Associated with the claims that there will be no future kingdom on this earth, is a claim that this was never taught in the first 1800 years of the church. But this is totally incorrect. The truth is, that the only surviving document dating from before the fourth century, that denies this future kingdom, was written by a man justly condemned for heresy due to his many denials of basic Christian doctrine.
But this future kingdom was explicitly taught in all the following statements. Unless otherwise noted, all the quotations below are from the widely circulated ten volume set titled “The Early Church Fathers: Ante-Nicene Fathers.” A quick check of the index will show which volume contains each writer and article.
The earliest Christian commentator on Bible prophecy known to modern scholars was Papias, who is thought to have written between 110 and 140 A. D. All of his writings have been lost, but Eusebius said concerning him:
“The same writer gives also other accounts which he says came to him through unwritten tradition, certain strange parables and teachings of the Saviour, and some other more mythical things. To these belong his statement that there will be a period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth.” (“The Church History,” by Eusebius, book III, chapter XXXIX, sections 12-13.)
The next Christian commentator on prophecy that we know about was Justyn, who is called Justin Martyr, because he died as a martyr. In his famous work titled “Dialogue with Trypho,” which is thought to have been written between 150 and 160 A.D., he said:
“And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.” (“Dialogue With Trypho,” by Justin Martyr, chapter LXXXI.)
Again, Justyn said:
“And Trypho to this replied, ‘I remarked to you sir, that you are very anxious to be safe in all respects, since you cling to the Scriptures. But tell me, do you really admit that this place, Jerusalem, shall be rebuilt; and do you expect your people to be gathered together, and made joyful with Christ and the patriarchs, and the prophets, both the men of our nation, and other proselytes who joined them before your Christ came? Or have you given way, and admitted this in order to have the appearance of worsting us in the controversies?’
“Then I answered, ‘I am not so miserable a fellow, Trypho, as to say one thing and think another. I admitted to you formerly, that I and many others are of this opinion, and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise.’” (“Dialogue with Tyrpho,” by Justin Martyr, chapter LXXX.)
The next writer on prophecy that we know about was Irenaeus, whose very famous five volume work titled “against Heresies,” which is believed to have been published when he was Bishop of Lyons, which would date it to between the years 186 and 188 A.D., said:
“It behoves the righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation which is renovated, and that the judgment should take place afterwards. For it is just that in that very creation in which they toiled or were afflicted, being proved in every way by suffering, they should receive the reward of their suffering; and that in the creation in which they were slain because of their love to God, in that they should be revived again; and that in the creation in which they endured servitude, in that they should reign.” (“Against Heresies,” by Irenaeus, book V, chapter XXXII, section 1.)
And in another place, Irenaeus said:
“‘And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,’ that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years.
“For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: ‘Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.’This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.” (Against Heresies, by Irenaeus, book V, chapter XXVII, sections 2-3)
The last twelve chapters of this very famous work are the very oldest surviving Christian commentary on Bible prophecy of any significant length. All of the older ones were either very short or have been lost. And most of these twelve chapters sound like they might have been written last week at any of the Dispensational seminaries in the United States. It is easy to find these twelve short chapters online, Read them for yourself and see.
Tertullian, who is thought to have written between 197 and 220 A. D., said:
“But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence; inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem... We say that this city has been provided by God for receiving the saints on their resurrection, and refreshing them with the abundance of all really spiritual blessings, as a recompense for those which in the world we have either despised or lost; since it is both just and God-worthy that His servants should have their joy in the place where they have also suffered affliction for His name's sake... After its thousand years are over, within which period is completed the resurrection of the saints, who rise sooner or later according to their deserts there will ensue the destruction of the world and the conflagration of all things at the judgment:” (“Against Maricon,” by Tertullian, book III, chapter XXV.)
In his “Commentary on Daniel,” which is the very oldest surviving Cristian commentary on scripture, as opposed to a commentary on a scriptural subject, and is thought to have been written between the years 202 and 211 A.D., Hippolytus said:
"And so it is absolutely necessary for six-thousand years to be fulfilled, so that the Sabbath rest may come, the holy day, in which God rested from all his works which he began to do. The Sabbath is a model and an image of the coming kingdom of the saints, when the saints shall coreign with Christ, when he arrives from heaven, as also John in his Apocalypse describes. For a day of the Lord is as a thousand years. And so since in six days God made all things, it is necessary for six thousand years to be fulfilled. For they are not yet fulfilled, as John says, ‘Five have fallen, but one is,’ such is the sixth millennium, ‘the other has not yet come,’ saying ‘the other’ he describes the seventh millenniumnin which there shall be rest.” (“Commentary on Daniel,” by Hippolytus, 23.4-23.6, from the forthcoming translated by T. C. Schmidt of Yale University.)
Again, the very oldest commentary on the Revelation is the “Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John,” by Victorinus. We do not know the dates at which Victorinus wrote, but he is thought to have flourished around the year 270 A.D. He said concerning the vision in Revelation 20:
“And the scarlet devil is imprisoned and all his fugitive angels in the Tartarus of Gehenna at the coming of the Lord; no one is ignorant of this. And after the thousand years he is released, because of the nations which will have served Antichrist: so that they alone might perish, as they deserved. Then is the general judgment. Therefore he says: And they lived, he says, the dead who were written in the book of life, and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection: toward this one the second death has no power. Of this resurrection, he says: And I saw the Lamb standing, and with him 144 thousands, that is, standing with Christ, namely those of the Jews in the last time who become believers through the preaching of Elijah, those who, the Spirit bears witness, are virgins not only in body, but also in language. Therefore, as he reminds above, the 24 elder-aged said: Grace we bring to You, O Lord God who has reigned; and the nations are angry.
“At this same first resurrection will also appear the City and the splendid things expressed through this Scripture. Of this first resurrection Paul also spoke to the Macedonian church, thus: For as we have thus said to you, he says, by the Word of God, that at the trumpet of God, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven for raising up; and the dead in Christ will stand first, then we who are living, as we will be taken up with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. We have heard the trumpet spoken of; it is observed that in another place the Apostle names another trumpet. Therefore he says to the Corinthians: At the last trumpet, the dead will rise, will become immortal, and we will be changed.b He says the dead will be raised immortal for bearing punishments, but it is shown that we are to be changed and to be covered in glory. Therefore where we hear ‘the last trumpet,’ we must understand also a first, for these are two resurrections. Therefore, however many were not previously to rise in the first resurrection and to reign with Christ over the world, over all nations, will rise at the last trumpet, after the thousand years, that is, in the last resurrection, among the impious and sinners and perpetrators of various kinds. He rightly adds, saying: Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first anastasis: toward this one the second death has no power. For the second death is being thrown into hell.” (“Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John,” by Victorinus, comments on Revelation 20.)
There is a problem in the known texts of this very important ancient document. The text included in the widely circulated set titled “The Early Church Fathers: Ante-Nicene Fathers,” edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, reads completely differenly. But the text there is one edited by Jerome, who was amillennial. The original text, from which the above is copied, along with Jerome’s letter in which he stated that he had revised it, can be found online at:
http://www.preteristarchive.com/StudyArchive/v/victorinus-of-petau.html
Again, Victorinus said:
“And in Matthew we read, that it is written Isaiah also and the rest of his colleagues broke the Sabbath —that that true and just Sabbath should be observed in the seventh millenary of years. Wherefore to those seven days the Lord attributed to each a thousand years; for thus went the warning: ‘In Thine eyes, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day.’ Therefore in the eyes of the Lord each thousand of years is ordained, for I find that the Lord’s eyes are seven. Wherefore, as I have narrated, that true Sabbath will be in the seventh millenary of years, when Christ with His elect shall reign.” (“On the Creation of the World,” by Victorinus, fifth paragraph.)
Commodianus, who is thought to have written between the years 240 and 260 A. D., said “Of the First Ressurection:”
“They shall come also who overcame cruel martyrdom under Antichrist, and they themselves live for the whole time, and receive blessings because they have suffered evil things; and they themselves marrying, beget for a thousand years. There are prepared all the revenues of the earth, because the earth renewed without end pours forth abundantly... he who is evil is hedged up in torment, for the sake of the nourishment of the righteous. But from the thousand years God will destroy all those evils.” (“The Instructions of Commodianus,” by Commodianus, chapter 24.)
Lactantius, who is thought to have written between the years 303-316 A.D., said, in speaking of “the Almighty”:
“But He, when He shall have destroyed unrighteousness, and executed His great judgment, and shall have recalled to life the righteous, who have lived from the beginning, will be engaged among men a thousand years, and will rule them with most just command... Then they who shall be alive in their bodies shall not die, but during those thousand years shall produce an infinite multitude, and their offspring shall be holy, and beloved by God; but they who shall be raised from the dead shall preside over the living as judges... About the same time also the prince of the devils, who is the contriver of all evils, shall be bound with chains, and shall be imprisoned during the thousand years of the heavenly rule in which righteousness shall reign in the world, so that he may contrive no evil against the people of God.” (“The Divine Institutes,” by Lactantius, chapter 72.)
And the "Epistle of Barnabas," whose true author and date are not known with certainty, but is thought to possibly have been written as early as 80-120 A.D., said:
“The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: ‘And God made in six days the works of His hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it.’ Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, ‘He finished in six days.’ This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years. And He Himself testifieth, will be as a thousand years. Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. ‘And He rested on the seventh day.’ This meaneth: when His Son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man, and judge the ungodly, and change the-sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day. Moreover, He says, ‘Thou shalt sanctify it with pure hands and a pure heart.’ If, therefore, any one can now sanctify the day which God hath sanctified, except he is pure in heart in all things, Behold, therefore: certainly then one properly resting sanctifies it, when we ourselves, having received the promise, wickedness no longer existing, and all things having been made new by the Lord, shall be able to work righteousness. Then we shall be able to sanctify it, having been first sanctified ourselves.” (Epistle of Barnabas, chapter XV)
In addition to these, Jerome said that Apollinaris follows “this view.” (“Lives of Illustrious Men,” by Jerome, chapter XVIII.) And Eusebius reported that “a Bishop in Egypt” named Nepos, wrote a book titled “Refutation of Allegorists.”(“The Church History of Eusebius,” by Eusebius, Book VII, Chapter XXIV, paragraph 4) Eusebius went on to report that Dionysius said many thought this brook “proved beyond dispute that there will be a reign of Christ upon earth.” (“The Church History of Eusebius,” by Eusebius, Book VII, Chapter XXIV, paragraphs 1-2) and then further commented, “When I was in the district of Arsinoë, where, as you know, this doctrine has prevailed for a long time, so that schisms and apostasies of entire churches have resulted, I called together the presbyters and teachers of the brethren in the villages,—such brethren as wished being also present,—and I exhorted them to make a public examination of this question.” (“The Church History of Eusebius,” by Eusebius, Book VII, Chapter XXIV, paragraph 6.)
The last statement is proof that the doctrine of “a reign of Christ upon the earth” was not only taught, but “had prevailed for a long time” before the mid third century. (Dionysius is thought to have been Bishop of Alexandria from about 247-265.)
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