous Comenius to expect a miraculous
transformation of the church and the speedy
return of Christ.
The reformers in Switzerland and Germany
also saw in the Roman church a hostile power of




I9o


The Millennial Hope


evil as real and terrible to them as the Roman
state had been to Christians at the time the
Book of Revelation was written. A crude form
of millenarianism emerged early in the sixteenth
century among the more fanatically inclined
adherents of the Anabaptist movement. The
revolt against feudal oppression, which came
to a head in the Peasants' War of I525, was
accompanied in certain religious circles by a
desire to set aside all ecclesiastical authorities
and to establish an ideal Christian commonwealth of a communistic type. Although the
peasants' revolt was crushed, the new religious
interest continued and soon a community was
formed at Strassburg, under the leadership
of Melchior Hoffmann, who declared himself
to be one of the two witnesses mentioned in
Rev. II:3 and announced that Strassburg was
to be the site of the New Jerusalem. Owing to
opposition the movement was transferred to
Minster, where the fanatics took full possession
of the city, established their own form of
government under the alleged direction of the
Spirit, and founded the new Zion in anticipation
of the speedy return of Christ. The leaders
claimed the authority of visions from heaven,
and MUnster became the scene of unrestrained




Later Christian Hopes


I9I


fanaticism until the movement was forcibly
suppressed in I535.
The millenarianism of both the Lutheran and
the Reformed churches was usually of a more
restrained type. The downfall of the Antichrist papacy and the near approach of the end
of the world were often anticipated, although
the idea of a literal millennial reign of Christ
upon earth was not generally approved. But
through the aid of mysticism and pietism
millennial teachings found several advocates
within the Protestant churches, particularly in
the seventeenth century. These were times
of much unrest occasioned by religious wars in
Germany, by the persecution of the Huguenots
in France, and by the political revolution of
Cromwell in England. Such stirring events
brought the problem of the world's ills close
to the hearts of the populace and called forth
new expressions of millennial hope.
During the seventeenth century in Germany
and France millennial views were represented
by individuals rather than by definite movements. Writing in 1627, the German scholar
Alsted fixed the date for the inauguration of the
millennium at I694. In France a generation
later the Protestant theologian Jurieu, incited




192


The Millennial Hope


by the persecution of the Huguenots, fixed upon
the year I689 for the downfall of the Antichrist
Roman church.
In England by the year 1653 millennial
teaching had crystallized into a definite political
propaganda known as the Fifth Monarchy
Movement, bitterly antagonistic to Cromwell.
Its advocates professed allegiance to King
Jesus only, affirming that he was about to
appear and establish a fifth world-monarchy.
The four previous monarchies were reckoned
as the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and
the Roman, the last-named still existing in the
form of the Roman church. The champions
of these views believed that duty called them to
fight for King Jesus, thereby demonstrating
their fitness to receive him at his coming.
Heretofore they had been praying and preaching, but now they believed that the time had
come to act for God. This conviction expressed
itself in two unsuccessful attempts at insurrection, one in I657 and the other in I66I.
The motive of the Fifth Monarchy Movement was not only hatred for Rome, but also
a strong leaning toward communistic ideals and
mystical experiences. One quotation from their
official declaration reads:




Later Christian Hopes


I93


We freely give up our lives and estates unto our
Lord King Jesus and to his people, to become soldiers
of the Lamb's army, abhorring mercenary principles
and interests. And for this work's sake we desire not
to love our lives unto the death, neither will we ever
(if we may speak so great a word with reverence in the
fear of God) sheath our swords again until Mount Zion
becomes the joy of the whole earth.'
One of the prophetesses of the movement
stresses mystical knowledge as a peculiar source
of millennial wisdom, in contrast with the
information to be derived from careful study.
While in a state of trance she enjoins her
companions thus:
Thou shalt read the visions John had,
Not after the learned doctor's way;
But thou shalt read them in plainness,
And clear light in thy day.
Thou shalt not read what's spoke of Dragon
and Beast
With university art;
But thou shalt read with kings seven eyes
And an enlightened heart.
Thou shalt not run to antichrist's libraries,
To fetch from thence any skill
To read the Revelation of Christ,
But be with knowledge fill'd.2
Cited by Champlin Burrage in the English Historical Review,
XXV (I9IO), 722-47.
2 Ibid., XXVI (I9II), 526-35.




I94


The Millennial Hope


The communistic motive appears again in
the so-called Ronsdorf sect, founded in I726
at Elberfeld in Germany, but later removed to
Ronsdorf. For a quarter of a century this
movement prospered, receiving support, not
only from Germany, but also from Switzerland,
Holland, and England. The movement also
had its mystical side. A girl who was early
converted to the new teaching experienced
ecstasies in which she received alleged revelations from heaven, disclosing the glories of the
new kingdom whose advent was at first predicted for the year I730. Later this girl
became the wife of the founder of the movement, Elias Eller, who now declared that he
and his wife were of the tribe of Judah and were
chosen to establish the New Jerusalem. She
was said to be the mother of Zion and the
woman clothed with the sun (Rev. 12: i).
Also she and her husband were identified with
the two witnesses referred to in Rev. II:3.
Encouraged by success, the founder soon
affirmed that he was virtually the author of the
new order. He now taught that the fulness of
Godhead dwelt in himself, and that his divinely
inspired wife was the medium of a new revelation. Deceased saints were presently to appear




Later Christian Hopes


195


upon earth again as members of the new community, and the savior of the world was to be
born in the person of one of Eller's children.
This strange movement prospered for nearly a
quarter of a century, sending out missionaries
to different countries, but it declined rapidly
after the death of its founder in I750.
About the same time millenarianism received
a new impetus in the world of scholarship
through a commentary on the Book of Revelation issued by the German theologian J. A.
Bengel in the year I740. His motive was
historical and scriptural, in contrast with the
communistic and mystical interests which had
previously wielded so strong an influence in the
perpetuation of millennial hopes. Bengel's
principle of interpretation was to ascertain the
plain meaning of the Book of Revelation,
rejecting the allegorizing and spiritualizing
method of exposition which had been in vogue
among scholars since the time of Origen.
Having determined that the literal interpretation of the book was clearly millenarian, Bengel
adopted this view as authoritative for his own
thinking and fixed upon the year i836 for the
inauguration of the millennium. His work is
especially significant because it gave new




i96


The Millennial HoPe


stimulus to a distinctly academic tendency
which constructs millennial speculations from
biblical texts, and justifies them by affirming
the verbal inspiration of Scripture.
During the last quarter of the eighteenth
century the mystical and communistic motives
emerged again, this time in England, resulting
in the establishment of the Shaker movement.
A certain Ann Lee believed herself to be the
inspired medium of divinely revealed teachings
regarding the holy estate of celibacy. Having
met resistance in England, instructed by
revelations, she came to America in I774 where
various Shaker settlements were formed. These
societies were communistic in type, the men and
women living in separate groups. The last
days were believed to be at hand. The history
of the world was divided into four cycles, the
first extending to the flood, the second covering
the period from the flood to the appearing of
Jesus, the third continuing down to the time of
Ann Lee, and the fourth embracing the present, which is to issue in the establishment
of the new age. The first step in the process of restoration is the organization of the
Shaker church, reproducing the primitive
purity of pentecostal times and marking




Later Christian Hopes


I97


the beginning of Christ's new kingdom upon
earth.
The French Revolution, which shook all
Western Europe to its foundations, aroused new
interest in millennial speculation. Mystical
revelations, combined with fanciful interpretations of political happenings, were thought to
furnish clear evidences of the near end of the
world. In Germany, for example, Sch6nherr,
a theosophist of Kbnigsberg, declared that the
coming of Christ was imminent. Napoleon
was identified with the Antichrist of Scripture,
and K6nigsberg with its seven hills was believed
to be the city whose doom had been predicted in
Rev. I7:9 ff. A generation after Sch6nherr,
who died in I826, another instance of revived
millennialism appeared in a socialistic movement organized by Christoph Hoffmann. He
proposed to rebuild the Jerusalem temple in
preparation for the return of Christ. Although
unable to carry out this intention, he did succeed in assembling followers who constituted
themselves into a distinct "people of God."
But millennial teaching in Germany during the
nineteenth century found its chief supporters,
not in separatist sects, but within the regular
Protestant churches. Holding to the notion




I98


The Millennial Hope


of a verbally inspired Scripture, interpreters
followed the lines laid down by Bengel, supplementing scriptural exegesis by mystical leanings
or by reference to various signs of the times
which were taken to foreshadow the speedy
return of Christ.
In the British Isles the nineteenth century
produced two noteworthy millennial sects
known as the Catholic Apostolic church (or the
Irvingites) and the Plymouth Brethren (or
Darbyites). In the year I823 Edward Irving,
a Scotch Presbyterian who had gained popularity as a preacher in London, published a book
embodying his views regarding the coming
judgment. The book made a strong impression upon a rich banker, Henry Drummond,
who lived at Albury, southwest of London.
Beginning in I826, he held a series of yearly
conferences at his home, where laymen and
clergymen sympathetic with the movement
gathered to study prophecy. In the meantime
Irving became more ardent in his advocacy of
millennial teaching, going so far as to fix upon
the year i864 as the date for Christ's return.
The exposition of prophecy had been the
dominant interest of the group which met
regularly at Drummond's home. In i830 a




Later Christian Hopes


I99


mystical note was added. It was reported that
the power of uttering supernatural communications had recently been exhibited among the
members of a certain Presbyterian family
living near Glasgow. Drummond sent investigators to visit the family, and soon after a
report of the genuineness of these utterances had
been received similar powers were displayed by
certain members of Irving's church in London.
These new prophets, speaking in the Spirit,
frequently exclaimed, "Behold the bridegroom
cometh. Go ye out to meet him," or "The
body of Christ." These utterances were taken
by the credulous to be clear evidences that the
advent of Christ was near.
At first Irving, the dominant figure in the
new movement, regarded himself as the angel
of the new church. But his leadership was soon
supplanted by that of the Spirit working
through the new prophets. At this point the
familiar millennial notion of a new spiritual
church, prepared to receive Christ at his coming,
was given prominence. In the belief that this
preparation could be effected only through the
Spirit working in the ministries and ordinances
of the church, an effort was made to restore the
form of ecclesiastical government current in




200


The Millennial Hope


apostolic times. Accordingly modern apostles
were selected to lead the movement, the selection being made to depend entirely upon the will
of the Spirit speaking through the modern
ecstatic prophets. This restored spiritual apostolic church also instituted a missionary propaganda aiming to assemble from various
countries a body of true saints prepared to greet
Christ at his coming.
The Plymouth Brethren is a kindred movement also aiming to restore the purity of the
primitive church in preparation for the early
return of Christ. Between 1827 and 1831 in
Ireland at Dublin, and in England at Plymouth,
representatives of this type of teaching were
active, and distinct assemblies were formed.
A protest was raised against ministerial ordination and all formal ecclesiastical procedure.
The ideal assembly was to be found where two
or three were gathered together in Jesus'
name with him in their midst. In addition
to this interest in restoring the primitive
Christian society, interpretation of apocalyptic
prophecy also played an important role. The
imagery of Daniel and Revelation was worked
up into an elaborate program of events
to occur in connection with the early re



Later Christian Hopes


20I


turn of Christ and the establishment of the
millennium.
At about the same time new millennial movements emerged in America. The Church of
Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, more
familiarly known as the Mormons, originated
in I830 at Fayette, in the state of New York.
Back of the movement lay both mystical and
communistic motives, as well as a desire to
restore the church to its primitive simplicity.
Tradition represents the founder, Joseph Smith,
as a mystic, who received unique divine revelations guiding him in the establishment of a new
church and in the preparation of a new sacred
scripture, the Book of Mormon. This scripture
was supposed to reproduce the word of God
previously revealed to the ancient inhabitants
of America. Smith's aim was to found a new
community on the present earth, a present city
of Zion, where Christ on his return would set
up his millennial kingdom. After various
unfortunate attempts this new sect finally
established itself at Salt Lake City to await the
advent of Christ. In the meantime the spiritual gifts of ancient times were to be restored
in the form of tongues, prophecies, visions,
revelations, healings, and other phenomena of




202


The Millennial Hope


mystical experience credited to the renewed
activity of the Holy Spirit, which was supposed
to have forsaken the historical church.
Another form of millennial propaganda was
begun in I831 by William Miller, of Low Hampton, New York. He was the founder of the
Adventists (or Millerites), of whom there are
at present several different branches. From a
study of scriptural texts Miller concluded that
Christ was to return in person to establish the
millennium. The date for this event was first
fixed at 1843, and then it was moved down to
October 22, I844. Subsequently greater reserve
was practiced in fixing a specific date, but faith
in the early advent of Christ did not waver.
In more recent times millennial hopes have
been most vigorously advocated by individuals
within various Christian communities rather
than by different separatist sects. The propaganda has also been mainly a didactic and
exegetical one, although mystical tendencies
have not been lacking. One of the cornerstones of this teaching is rigid maintenance of
the dogma of verbal inspiration and the alleged
superior insight of the "spiritual man" into the
secrets of the Scripture. Historical investigation of the circumstances under which a biblical




Later Christian Hopes


203


book arose and familiarity with the immediate
problems or experiences of the author and his
first readers are not regarded as an essential
preparation for the interpretation of Scripture.
In fact such studies are thought to constitute a
real barrier to the true understanding of the
Bible. By simply reading his own subjectivism
into Scripture, the man who believes himself
spiritually enlightened follows the advice of
the Fifth Monarchy prophetess, employing no
"university art" to read what is spoken of
dragon or beast, nor does he "run to antichrist's libraries" for wisdom to interpret the
revelation of Christ. His own inner light is
quite sufficient for the task.
A vigorous, modern millenarian propaganda
was conducted for several years by the late
Charles T. Russell, of "millennial dawn" fame.
In the year I886 he began a series of volumes
advocating millennial views by a familiar
process of fanciful scriptural interpretation.
In Thy Kingdom Come, published in I89I, the
millennium was said to have been invisibly
inaugurated in the year i874 and the end of the
present world was prophesied for the year I9I4.
The movement, though chiefly inspired by one
man, has produced an abundant literature




204


The Millennial Hope


which has been distributed diligently throughout different parts of the world.
A more influential group of modern millenarians carry on their teaching, not as a separate body, but as members of any denomination
with which they may chance to be connected.
Although their efforts are often persistent and
carefully planned, there is no disposition on
their part to organize an independent society.
Yet a distinct movement has been in evidence
especially since I878, when adherents of these
opinions assembled from various denominations
to attend a "Prophetic Conference" held in
New York. Those who signed the call for the
conference represented ten different communions-Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopalian, Reformed Episcopalian,
Congregationalist, Methodist, Adventist, Dutch
Reformed, and Lutheran. Disciples of the
movement regard themselves as the "true
church" within every church, whatever their
denominational connections may be; and the
leading advocates of this teaching, when using
any distinctive self-designation, style themselves
"Evangelists." Their preaching professes to
be an accurate and literal interpretation of
biblical prophecy, though this interest is often




Later Christian Hopes


205


supplemented by strongly mystical tendencies.
It is assumed that the entire Bible was written
with specific reference to present-day issues and
with little or no reference to ancient conditions
prevalent when the various authors of these
books lived and worked. As compared with
ancient millenarian types of scriptural exposition, the new features of the modern propaganda
consist chiefly of references to recent events in
history, the foreshadowings of which are
ingeniously discovered in biblical prophecy.
The world-war which began in 19I4 has given
new opportunity for the advocacy of these
views, nor have their adherents been slow to
avail themselves of this advantage. Affirming
that they are able to discover new fulfilments
of prophecy in the stirring events of these times,
they insist anew that the betterment of present
conditions can be effected only through a sudden
destruction of the present order to be followed
by the inauguration of Christ's millennial
reign upon earth.




CHAPTER V


MODERN ESTIMATE OF MILLENNIAL HOPES
History shows many variations in the millennial type of hope. While Gentiles, Jews,
and Christians alike looked for a final release
from present evils through some unique form of
world-renewal, widely varying programs were
proposed for the attainment of this end. Nor
was there a single program for Gentiles, or for
Jews, or for Christians.
This diversity was a natural outcome of the
varying circumstances under which millennial
speculations arose and developed. They represent the work of different persons with a variety
of tastes, living in different surroundings
throughout a long period of years. Diversities
are especially noticeable among both Jews and
Christians. The changes in Hebrew hopes
kept pace with changing experiences in the
national life, and variations in Christian expectations are closely linked up with the enlarging
experiences of the Christians as the new religion
spread from Palestine into distant lands. At
one time millennialists have been interested in
2o6




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 207


politics, at another time their interests have
been social or communistic, some have had
a fondness for mysticism, and others have
delighted in the fanciful interpretation of
prophecy. In each case millennial hopes reflect
the special interests of their several advocates.
The fact of variety in millennial speculations
greatly increased their functional possibilities.
During the course of their history they answered
to a wide range of human needs. While always
concerned with the main problem of eliminating
evil, the particular forms of evil to be abolished
were conceived of in various ways. At times
millennial imagery seemed to hold out a sure
way of escape from the oppression of social ills.
Other exponents of this faith stressed the hope
of liberation from bodily sufferings due to
poverty, sickness, or death. Frequently this
type of hope was a strong support in the hour
of severe political misfortune or religious persecution. In less strenuous times it served as a
vehicle of fancy, enabling the native curiosity of
the human mind to construct for itself marvelous pictures of the unknown future. Taken
in the large, the millennial type of hope functioned variously at many periods in the past
by sustaining man's faith in the triumph of




208


The Millennial Hope


righteousness and providing a mighty hypothetical instrument for the ultimate elimination
of evil.
Are millennial expectations capable of functioning efficiently in the modern world with its
new problems and its new knowledge? At
present this is a question of unusual importance.
Today a fresh realization of life's ills has been
thrust upon us by the frightful disaster of a
world-war. In this moment of sore affliction,
when all the skill and energy of humanity seem
wholly diverted into channels of destruction, it
is perfectly natural for many persons to follow
the example of the past and seek to ward off the
recurrence of such a calamity by predicting a
speedy end of the present world and the miraculous inauguration of a new age when men shall
no more learn war. But serviceable as this type
of hope may have been to cheer the afflicted in
days gone by, its efficacy in the present situation
is open to serious question. Can men today
continue with confidence to expect a cataclysmic
reversal of present conditions, or does the light
of experience and present knowledge demand
the adoption of a more constructive, though less
spectacular, program for the renovation of the
world?




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 209


I
Some of the programs offered by present-day
millennialists for the solution of the modern
world's ills have been worked out in great detail.
This is more particularly true of the premillennialists than of the postmillennialists. The
latter do not look for early relief through the
sudden coming of Christ. On the contrary,
they expect a gradual and increasing success of
Christianity in the present world until ideal
conditions are finally realized. Then will follow
the millennium. At its close a brief period of
apostasy will set in, when Christians will
engage in fierce conflict with evil powers which
have been liberated for a short time before their
ultimate destruction. After the brief period
of final tribulation is past, Christ will come in
glory, a general resurrection will occur, judgment will be enacted, the old world will be
destroyed by fire, the wicked will be consigned
to torment, and the righteous will enter upon
an eternal life of bliss.
The premillennialists, on the other hand,
expect a much earlier return of Christ, and
deny all possibility of a gradual process of betterment as the millennium approaches. The
details of their program in the form most widlAy




2IO


The Millennial Hope


current at present are as follows. The present
world is rapidly growing worse as the catastrophic end approaches. In the meantime the
function of the church is to prepare a group of
saints for membership in the new kingdom of
Christ later to be revealed. But not all
members of the visible church are to be saved.
The true church is the mystical body of Christ,
a select company within Christendom. The
task of the church in the present world is to be
a witness especially to the doctrine of Christ's
return. When this work of witnessing is
completed, or at an earlier date if God so
decrees, the true church will be removed from
the world. God alone knows precisely when
this change will take place, but premillennialists find ample evidence in the Scripture
and in the contemporary world to convince
them that the end is imminent. It may occur
today or tomorrow, and it certainly will occur
very shortly.
When Christ returns he does not immediately
descend to the earth, but tarries in the upper
air. Here he is met by his bride, the church,
snatched up from the earth like Enoch of old.
This privilege will be bestowed upon true
Christians, who are the church within the




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 211
church, the wheat among the chaff. This aierial
assembly will include the righteous dead
restored to life, living believers who have been
suddenly transformed for the occasion, and
Old Testament worthies. Except for missing
their translated friends, those who remain upon
earth may be wholly unaware that anything
phenomenal has occurred. For a time the
returned heavenly bridegroom and his glorified
church bride remain suspended in the air enjoying their honeymoon, while evil conditions
upon earth rapidly reach a climax. This translation of the saints is technically known as the
" rapture."
Now that the saints have been removed from
the earth, God permits the terrible tribulation
of the last times to descend upon mortals. The
Jews return to Palestine, where some of their
number are converted to faith in Christ, and
thus for them "at evening time it shall be
light." The Antichrist appears, filling the
earth with his depredations. A sufficient time
must elapse for all forms of prophesied tribulation to be accomplished before the day of the
Lord comes. The exact length of the interim
is not known, though it will be a relatively short
season. It will not be less than seven vears and




2I2        The Millennial Hope
probably it will be somewhat longer. Wickedness will be rampant, and indescribable agonies
will afflict the earth. The time, however, is to
be shortened for the sake of those elect Jews
who shall be converted, although even they
are destined to be slain by Antichrist. In the
meantime Christ and the saints rapturously
await the moment when they are to descend
visibly to earth.
At last Christ and his companions are
frevealed in the midst of flaming fire, descending
to execute judgment upon sinners. Antichrist,
who has exalted himself to the rulership of the
earth, shall perish. His earthly capital, the
restored Babylon, will be completely overthrown in all its wickedness. The hosts of evil
will be destroyed, the beast and the false
prophet will be apprehended, and they along
with Satan will be consigned to the lower
regions. Those persons who had accepted
Christ during the period of the tribulation, and
who have died before he finally descends to
earth, will now be raised to join him and the
saints in a glorious reign of one thousand years
upon the purified earth.
As the millennium draws to a close, Satan
will be loosed for a season. But his liberty is




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 213


soon at an end. He calls Gog and Magog to
his assistance, with a mighty host as numerous
as the sands of the sea, to fight against the
saints who dwell in Jerusalem. These enemies
of Christ are quickly devoured by heavenly fire,
and Satan is cast into the burning pit, there to
endure eternal torment. This event is followed
by the resurrection of all the ungodly, who
assemble before the great white throne to
receive sentence from the judge of both living
and dead. They are consigned to the fires of
torment, whither they are followed by the
wicked angels, who also receive condemnation
at this time. With all the forces of evil thus
finally assigned to fitting abodes of eternal
punishment, the righteous enter upon a life of
eternal blessedness.
Such is the program offered by premillennialists to the modern world as an ideal method
of eliminating its ills. Can this program be
accepted with confidence at the present time?
II
The scriptural test is often advanced as a
guaranty of the validity of millenarianism.
This is particularly true of the propaganda in
its present form. May it not be said that




2I4


The Millennial Hope


premillenarians truly reproduce biblical views
and that they are therefore deserving of our
full confidence?
Undoubtedly the ancient Hebrew prophets
announced the advent of a terrible day of
Jehovah when the old order of things would
suddenly pass away. Later prophets foretold
a day of restoration for the exiles when all
nature would be miraculously changed and an
ideal kingdom of David established. The seers
of subsequent times portrayed the coming of a
truly heavenly rule of God when the faithful
would participate in millennial blessings. Early
Christians expected soon to behold Christ returning upon the clouds even as they had seen
him in their visions literally ascending into
heaven. In times of persecution faith in the
return of Christ shone with new luster, as
afflicted believers confidently exclaimed, "Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye
shall see him, and the saints shall reign with
him a thousand years."' So far as the use of
this type of imagery is concerned, millenarianism may quite properly claim to be biblical.
Unquestionably certain biblical writers expected
a catastrophic end of the world. They depicted
'Rev. I:7; 20:6.




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 215


the days of sore distress immediately to precede
the final catastrophe, they proclaimed the
visible return of the heavenly Christ, and they
eagerly awaited the revelation of the New
Jerusalem.
Any attempt to evade these literalistic features of biblical imagery is futile. Ever since
Origen's day certain interpreters of Scripture
have sought to refute millennial expectations by
affirming that even the most striking statements
about Jesus' return are to be understood figuratively. It has also been said that Daniel and
Revelation are highly mystical and allegorical
works not intended to refer to actual events,
whether past, present, or future, but have a
purely spiritual significance like that of Milton's
Paradise Lost or Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
These are evasive devices designed to bring
these Scriptures into harmony with present
conditions, while ignoring the vivid expectancy
of the ancients. The afflicted Jews of Maccabean times were demanding, not a figurative,
but a literal, end of their troubles, nor did
Daniel promise them anything less than the
actual establishment of a new heavenly regime.
In a similarly realistic vein an early Christian
wrote, "You shall see the Son of man sitting at




216


The Millennial Hope


the right hand of power and coming with the
clouds of heaven," or again, "There are some
here of them that stand by who shall in no wise
taste of death till they see the kingdom of God
come with power."' Imagine the shock to
Mark had he been told that this expectation was
already realized in the appearances of Jesus
after the resurrection, or in the ecstatic experiences of the disciples at Pentecost, or in the
salvation of the individual Christians at death.
And who can imagine Mark's feelings had he
also been told, in certain modern fashion, that
his prediction of Christ's return was to be fulfilled in the Lutheran Reformation, in the
French Revolution, in the Wesleyan Revival,
in the emancipation of the slaves, in the spread
of foreign missions, in the democratization of
Russia, or in the outcome of the present worldwar? Premillennialists are thoroughly justified in their protest against those opponents
who allegorize or spiritualize pertinent biblical
passages, thus retaining scriptural phrases
while utterly perverting their original significance.
On the other hand, premillenarianism has its
own way of perverting Scripture. To illustrate,
IMark 14:62; 9:I.




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes  217


Moses is declared to have been an explicit
believer in the second advent of Christ. The
proof-text cited as evidence of Moses' opinion is,
"Jehovah came from Sinai and rose from Seir
unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran,
and he came from the ten thousands of holy
ones; at his right hand was a fiery law for
them."' It would be difficult to find a verse in
the Bible which both by context and content
refers more specifically to that epoch-making
moment in Hebrew tradition when Jehovah
delivered the law to Mloses. But scriptural
context and content are completely ignored by
premillennialists, who assume that every ancient worthy shared their own state of mind.
Similarly the utterances of the prophets warning
the Hebrews of ancient times to prepare for a
speedy national disaster are transformed into
predictions of a far-off event alleged to be
imminent only now, nearly three thousand years
after the times of the prophets. The fact that
a prophet refers explicitly to the contemporary power of Assyria or Egypt as Jehovah's
instrument of punishment is ignored, and the
biblical phrases are straightway applied to
imaginary events yet to transpire long after the
'Deut. 33:2.




2i8


The Millennial Hope,


kingdoms of Assyria and Egypt have ceased to
exist.
Jewish thinking of post-exilic times is likewise divested of its distinctive content and
transformed into a mere semblance of its
original self. The prophetic expectation of a
restored national life, when the Jews of the
Dispersion were to return "from Assyria and
from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush
and from Elam and from Hamath and from
Shinar and from the coast lands,"' is made to
refer to the movements of Jews in modern times
from Europe and America back to Jerusalem.
And the prophets' marvelous highway to be
miraculously prepared by God for the passage of
the returning exiles becomes the modern railway
from Joppa to Jerusalem, while the engine drawing the train fulfils Nahum's reference to the
chariots flashing with steel "in the day of his
preparation."2 Imagine, if you can, the postexilic prophets urging their Jewish kinsmen of
Assyria and Epypt to hold fast their faith in
God, awaiting with assurance a coming deliverance to be initiated some twenty-five hundred
years later by the use of a modern railroad from
Joppa to Jerusalem. The true premillennialist
1 Isa. II: II.    2 Nah. 2:3.




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 219


can perform this feat of fancy with the ease of
a professional acrobat, at the same time solemnly
affirming that he stands upon the solid rock of
Scripture.
Since the language of Jewish apocalyptic is
often designedly obscure, perversions of its
meaning are not always so self-evident as in the
case of the prophets. Yet such perversions are
even more abundant in the premillennialists'
program. Texts from the Book of Daniel are
employed without the slightest regard for the
author's own immediate experiences and problems. His references to the sufferings endured
by the Jews of the author's own day are quite
ignored.  Instead  of writing primarily to
strengthen the faith and courage of his fellowsufferers, it is assumed that he was mainly
interested in depicting a distant scene still
awaiting realization after a lapse of more than
two thousand years. The profanation of the
sanctuary at Jerusalem, the discontinuance of
the burnt offering, the abominable heathen
image within the temple inclosure, and other
phases of affliction distressing the pious soul of
the author of Daniel become fanciful future happenings belonging to an imaginary period of tribulation to precede the anticipated catastrophic




220        The Millennial Hope
end of the present world. It avails nothing with
the premillenarian that the writer of Daniel
sought to cheer his contemporaries by assigning
a limit of less than four years for the continuance of their sufferings. This promise of speedy
relief, like the references to distress, is violently
torn from history and transplanted into the
realm of premillennial fancy.
New Testament writers receive similar
treatment. It is tacitly assumed that all of
them had their eyes riveted upon the same
phantasmagorical display that entrances the
imagination of the premillennialist. The earliest Christians' own immediate experiences and
problems are not thought to have any important
bearing upon the meaning of their words.
The fallacy of this procedure may be illustrated by a few examples. Manifestly Mark is
referring to the destruction of the Jewish temple
of Jesus' own day when he reports Jesus as
saying, "There shall not be left here one stone
upon another which shall not be thrown down."
Thereupon the disciples press him with the
question, "Tell us when shall these things be
and what shall be the sign when these things are
about to be accomplished?" Then follows a
description of the tribulation leading up to this




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 22I


anticipated disaster, which is regarded as part
of the program of suffering immediately to
precede the end of the world. The discourse
closes with the solemn declaration that the
generation then living should not pass away
"until all these things be accomplished."'
Although the exact hour is not specified, the
end is so near that Christians of that day are
warned to be ready at a moment's notice.
Every sentence in this description breathes keen
expectancy, and the whole clearly reflects the
perilous conditions of those ancient times. Premillennialists, however, are unable to take
serious account of this vital setting. According
to their program the period of great tribulation
is still an affair of the future. Hence they insist
that New Testament language be divorced from
its original historical situation and revised in
meaning to suit hypothetical conditions as yet
unrealized after the lapse of more than eighteen
centuries.
By ignoring the historical setting of the Book
of Revelation, this portion of the New Testament is also subjected to much perversion of
meaning. The use which is made of John's
references to the persecuting emperor will
Mark 13:30.




222


The Millennial Hope


suffice for illustration. John and his fellowChristians were enduring sore afflictions for
their refusal to participate in the worship of the
emperor, whose cult was being vigorously
enforced in Western Asia Minor. The staunch
faith and the lively imagination of John rise
to the occasion.   He pictures a glorious
triumph of God when the Roman emperor
and his priest, the entire Roman Empire and
all Satanic powers, will perish utterly before
the onslaught of the heavenly hosts with
Christ at their head. In order to strengthen
the confidence of his fellow-sufferers, John
discloses the name of the last emperor
veiled in the number 666, and predicts the
speedy coming of destruction upon this
ruler.' The renewed confidence and comfort which these bold words of assurance
brought to John's contemporaries may easily
be imagined.
When twentieth-century premillennial fancy
appropriates the language of the primitive
Christian seer, his words take on an entirely new
meaning. He is said to have had no real
concern either with the persecuting emperor or
with the relief of his fellow-Christian sufferers.
' See above, p. I49.




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 223


On the contrary, we are asked to believe that
he had primarily in mind the mythical figure
of a great champion of evil, the Antichrist,
whose appearance in history was to take place
more than two thousand years later. Sometimes an effort is made to discover this
Antichrist by equating the number 666 with
some pope, with Mohammed, or with some
other individual supposed to be a unique
embodiment of wickedness. But unless the
end of the world immediately follows-and
it never does-the identification has to be
abandoned, for with the work of the real Antichrist the present course of history must be
concluded. The difficulty is evaded by suggesting that these alleged evil characters are
"types," but the real person designated by
John still remains to be discovered. And John's
emphatic assertions regarding the imminence of
the end are made a message to our day rather
than to his own afflicted contemporaries.
His primary aim was not to comfort them with
the promise of speedy relief, but to provide a
millennial program for the twentieth century.
When his language is recast to suit this end,
numerous perversions of his meaning become
inevitable.




224


The Millennial Hope


III
If modern premillenarianism perverts biblical
teaching and yet if the millennial hope is
actually present in the Bible, how is this biblical
teaching to be estimated in modern times? In
the first place, it should be remembered that the
Bible offers, not a single millennial program,
but a series of hopes emerging at different
periods in the evolution of Hebrew, Jewish, and
Christian history. One type of hope is framed
to meet the needs of a primitive age in preexilic times. With the experiences resulting
from the exile, Hebrew hopes take on new forms
of expression, and their content is transformed
to meet changed conditions. This process of
evolution continues in Maccabean and in
Roman times as the apocalyptic writers create
new imagery and depict a new type of kingdom
of God to come upon the earth.
Christian views show similar, though less
extensive, variation. Immediately after Jesus'
death his disciples depicted an early return of
their master to inaugurate a new age. But
presently they recast their first hope in order
to allow a place for their gentile missionary
propaganda. Then as time passed they began
to find at least a partial and preliminary realiza



Modern Estimate of Millennial Elopes 225


tion of their hopes within the new movement
which Jesus had instituted while upon earth.
The author of the Fourth Gospel placed so much
stress upon the significance of Jesus' earthly
work that the demand for a returning Christ
became much less imperative. But the majority
of Christians still looked to the near future for
some climactic display of God's saving work.
Times of persecution stimulated new interest in
this type of speculation and resulted in such new
pictures of triumph as those exhibited in the
Book of Revelation.
A proper estimate of these varied hopes
cannot be arrived at by means of harmonization
or mutual superimposition. In producing any
such composite photograph the features of one
image are completely obscured, another becomes
so badly distorted as to be unrecognizable, and
a third is given arms or legs altogether out of
proportion to the rest of its anatomy. Any
consistent schematizing of all biblical millennial
hopes will necessarily result in a purely artificial
and lifeless product. But viewed as individual
expressions of opinion emerging at definite
periods in history and within specific environments, the hopes of the ancients take on reality
and life and are capable of being evaluated in




226


The Millennial Hope


terms of their functional significance in ancient
times. It is possible, and it might prove truly
profitable, to estimate the significance for their
own day of the hopes of Isaiah or Ezekiel or
Daniel or Paul or Mark or the author of the
Gospel of John or the seer of Revelation.
These views were entertained by real people and
were advanced as solutions to specific problems,
and so are capable of being estimated in terms
of their value to the ancient man or in terms of
their value to moderns. In the same way the
views of the modern millennialist, being his own
peculiar possession, have their significance for
him. But biblical teaching as a hypothetical
unit never had any significance to anyone, for
no one person-at least no person in his right
mind-ever did or ever can truly entertain all
of these various opinions at one and the same
moment in history.
The millennial type of hope in its different
forms was often of great worth to the ancients.
It helped them to maintain their faith in the
triumph of righteousness at times when life's
ills seemed overwhelming and no other way of
escape seemed open. At crucial moments in
his experience the devout believer gave wings
to his imagination and formulated a program of




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 227


divine intervention phrased in language and
imagery suited to his own immediate needs.
An Isaiah stimulated his contemporaries to
righteous living by predicting a terrible day of
Jehovah when the Hebrew nation would perish,
Ezekiel cheered the exiles and inculcated holiness by portraying the hope of a glorious return
to Palestine. The imagery of Daniel served to
strengthen the endurance of the afflicted Jews
during the fierce persecutions of Antiochus.
The expectation of Christ's speedy return was a
mighty stimulus to activity on the part of the
earliest Christians, and the extravagant imagery
of Revelation was a fitting antidote to the
apparently hopeless status of small Christian
groups when persecuted by the mighty power
of Rome. Thus millennial hopes served to
interpret a wide range of experience, the details
of the imagery varying from time to time
according to the demands of specific individuals
in different situations.
Similarly the value which an individual today
attaches to any form of ancient hope depends
ultimately upon its functional significance in
modern times. The mere passage of time has
rendered large portions of the biblical imagery
untenable for moderns. The restoration of




228


The Millennial Hope


nomadic ethical ideals among the Hebrews, the
return of the dispersed Jews from Babylonia or
Egypt to Palestine, or the destruction of the
Seleucid Empire cannot become the center of
faith and hope today. The return of Christ can
no longer be expected during the lifetime of
certain of his earthly associates, nor can the
overthrow of the Roman Empire constitute a
vital element in the modern hope. As a matter
of fact, today no specific form of biblical hope
can be exactly reproduced with all its original
details, which in most instances were just the
features giving it peculiar value to the ancients.
To be sure, one who chooses to do so may
construct a new form of hope employing
selected phrases and imagery from the Bible,
and such a hope may have value for its modern
creator, but it cannot be identified with any
specific form of biblical hope.
Although biblical forms of millennial hope
are no longer tenable, the faith and sincerity of
the ancients who proposed these solutions for
the evils of the world are still both suggestive
and inspiring. Nor is confidence in the victory of righteousness to be abandoned simply
because past generations have failed to plot
accurately the devious itinerary of the tri



Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 229


umphal procession down through the ages. It
was a perfectly normal procedure for the worthies of old to phrase their message as they did.
They were but using current language which
made possible the concrete expression of their
own experiences and enabled them to convey to
their contemporaries vivid representations of
their faith, sincerity, and consecration. To
admit that we of today no longer find it possible
to speak their language is not to deny their value
for our times. Indeed, if the interpreters of
modern life were to learn well the lessons of
initiative, diligence, and consecration exemplified by the ancients, the contribution of biblical
millennialists to present-day problems would
be far greater than it ever can be through any
mere parrot-like appropriation of ancient millennial imagery.
IV
Since biblical hopes are incapable of being
literally reproduced, shall moderns seek a solution for the evils of the present age in a new
form of millennial speculation? Or shall they
adopt outright a positively constructive policy
of world-betterment? In other words, shall
we still look for God to introduce a new order




230


The Millennial Hope


by catastrophic means or shall we assume the
responsibility of bringing about our own millennium, believing that God is working in us
and in our world to will and to work for his
good pleasure?
The modern man has various reasons for
doubting the validity of present-day reconstructions of millennial hopes. In the first
place, mistrust is aroused by the utter failure
of all past millennial programs to produce
promised results. Whether among Gentiles,
Jews, or Christians, all predictions of the end
of the world have failed of fulfilment. The
new world-year of Babylonian expectations has
not materialized, the Persian hope of a new age
is long overdue, and the Golden Age of GraecoRoman fancy remains unrealized. A similar
fate has overtaken Hebrew hopes. The older
prophets looked in vain for the restoration of
ideal nomadic conditions in Palestine. The
anticipated glories of the restored exiles as
pictured by later prophets came no nearer to
realization. The apocalyptic visionary was
never privileged to see his impending kingdom
of heaven established upon earth. Tragic disappointment awaited those enthusiastic Jewish
nationalists who revolted against Rome in the




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 23I


hope of bringing Jehovah to their aid. As time
and experience rendered earlier hopes untenable
it was a magnificent faith that prompted the
afflicted Israelites to paint new pictures of
coming deliverance. One may well admire
their unbounded confidence in God, even
though they misjudged his intentions for the
future and were slow to learn from the signs of
the times that his purposes in history were to
be worked out in a much less spectacular manner than they had frequently imagined.
All early Christian millennial expectations
have similarly miscarried. Paul was disappointed in his hope of living to see the day of
the Lord, nor did the promised end of the world
speedily arrive to relieve his converts of their
distresses. Christians of Mark's day were
equally overzealous in supposing that Christ
would return in apocalyptic glory while certain
of his earthly companions were still alive.
Similarly fanciful were the well-meant efforts
of the writer of Revelation to cheer persecuted
Christians with the promise of Christ's speedy
coming to destroy the oppressor and reward the
faithful. In the course of the years Christians did possess themselves of the Mediterranean world, triumphing completely over their




232


The Millennial Hope


heathen persecutors, but in a very different manner from that anticipated by the author of Revelation. There is something grand about these
early sufferers' faith in the triumph of their
cause, even though they would have impatiently forced the issue instead of awaiting the
gradual evolution of the divine purposes as
disclosed in subsequent history.
The millennial speculations of later Christian
history only increase one's distrust of all
attempts to determine times and seasons, or to
secure permanent relief by catastrophic means.
History always denies the expectation of the
end, and all fresh predictions are automatically
invalidated when the hour for their fulfilment
arrives. Whether it is an Irenaeus, an Augustine, or any of their successors who turns
prophet, the result is always the same. And
yet even today some Christians continue to
pursue the millennial mirage, vainly looking
for a catastrophic end of the world instead of
throwing themselves heart and soul into the
task of improving the existing order, whose
permanence is attested by centuries of disappointed millennial hopes.
A second item discrediting millennial expectations in the eyes of the modern world is the




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 233


fanciful content of these hopes. As children
delight in fairy stories and draw no sharp
distinction between fact and fancy, so primitive
peoples gave free reign to their imagination as
they depicted ideal conditions in the distant
past or the glories of a new age yet to come.
It is not surprising that Gentiles, Jews, and
early Christians in the ancient world all
resorted to fancy as the chief means of giving
definite and attractive form to their future
hopes. In those days elevated emotion and
pious imagination were standard instruments
for measuring religious knowledge whether of
the past or of the future. But times have
changed. Today religious fancy must submit
to the factual restraints of scientific sanity if it
would not become discredited among thoughtful people. However interesting these fancies
may be as products of ardent faith, they can no
longer be accepted as actual facts.
In millennial expectations, however, unrestrained fancy plays a leading r8le. The
ancient prophets depicted the speedy advent of
an imaginary day of Jehovah as the hour of the
nation's doom. In post-exilic times a new
series of images was created to visualize the
anticipated joys of the restored captives. The




234


The Millennial Hope


materials for these pictures were either appropriated from current mythology or were produced by new flights of the imagination. The
same process was continued by the apocalyptic
writers. Often stimulated by highly wrought
emotions, their fancy soared to new heights,
painting for itself magnificent pictures of
heaven and of the heavenly kingdom soon to be
established upon earth. The early Christian
seer follows in the footsteps of his Jewish predecessor, except that he strives to attain new
visions of a more gorgeous character. These
ancient efforts to portray the future are not
hampered by any restraints of a modern type.
Apparently it never occurs to the seer to ask
whether the hard facts of history furnish warrant for his conclusions. Indeed, the farther
his imagery transcends the known facts of
actual experience, the stronger is its appeal to
the imagination of himself and his contemporaries.
The same unrestrained exercise of fancy
characterizes all later millennial speculation.
The mythical creations of earlier days are freely
reproduced and supplemented by new flights
of the imagination. These fancied pictures are
boldly exhibited as realizable fact, and modern




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 235


men are asked to portray the kingdom of God
in the extravagant imagery of primitive times.
Apparently the failure of past hopes never
wakens a suspicion that the fabric which new
fancy creates will one day similarly vanish into
thin air. In the meantime one depicts in truly
mythological fashion the coming of a day when
God, Christ, and the angels will appear upon
earth as realistically as ever Homer's gods
descended from Mount Olympus. And the
delights of the Elysian fields were never more
vividly portrayed than are the joys of the righteous on the day of admission to their luxurious
apartments in the New Jerusalem of millennial
expectation.
A third objection to millennial fancies as
advocated by modern premillenarianism arises
from their inherent pessimism. The story of
man's career upon earth is viewed as one long
process of deterioration from the days of Adam
until the day of final doom. Life's ills seem
altogether too gigantic to be overcome by mere
human endeavor, and even with such divine
aid as mankind has experienced no gradual
process of reform can issue successfully. Each
hour in the world's history must be darker than
the one that came before, nor can any power,




236


The Millennial Hope


human or divine, dispel this gathering gloom.
Although God is supposed to have intervened
to help humanity at certain times in the past,
such occurrences have been sporadic and anticlimactic. The course of history quickly descended to lower levels and the world as a whole
has been growing constantly worse.
Even religion does not escape the premillenarian's pessimism. He scorns all efforts
made in the name of religion to correct the ills
of society. Society must not be redeemed; it
must be damned. The ban is also placed upon
all intellectual efforts to become more accurately
acquainted with the universe as a means of
reading God's thoughts after him. The quintessence of religion is made to consist in assent
to the fanciful premillennial program, and those
Christians who refuse such assent are assigned
to the outer court, where they are more or less
under the dominion of Satan. In fact the
church itself is believed to be growing constantly
more worldly as the present age draws to a
close. To inaugurate any program of social
betterment or to set the church as a whole upon
an upward course would be to thwart the divine
purposes and to delay the advent of Christ.
Both the world and the church must grow




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hlopes 237


constantly worse in order to meet premillennial
ideals. Viewed from this standpoint, the essential function of religion is to insure for a few
select individuals a way of escape from the
ultimate wrack and ruin to which the world is
destined.
This pessimistic outlook upon life is a violent
anachronism in the modern world. It belongs
to a prescientific age when primitive thinking
derived the imagery for its expression from a
purely mythological interpretation of the universe. Mythology always glorifies the past or
the future at the expense of the present, and it
was to mythology that the ancient man commonly turned for his philosophy of history and
of life. But today, in all circles dominated by
the modern scientific spirit, a different state of
affairs prevails. The course of world-history
is interpreted in terms of carefully observed
facts revealing an evolutionary process of development, and in the light of this new knowledge premillennial pessimism is no longer
tenable.
To be more specific, it is sheer nonsense to
talk dolefully about the gradual deterioration
of society to a student of history familiar
with the actual course of human development




238


The Millennial Hope


from prehistoric times down to the present.
This course of history exhibits one long process
of evolving struggle by which humanity as a
whole rises constantly higher in the scale of
civilization and attainment, bettering its condition from time to time through its greater
skill and industry. Viewed in the long perspective of the ages, man's career has been one
of actual ascent. Instead of growing worse, the
world is found to be growing constantly better.
The historian's conviction of cosmic progress
and permanence is further substantiated by
the findings of the physical scientist. He too
discovers a gradual process in the course of the
world's development extending over countless
millenniums, and the laws of his science enable
him to predict the continuance of the physical
universe for still millions of years. Scientific
knowledge leaves no room for the retention of
primitive mythical fancies regarding a cataclysmic end of the world.
Since history and science show that betterment is always the result of achievement, man
learns to surmise that evils still unconquered
are to be eliminated by strenuous effort and
gradual reform rather than by the catastrophic
intervention of Deity. Modern scientific think



Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 239


ing is fundamentally optimistic in its outlook
upon the world's future. It neither ignores the
ills of life nor minimizes their severity. But
it hopefully proceeds to effect their elimination.
Instead of assuming an attitude of passive submission awaiting a day when all evil is to be
destroyed by a cosmic catastrophe, it takes
active measures to accomplish present relief.
Disease is to be cured or prevented by the
physician's skill, society's ills are to be remedied
by education and legislation, and international
disasters are to be averted by establishing new
standards and new methods for dealing with
the problems involved. In short, the ills of
life are to be cured by a gradual process of
remedial treatment rather than by sudden
annihilation.
The function of religion in this program is
also remedial. Its aim is not simply to extricate a few individual souls from the debris of a
perishing world. The more positive and comprehensive task of religion, as scientifically
understood, is to stimulate successive generations throughout unnumbered centuries to aim
at the highest moral and spiritual attainment
of which men in all future ages may find themselves capable. This outlook demands much




240


The Millennial Hope


strenuous endeavor and may entail many
discouragements ere the gigantic task is accomplished, but it leaves no room for pessimism of
the premillennial type.
/ On the other hand, the retention of a vain
I hope of catastrophic world-renewal begets indifference, if not actual hostility, toward all remedial agencies designed to improve the present
order of existence by a gradual process of inner
reform. The premillennialist will labor strenuously to rescue individual souls, but he has no
lively interest in removing the causes that lead
i souls astray, nor has he any faith in the efficacy
of preventive measures. Were he to recognize
their value or success, his fond conviction that
the world is doomed to grow constantly worse
would have to be abandoned. He therefore
gives himself to the temporary duty of refitting
a few derelicts for further voyaging upon the sea
of life, and refuses to participate in the larger
and more important work of so reforming conditions of navigation upon life's ocean that the
causes of shipwreck will be reduced to a minimum, if not indeed ultimately eliminated.
The pessimistic philosophy of life which
underlies premillennial teaching is especially
to be deplored at the present time. It is always




Modern Estimate of Millennial Hopes 241
a sad day for humanity when any group of
religious people spurns, as premillennialists are
in principle compelled to do, all serious effort
to secure the betterment of the world by means
of popular education, social reforms, remedial
legislation, or other agencies for improving
undesirable conditions of life and attaining
higher ideals of social righteousness. But this
negative attitude becomes peculiarly vicious
in the present hour of the world's need, when
the call to duty is no longer merely local, but
nation-wide and international.




SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY


GENERAL
C. A. Beckwith. Article "Millennium," New SchaffHerzog Religious Encyclopedia, VII (New York, I9Io),
374-78.
W. Adams Brown. Article "Millennium," Hastings'
Dictionary of the Bible, III (New York, I900), 370-73.
A. Harnack. Article "Millennium," Encyclopaedia Britannica, IIth ed., XVIII, 46I-63.
J. A. MacCulloch. Article "Eschatology," Hastings'
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, V (New York,
1914), 373-9I; also "Ages of the World" by various
authors, ibid., I, I83-210.
Semisch. Article " Chiliasmus," Realencyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie und Kirche, III (Leipzig, 1897),
805-I7.
H. Corrodi. Kritische Geschichte des Chiliasmus, 2. Aufl.,
4 Bde. (Zirich, I794).
Leon Gry. Le Milllnarisme dans ses origines et son developpement (Paris, I904).
A. Chiapelli. Le Idee millenarie dei Christiani (Napoli,
i888).
GENTILE HOPES
J. H. Breasted. "The Earliest Social Prophet," American
Journal of Theology, XIV (I9Io), II4 —I6.
W. O. E. Oesterley. Evolution of the Messianic Idea: A
Study in Comparative Religion (London, I908).
A. J. Carnoy. "Iranian," The Mythology of All Races, VI
(Boston, I917), 253-35I.
242




Selected Bibliography              243
L. H. Mills. Avesta Eschatology Compared with the Books
of Daniel and Revelations (Chicago, I908).
K. F. Smith. "Ages of the World (Greek and Roman),"
Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, I (New
York, I913), I92-200.
N. S6derblom. La Vie future d'aprbs le mazdtisme (Paris,
I90o).
E. B6klen. Die Verwandtschaft der jildisch-christlichen mit
der parsischen Eschatologie (G6ttingen, 1902).
HEBREW AND JEWISH HOPES
E. C. A. Riehm. Messianic Prophecy, 2d ed. (New York,
1891).
H. P. Smith. The Religion of Israel (New York, 1914).
J. P. Peters. The Religion of the Hebrews (Boston, I914).
B. Duhm. The Ever-coming Kingdom of God (London,
I9II).
H. Gressmann. Der Ursprung der israelitisch-jiidischen
Eschatologie (Gottingen, I905).
J. H. A. Hart. The Hope of Catholick Judaism (Oxford,
I910).
F. C. Porter. The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers
(New York, 1909).
F. C. Burkitt. Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (London,
I914).
S. R. Driver. The Book of Daniel [Cambridge Bible]
(Cambridge, I9oo).
R. H. Charles. The Book of Daniel [New Century Bible]
(New York [n.d.]).
A. A. Bevan. A Short Commentary on the Book of Daniel
(Cambridge, 1892).
J. D. Prince. A Critical Commentary on the Book of Daniel
(Leipzig, 1899).
K. Marti. Das Buch Daniel (Ttibingen, 1901).




244


The Millennial Hope


R. H. Charles. The Book of Enoch (London: Society for
the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, I917); The
Apocalypse of Baruch (idem); The Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs (idem).
W. J. Ferrar. The Assumption of Moses (idem).
G. H. Box. The Ezra-Apocalypse (London, I912).
R. H. Charles. A Critical History of the Doctrine of a
Future Life in Israel, in Judaism and in Christianity,
2d ed. (New York, I913).
E. Schiirer. History of the Jewish People in the Time of
Jesus Christ (New York, I891), Div. II, Vol. II, pp.
126-87.
M. J. Lagrange. Le Messianisme chez les Juifs (Paris,
I909).
P. Volz. Jiidische Eschatologie von Daniel bis Akiba
(Ttibingen, I903).
F. Weber. Jiidische Theologie auf Grund des Talmud und
verwandter Schriften (Leipzig, I897), pp. 336-405.
ANCIENT CHRISTIAN HOPES
E. F. Scott. The Kingdom and the Messiah (New York,
I9II).
S. Mathews. The Messianic Hope in the New Testament
(Chicago, I905).
L. A. Muirhead. The Eschatology of Jesus (New York,
I904).
H. B. Sharman. The Teaching of Jesus about the Future,
According to the Synoptic Gospels (Chicago, I909).
H. A. A. Kennedy. Saint Paul's Conception of the Last
Things (New York, I904).
S. J. Case. The Book of Revelation, an outline Bible-study
course of the American Institute of Sacred Literature,
Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois; reprinted from the Biblical
World, L (I917), 192-200, 257-64, 321-28, 382-90.




Selected Bibliography


245


C. A. Scott. The Book of Revelation [New Century Bible]
(New York, 1902).
J. T. Dean. The Book of Revelation [Handbooks for Bible
Classes and Private Students] (New York, I9I5).
H. B. Swete. The Apocalypse of Saint John: The Greek
Text with Introduction, Notes and Indices, 3d ed. (New
York, 1909).
J. Moffatt. "The Book of Revelation," Expositor's Greek
Testament, V (New York, I910), 279-494.
W. Bousset. Die Offenbarung Johannis (Gottingen, 1906);
The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and
Jewish Folklore (London, i896); article "Antichrist"
in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
I (New York, 1913), 578-81.
F. C. Grant. "The Eschatology of the Second Century,"
American Journal of Theology, XXI (I9I7), I93-2II.
L. Atzberger. Geschichte der christlichen Eschatologie
innerhalb der vornicinischen Zeit (Freiburg, 1896).
P. Schaff. History of the Christian Church, II (New York,
1892), 6I3-20.
E. Wadstein. Die eschatologische Ideengruppe Antichrist,
Weltsabbat, Weltende und Weltgericht (Leipzig, 1896)
[Middle Ages].
MILLENARIAN SECTS
Count Liitzow. Bohemia; an Historical Sketch (London,
1896); Life and Times of John Hus (idem, 1909).
K. Kautsky. Communism in Central Europe in the Time of
the Reformation (London, 1897), pp. 216-93 [Anabaptists in Miinster].
C. Burrage. "The Fifth Monarchy Insurrections," English
Historical Review, XXV (I9I0), 722-47.
F. W. Evans. Compendium of the Origin, History, etc., of
the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second A ppearing (New York, 1853) [Shakers].




246


The Millennial Hope


E. Miller. History and Doctrines of Irvingism, 2 vols.
(London, I878).
W. B. Neatby. A History of the Plymouth Brethren (London, 1902).
W. A. Linn. The Story of the Mormons from the Date of
Their Origin to the Year I9OI (New York, 1902).
I. C. Wellcome. History of the Second Advent Message and
Mission, Doctrine and People (Yarmouth, Maine,
1874) [Adventists].
J. N. Loughborough. Rise and Progress of the Seventh Day
Adventists (Battle Creek, Michigan, I892).
C. Hoffmann. Mein Weg nach Jerusalem. 2 Bde. (Stuttgart, 1881-84).
E. Kalb. Kirchen und Sekten der Gegenwart, 2. Aufl. (Stuttgart, 1907).
C. T. Russell. The Divine Plan of the Ages (Allegheny,
i886); The Time Is at Hand (1889); Thy Kingdom
Come (1891); The Day of Vengeance (1897); The AtOne-Ment between God and Man (I899); The New
Creation (I904) ["Millennial Dawn"].
PREMILLENARIANISM
J. A. Seiss. The Last Times (Philadelphia, I878); Voices
from Babylon, or the Records of Daniel the Prophet
(idem, 1879).
Premillennial Essays of the Prophetic Conference (Chicago,
I879).
S. H. Kellog. "Premillenarianism: Its Relation to Doctrine and Practice," Bibliotheca Sacra, XLV (i888),
234-74.
S. J. Andrews. Christianity and Anti-Christianity in Their
Final Conflict (New York, I890).
W. E. Blackstone. Jesus Is Coming (New York, 1878,
i9o83).




Selected Bibliography


247


A. C. Gaebelein. The Harmony of the Prophetic Word
(New York, 1907).
J. M. Gray. Satan and the Saints, or The Present Darkness
and the Coming Light (New York, I909).
J. F. Silver. The Lord's Return (New York, I914).
The Coming and Kingdom    of Christ (New York, 1915)
[Addresses delivered at the International Conference
held in Chicago in I9I4].
REFUTATION OF PREMILLENARIANISM
Daniel Whitby. Treatise of Traditions, 2 parts (London,
i688 f.).
David Brown. Christ's Second Coming; Will It Be Premillenarian? 6th ed. (Edinburgh, 1867).
B. C. Young. Short Arguments about the Millennium
(London, I854).
J. F. Berg. The Second Advent of Jesus Not Premillennial
(Philadelphia, I859).
C. A. Briggs. "Origin and History of Premillenarianism,"
Lutheran Quarterly, IX (1879), 207-45.
E. L. Eaton. The Millennial Dawn Heresy (New York,
I9II).
H. C. Sheldon. Studies in     Recent Adventism  (New
York, I9I5).
G. P. Eckman. When Christ Comes Again (New York,
I917).
S. Mathews. Will Christ Come Again? (Chicago, 1917)
[A leaflet of the American Institute of Sacred Literature].








INDEX








INDEX


Adventists, 202
Ages of the world, I6, 19 f., 31 ff.
Allegorical interpretation, 178 f.,
215 f.
Alsted, 191
Amos, 54 ff.
Anabaptists, go9
Antichrist, 164 f., x68, 170, 187 f.,
I97, 2ii f., 223
Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, 80, 82,
84 f., 86
Apocalyptic writings, 8i
Assumption of Moses, 93
Asurbanipal, 14
Augustine, 179 ff.
Augustus, 34, 39 f.
Barcochba, 86, o04f.
Barnabas, r57
Baruch, 94
Bengel, J. A., I95
Berosus, 16
Bohemian Brethren, i89
Bronze Age, 3I
Catholic Apostolic church, 198 ff.
Cerinthus, I78
Comenius, I89
Commodian, i68
Daniel, Book of, 8i ff.
Darbyites, 198 ff.
David, 52
Day of Jehovah, 55 ff., 70 f., 89
Deluge: Babylonian, II; Greek,
32 f.; Hebrew, 51
Demonic powers, 23 f., 98


Didache, i56
Dionysius of Alexandria, I78 f.
Domitian, I50
Elijah, 72
Eller, E., 194 f.
Elysian fields, 33 f.
Enoch, Book of, 87
Epicureanism, 43 f.
Eschatology: Babylonian, ii6;
Danielic, 85; early Christian,
135; of Enoch, 87 ff.; Pauline,
i8 ff.; Persian, 23 f.; postexilic, 72 ff.; of prophets, 68 f.;
Stoic, 46
"Evangelists," 204
Evil, problem of, 3 f.
Ezra, Book of, 95 f.
Fifth Monarchy Movement, 192 ff.
Gehenna, 88 f., 96
Gnostics, 172
Golden Age: Babylonian, 13 ff.;
Egyptian, 9; Greek, 31, 43;
Persian, 20 ff.; Roman, 35, 37;
40
Hammurabi, 13 f.
Hermas, I60 f.
Hesiod, 29 ff., 54
Hippolytus, 167 f.
Hoffmann, C., 197
Hoffmann, M., 190
Hopes: apocalyptic, 80 ff., 219;
Babylonian, io ff.; early Christian, I07 ff.; later Christian,
155 ff.; Danielic, 8i ff.; Egyptian,
8 ff.; of Gospel of John 136 ff.;


25I




252


The Millennial Hope


Hebrew, 48 ff.; national, 99 ff.;
Pauline, I8 iff.; Persian, 8 ff.;
in I Pet., I42; post-exilic, 70 ff.
pre-exilic, 53 ff.; rabbinic, 105 f.;
in Rev., 143 ff.; Roman, 34 ff.;
in Synoptic Gospels, 125 ff.
Hosea, 57 ff.
Huss, John, 187 f.
Ignatius, 156 f.
Irenaeus, 163 ff., 172
Iron Age, 31 ff.
Irvingites, 198 ff.
Isaiah, 6I ff.
Ishtar, 12
Isis, 9 f.
Jehovah, anger of, 49 f.
Jeremiah, 65 ff.
Jerusalem: New, 152f.; restoration of, 74 ff.
Jesus: hopes of, II f.; messiahship of, 13 ff., I29 ff.; miracles
of, 133; teaching of, 132
Joachim of Floris, I85
John the Baptist, IIo f.
Josephus, 103 f.
Jubilees, Book of, ioi
Judas of Galilee, io8
Judgment, 25 f., 91, 96, I52, 162,
167
Justin Martyr, i6i ff.
Lactantius, 169
Latter Day Saints, 201
Maccabees, 99
Marduk, Io f.
Merneptah, 9
Messiah, 77, 89, 91, 94 f.; apocalyptic, 97, IO ff.; in Daniel, 85;
Davidic, 102; descent of, 99 f.
Methodius, I71
Micah, 59 ff.


Militz, 187
Millenarianism: diversity in, 206f.,
224 ff.; function of, 207 ff.,
226 ff.; in Middle Ages, 184 ff.;
modern estimate of, 224 ff.; in
Protestantism, i86 ff.
Millennium, 92, 151 f.
Millerites, 202
Mormons, 201
Moses, 52
Mysteries, 41 f.
Myths: Babylonian, ioff., i6;
Egyptian, 8 ff.; Greek, 28ff.;
Hebrew, 49; meaning of, 4;
Persian, i8 ff.; Roman, 34 ff.
Nepos, 178
Nero, 148 ff., 168
Noah, 5I
Origen, 174 f.
Osiris, 9 f.
Palestine, transformation of, 74 ff.
Papias, 158 f.
Paradise: Babylonian, I2; Hebrew, 50; Persian, 22
Persecution of Christians, I4I ff..
162
I Peter, I42
II Peter, 159 f., 172
Philo, 102
Philosophy:   Babylonian,   5 f.;
Graeco-Roman, 42 f.
Plato, 42
Plymouth Brethren, 198 ff.
Polycarp, 156 f.
Postmillenarianism, 209
Premillenarianism: modern estimate of, 229 ff.; a perversion of
Scripture, 216 ff.; pessimism of,
235 ff.; tenets of, 209 ff.; validity of, 213 ff.
Prometheus, 30




Index


253


Prophetic Conference, 204
Psalms of Solomon, ioi
"Rapture," 211
Resurrection. See Eschatology
Revelation, Book of, 6, I43 ff.,
178 f.
Rome, fall of, 95 f., I50 f.
Ronsdorf Sect, I94 f.
Russell, C. T., 203
Savior, Ii, 24, 39 f.
Schonherr, 197
Second Advent, date of, S5o, 157 f.,
16I f., i66 f., i69, I86, i88, 192,
195 ff., 198, 202 f.
Secrets of Enoch, 92
Seneca, 46
Shakers, 196
Sibylline books, 37, Ioo, I69 f.
Silver Age, 3I


"666," 49, 64, 222 f.
Smith, Joseph, 201
Solomon, 52
Son of Man, 83, 91
Soshyans, 24
Stoicism, 44 ff., 67
Taborites, 188 f.
Tertullian, I65 ff.
Testament XII, 99
Titans, 28
Virgil, 36 ff.
World-weeks, go
World-year, 16 f., 42 f.
Yima, 20 ff.
Zephaniah, 65
Zerubbabel, 79
Zoroaster, 23, 27


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