The Power of His Reign: An Easy Introduction to Amillennialism

by Jonathan Ammon

Have you been tangled up in end times confusion and controversy?

Many Christians struggle to find the balance between ignoring the end times completely and seeing the antichrist in every headline. But Jesus's prophetic teaching was not meant for scholars only. Jesus preached a radical message that "the kingdom of God is at hand."

An Amazon bestseller in Eschatology since its release, THE POWER OF HIS REIGN presents a clear and quick reading introduction to the simple truth that God's Kingdom is now and will continue until the resurrection. This is the message of that God's kingdom is right now and that this glorious kingdom is the reign of Christ on the earth.

Building from a sound and thorough academic foundation, THE POWER OF HIS REIGN will unveil the mysteries of Revelation 20, 2 Thessalonians 2, and more to present a clear and simple picture of Christ's reign and return in a way that anyone can quickly understand.

Immerse yourself in this short read and transform your understanding of Christ's reign and return.

TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1: Introducing AmillennialismChapter 2: Major End Time ViewsChapter 3: Approaching the ScriptureChapter 4: Jesus’ Luke 20Chapter 5: Jesus’s End Time ParablesChapter 6: Jesus and the Two AgesChapter 7: The Two Ages and the New TestamentChapter 8: What the Two Ages Teaching Reveals about the EndChapter 9: The Two Ages and the Third AgeChapter 10: Peter’s TeachingChapter 11: The New Heavens and New EarthChapter 12: Paul’s Resurrection TeachingChapter 13: Paul’s Teaching on Christ’s ReturnChapter 14: The Final JudgmentChapter 15: Interpreting the Book of RevelationChapter 16: Revelation 20 & 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12Chapter 17: Satan BoundChapter 18: Differences with PostmillennialismChapter 19: Haste the Jesus’s End Time What About Daniel? What About Israel? What About the Tribulation and the Anti-Christ? What About Church History?

Genres: Theology

140 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 27, 2019

Reviews

[Jeffrey Velázquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved Jonathan's book

This book is an excellent and concise introduction to amillenialism and lays out a convinving roadmap of starting with the clear teachings of Jesus and Paul to then move on to the often symbolic nature of Revelation.

The overall thrust of the book is that Jesus came to bind satan and institute the reign of the Kingdom (the current age) and that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead and institute the next age to come. Amillenialism seems to be a much simpler view of the end times

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, not too technical study on amillennial view of biblical end times. It didn't feel too preachy or legalistic but gracious and visionary.

[Patty Hulskotter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple explanation for a topic that can get complex

I liked the explanations of various parables and how they all followed the same basic format. The explanation of Revelation 20 was helpful. So were the explanations of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I would recommend this book if you get confused about the rapture and the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the physical earth.

[Fred Kohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I met Jonathan Ammon via a Facebook group that discusses biblical Greek. Imagine my surprise to find out that he had authored a book. Jonathan always impressed me as being an average Joe, and indeed, that is all he claims to be. But I was impressed that unlike some authors that claim that their lack of scholarly credentials is actually a benefit, Jonathan encourages us to study what the scholars, and especially what the Bible, have to say. This is to his credit.

In interpreting the Bible, Jonathan stresses the old adage that scripture interprets scripture. As an unbeliever, I take this with a grain of salt. The biblical writers did not necessarily have the writings of other biblical writings in mind, and though it is denied by believers in the authority of the Bible, they are often in conflict. The principle cited by Jonathan of the clear interprets the difficult is also problematic. What is "clear" is often determined more by tradition than by a plain reading. For most Christians it is clear that Jesus is God, but for some outlying groups it is clear that Jesus is not. "Clear," like so many things biblical, is in the eye of the beholder.

The idea Jonathan espouses that the New Testament interprets the Old Testament is a standard Christian trope, but is only held to by those committed to the unity and inspiration of the Christian Bible. Increasingly scholars are using the term Hebrew Bible in place of Old Testament to stress the independence of the two collections. I myself will use either term depending on which best fits the context.

Although this book is primarily about amillennialism, Jonathan takes time out to discuss the four main approaches to prophecy: Preterism, Historicism, Futurism, and Idealism. Amillennialism is a combination of Futurism (insofar as it believes the Second Coming, the Resurrection, and the Last Judgement are future events), and Historicism (insofar as it believes that the Millennium has already begun and that there has been tribulation throughout church history). Jonathan shows wisdom in recognizing that there is overlap between the four main schools of interpretation and that the best eschatological systems will incorporate elements of all of them. So he writes:

"You can claim to be a partial preterist if you believe that the book of Revelation meant something to its initial audience."

And, "You can be a partial historicist if you believe that Revelation does describe patterns of spiritual warfare through history."

And, "You can be a partial futurist if you believe the book of Revelation describes what will happen in the future."

And, "You can identify as an idealist if you view the book of Revelation as primarily symbolic of patterns of spiritual warfare throughout history."

As an unbeliever, I can really only identify as a partial preterist in that I believe that the book of Revelation meant something to the initial audience. For the rest of it, I believe that Revelation is failed prophecy. Its author thought Jesus was coming *soon*, and this is an issue Jonathan does not address. Ironically, Jonathan's book closes with a series of statements that "Christ is coming soon." The one I found most interesting was "Christ is coming soon. Today is the day to leave Babylon—this world’s sinful system—and live as a pilgrim on the earth." Is this a formal identification of Babylon the Great from Revelation? If so it combines Idealist interpretation and Historicist interpretation.

Concerning amillennialism, Jonathan says, "Amillennialism was so simple. It was so biblical. This view took everything the Bible said at face value and could be understood by any believer. Why had I never heard this taught? Why were 90% of the
books on the end times about premillennialism?" This mirrors my own experience when I was a Christian and abandoned dispensationalism for amillennialism. Perhaps many reject amillennialism because of its historic association with the Catholic Church.

From my point of view, premillennialism is so popular because of the placement of Revelation 19 which describes the return of Christ before Revelation 20 which describes the Millennium. According to Jonathan, these chapters are not chronological. "Revelation 19 describes the return of Christ from one vantage point. Revelation 20 zooms out and describes the return of Christ and the end from a broader view." Well, maybe. The inclusion of the Millennium is theologically problematic as it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the Christian Bible (unless you think, as some do, that 1 Corinthians 15 describes a Millennium). The Millennium does dovetail with certain non canonical Jewish writings such as 4 Ezra (which describes a "millennium" of 400 years).

Concerning the first resurrection, Jonathan is insistent that it is not a physical resurrection, but a spiritual resurrection. He honestly admits that he doesn’t know exactly what this means, and "There is a lot to study here." Two possibilities that he mentions are Augustine's idea that the first resurrection is the rising of human beings from spiritual death to spiritual life, and the resurrection or waking up of the
dead in heaven before the end of time—an intermediate state. For me, neither of these possibilities fits the text which describes the first resurrection as the coming to life of those who had been beheaded for their testimony. Admittedly this, like most of Revelation, is difficult to interpret. If we use the questionable ideas that scripture interprets scripture and that the clear interprets the difficult, we could point out that nowhere else in the Bible is there any hint of two resurrections.

I also disagree with Jonathan concerning his views on the parallels between 2 Thessalonians 2.8-12 and Revelation 20. He sees the binding of Satan in Revelation 20 as paralleling the Restrainer of 2 Thessalonians. Whereas in Thessalonians the lawless one deceives the nations with signs and wonders, in Revelation 20 Satan deceives the nations into waging war on the saints. I simply don’t see a parallel here. In Thessalonians the Man of Lawlessness is clearly a human being and not a spiritual being.

Jonathan brings up an excellent point when he says the Two Ages scheme explicitly shows up again and again in both the N.T. and the Hebrew Bible. This is a particular problem for dispensationalists who typically posit seven ages. However Jonathan's statement that "Another important but simple point about the Two Ages is that they
cover all of time. This age spans from the beginning of time until the arrival of the age to come. The age to come covers the eternal state (which goes on forever)" combined with the statement "the god of this world is Satan. He rules this age on earth. Jesus rules in the age to come" presents a problem. Did Satan rule earth from the beginning? The dispensationalists, seeing the problem, posit an Age of Innocence prior to the Fall during which Satan did not reign on earth.

The book works well as a critique of premillennialism and preterism. Jonathan cites Dr. Sam Storms as identifying six problems with premillennialism. As far as critiquing preterism, Jonathan cites a long quote by Josephus which preterist use, incorrectly, to equate the former heavens and earth with the temple system: "Josephus compared the temple design to God's design of heaven and earth, but that does not mean that the ceiling of the Jewish temple was seen as heaven and the floor of the temple was earth or that this was 'cultural vernacular of the day.'" Unfortunately Jonathan does not cite which preterist uses the phrase "cultural vernacular of the day." I suspect it may be Don K. Preston in his book *The Elements Will Melt With Fervent Heat*. In that book Don argues that the phrase "the elements will melt, etc." is to be taken literally. Jonathan to the contrary argues for the literal destruction of the earth when Jesus returns at the end of this age. This view is somewhat controversial, with many (most?) Christians arguing that the earth will be *remade*, not destroyed.

In his critique of certain forms of postmillennialism, Jonathan is to be commended for saying, "I do not believe the church should or will ever establish a theocracy. Jesus said in John 18:36 'My kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world in my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews but as it is my kingdom is not this realm' (ESV)."

Who would I recommend this book to? I am clearly not among the intended audience. It should be read by those who share Jonathan’s assumptions about the unity and inspiration of scripture, and perhaps younger Christians who need a good introduction to amillennialism.

[Mark Dennis]

I really enjoyed reading it. It was concise and relatively easy to understand. I ordered the book to give to my dauhter. She was looking for a book this subject that wasnt written for the bible scholar. This is perfect. I have read other books on Eschatology that get pretty deep into the subject. Whick are great but they are not for everyone. Gods Blessing.

[Joseph Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intro into Amillennialism. Very plain and to the point. A great starter for those looking into non-dispensational eschatology.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book and discussed it on the Just Jerry Live podcast. We went through the book chapter by chapter over 8 episodes. Here is a link to the first episode. You can listen to those episodes if you want a fuller discussion on this book.

Ammon is open from the start about his amill position and how he got there. The book seemed to follow a natural progression from premill to amill, that was probably not unlike what the author experienced. I appreciated that openness and I think he was genuinely wanting to write something helpful.

I wouldn't call this the best presentation of amill I have read. The book has some weaknesses that prevent it from being a serious or compelling presentation of amillennialism. For instance, he does not touch the Old Testament. If it hadn't been for a bare mention of the book of Daniel in a light appendix, there would have been zero Old Testament references in the book. Of the New Testament passages he deals with, he didn't really address other passages that bear on the same topic, and he didn't address other passages that would seem to counter his views. He did a little bit of namedropping, but he did not really deal with any differing views. He spent a good bit of time on the two-age schema of all time, but he didn't offer a scriptural definition of what an age is.

Ultimately, my differences with this book come down to the hermeneutical approach to Scripture. Amillennialism holds to a discontinuity view and a dispensational framework that defies any natural, consistent, grammatical-historical reading of all Scripture.

[Nkosi Baptiste · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book named The Power of His Reign that I recently purchased on amazon. This book is so amazing and is the simplest book I’ve ever read on Amillennialism. No big terms. You don’t have to be Reformed to understand if. Basic and simple. This author gets you thinking clearly of the Bible’s end time scriptures and how to apply them easily. Highly recommend this book as the first book you’ll read for this Eschatological view. The chapters are short which is what new people need to keep reading on and enjoying.

[Erik Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an easy introduction to Amillennialism and a helpful tool. I remain unconvinced by Jonathan Ammon’s arguments, but learned much about Amillennialism. Ammon has many useful points that don’t conflict with Pre-Millennial Dispensationalism and other views. Even for those who hold other views, this book can help keep one from becoming too provincial. Also Ammon is clearly writing for both Reformed and Arminian audiences. The greatest weakness I noticed, and I am no end times scholar, was a lack of any treatment of Ezekiel’s visions and his temple. Also, while Ammon mentions Daniel, he seems to dismiss it as almost tertiary. I am still on my own journey to discover what the Bible truly teaches on the end times, and am thankful for this resource, but I cannot currently endorse Ammon’s position.

[Casey Holencik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accurate title

I like how this book was laid out. Instead of "here's my view and the s ruptures that support it," it was " here are the scriptures that speak to this subject, what do they teach all together? " And heavy on the principles of scripture interprets scripture, along with let the clear passages interpret the unclear. Highly recommended

[Todd Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am a premillennialist. I read this book to challenge myself and to make sure I could defend my position Biblically. I think it's always important to read books that disagree with your position. That's what was going on here.

I don't feel Brother Ammon laid out a good hermeneutic from the first few pages. He wholly ignored the Old Testament. He read the word "Kingdom" in often where it wasn't. He had this idea of taking "easy passages" to interpret the hard ones (a hermeneutic I'm certain he would reject when Arminians do the same with soteriology). I just didn't feel he added much to this conversation. And though I certainly agree with him that we should not begin in Revelation 20 when beginning to discuss prophecy, he only backed up to Luke 20 - and that after Luke had addressed the kingdom a number of times already (clearly, I might add). Why can we not back up to Genesis 1?

I should say, I don't think he represents the majority of amills - at least not my buddies that hold to the amill position. I certainly hope not.

I am not an angry premillennialist. But, this book didn't do much for me.

If you are interested, me and a buddy reviewed this book on several podcast. Here's a link to the first:

https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/...

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short, easy-to-read book is exactly what I was looking for: a concise, basic introduction to the amillennial viewpoint. The author makes it clear in his excellent introduction that this is not the most in-depth exploration of amillennialism possible, but a look at the topic suitable for church laymen who may not be familiar with this perspective. As such, Jonathan Ammon succeeds in providing a remarkably clear and lucid defense of amillennialism without resorting to attacks on Christians who hold dissenting views of the End Times. The author's analysis of relevant Scriptural passages, including the Olivet Discourse, various parables, and of course Revelation, are reasonable and well-supported by chapter and verse. It is wise for all Christians to be familiar with differing viewpoints within the church, and to remember that we can still be brothers and sisters in Christ even if we disagree on matters of eschatology. In that spirit, if you are looking for a quick introduction to amillennialism, I would strongly recommend THE POWER OF HIS REIGN.

[Rick Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, concise, biblical

I came to this book as an Amillennialist. I was looking for an easy-to-understand introduction to the teaching for a friend. This book fits the bill. The author does not answer every question, but he does give clear biblical principles of study which will help every reader find the answers in the Scriptures. I also love the irenic attitude in this book. Jonathan is gracious to those who disagree with his understanding of eschatology. Highly recommended.

[Blake Western · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short book presenting views concerning Amillennialism. The author interacts with some of the opposing views. Some further editing would have been beneficial.

[Karen Krause · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent simple overview of amillennialism, one of the Christian views, of the end times.
A must read for anyone who holds a different view.

[Shea Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful introduction to the view. Ammon walks through quite a bit of scripture and uses simple logical thinking to establish his interpretation. The book isn't trying to be exhaustive but gave clear definitions and contrasted it with the other views of the millennium.

There were a few things I felt like he simply stated without substantiating such as saying "I believe that believers went through the tribulation 70Ad. I also believe that some believers are going through the tribulation right now. And I believe that believers will endure the tribulation before the return of Christ." There is another sloppy passage where the author jokes about being "a partial preterist, partial historicist, partial futurist, idealist." While acknowledging it as a joke he doesn't seem to rightly harmonize or help the reader grapple with the differences in these but rather says there is helpful parts of all the views.

Helpful in my pursuit of understanding end times prophecy.

[Jacob DeVries · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent overview of the Amillenial position for those unexposed to it. It probably won't convert those deeply committed to another view, but it might make some things click for those looking for something different. While I consider myself more Amil than Postmil, I thought the author did not do a good job representing modern postmil teaching towards the end of the book, nor did he do a great job of interacting with those who hold a more optimistic eschatology. Just because the Church Age is both the "Last Days" of this age and the millenial reign of Christ previewing the age to come, it doesn't seem to follow to me that both aspects will be uniform across the whole period. In fact, given passages like 1 Corinthians 15, Matthew 16, and many others I think the expectation should be a trend towards Christianization.

[Wuiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, but Confusing with 2 People of God

The book is very concise. However, I noticed that a the very end, the author adopts the same position of dispensacional approach regarding a distinction between Israel and the church. For the author there is a plan for Israel in the future. It open he possibility to many questions. In general good content, except for that odia of 2 people of God, because it may mean 2 programs, 2 ages, 2 wives for God. That part didn’t make sense to me. So the author separated himself from the other amillennialist proponents.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well laid out and full of information that is all presented in an easy to read/follow format. It’s a book that can easily be referred back to at anytime due to it’s methodical layout. I found this book to be extremely informative.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an introduction and useful way to start reading about the word of God. This makes it easier for you to follow and to understand. Inspirational read

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Homer F Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not convinced!

I think he probably put forth he Amil viewpoint. But he definitely did not persuade me particularly in Matthew 24, Daniel, II Peter or the whole book of Revelation. By the way there was One Great
Tribulation and it occurred in the first century (66-70AD).

[Nathan May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan really did a great job of using scripture to present a straight-forward and easily-understood explanation of amillenialism. His passion and love for Jesus shine through as he presents. Now being more convinced of the biblical timeline as interpreted by amillenialism, I find that it helps provide a pathway of peace through life's rugged journey.

[Brenden Wentworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly an “easy” intro. Very consumable, logically argued, and winsome towards those with opposing views. Though exhaustive by any means, this is a great place to jumpstart for anyone seeking to grow in their understanding of biblical eschatology

[Jonathon Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intro to the different views on Eschatology and the foundational arguments for Amillennialism. I took a star off for the frequent grammatical errors.

[Benjamin Thomas Randolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good as a primer. Would like to see more technical detail for really digging in though.

[Ming Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but simple.