It is interesting to see that Amills actually believe that, even during the millennium reign of Christ, there are still billions of wicked people on Earth.
That is how much they really think of the effectiveness of Christ ruling over the Earth.
The writer of the Hebrews addresses Psalm 110:1 while speaking of Christ, in Hebrews 10:12-13, stating,
“this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth [
ekdechomenos]
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.”
The Greek word
ekdechomenos in this passage is only found 6 times in the New Testament although this is the only place where it is rendered “expecting.” Notwithstanding, it fits in beautifully with the 5 other New Testament renderings which are found in varying tenses in the Scriptures and are separately interpreted –
to wait, to look and to tarry. A fuller sense of the meaning could thus read, Christ is waiting, looking and expecting
“till his enemies be made his footstool.” Moreover, the word employed here in the original relates to the present tense and indicates the current fulfilment of Christ’s glorious heavenly reign. His current reign is overseeing the ongoing Sovereign reign over the nations.
The focus of this passage is Christ’s great triumph rise to the right hand of majesty on high to reign over His enemies, after His devil defeating, sin destroying work at Calvary. There, as man’s great eternal High Priest “after the order of Melchisedec,” Christ
currently sits making continual intercession for His people. Moreover, He also
currently sits as king upon heaven’s throne, where He reigns over His enemies till all are made His footstool. Thus, Christ presently and perfectly fulfils both the office of king and priest from the right hand of majesty in heaven. What is more, the matter of Christ’s “expecting” or “waiting” here is expressly completed in heaven, not earth, as the Pre-mils would argue, as therefore current.
God promised the obedient Laodiceans of Asia Minor in Revelation 3:21,
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame [speaking of His victorious life, death and resurrection],
and am [present tense]
set down with my Father in his throne.”
Christ’s great atoning victory at the cross and His current heavenly reign has enabled those that die in Christ to reign with Him in glory.
From this passage, we explicitly see:
(1) The battle was Calvary
(2) The outcome was victory,
(3) His reign is current,
(4) The location is heaven.
Christ’s current heavenly reign over His enemies is inextricably linked to the decisive victory He secured through His life, death and glorious resurrection. Christ’s present reign is therefore (1) to perfectly fulfil Scripture, and (2) to enforce the complete victory that was wrought.
It was only after His resurrection that Christ announced to His disciples,
“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). All heaven’s authority was deposited upon Christ through the triumph of Calvary where He triumphantly procured absolute victory over death, hell, sin, Satan and every enemy. Christ thus assumed the heavenly throne of David in perfect fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and therefore reigns as sovereign king until His last enemy is made His footstool.
Since the resurrection, Christ reigns supreme over all His enemies from His throne in heaven. There, by His Sovereign will, He intercedes for His people. This rule happening only after Christ triumphed over His enemy at the cross and gloriously rising from the dead. Hebrews 12:2 says, that Christ
“who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The Hebrews writer reveals the omnipotent Divine nature of Christ and His absolute authority as the Son of God. He expresses such truth in comparison to the lower angelic world.
That decisive victory over death, hell, sin, Satan and every enemy was procured at Calvary and resulted in Christ assuming His supreme foreordained office. Once that throne was secured, Christ would then reign from heaven until His enemies are made His footstool thus perfectly fulfilling every detail of that beautiful Old Testament prophecy.
For His enemies to be made His footstool is to simply say He has conquered them. They are now under His sovereign control. He has yet to destroy them. Their final subduing is still future. That happens at the one and only climactic Coming of Christ.
Ephesians 1:19-23 declares,
“And what is the exceeding greatness of his (God’s)
power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
Here is a very important passage that again confirms the absolute authority that Christ now enjoys and reveals the unlimited scope of His current rule. It explicitly illustrates the current sovereign reign of Christ over
all His enemies from the “right hand” of majesty on high, until the occasion when He finally makes them His footstool – namely His one final future all-consummating Coming. God hath now “put
all things (not some) under his feet.” And so as to leave no ambiguity to the reader, we find Paul explaining the fact that Christ’s rule includes both the whole natural and spiritual realm: “all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”
The phrase “set (
kathizō) him at his own right hand” literally reads in the original “seated him at his own right hand.” Many miss the enormity of this language. In ancient times, when a monarch was seated upon their throne it confirmed their formal investiture with regal power. It also often meant that their enemies had been conquered and they were now ruling.
