Millenarian Expectations

Fourth Quarter 1999

Neither Karl Marx nor Adolf Hitler would have made very much of the calendar change that is about to take place. Neither would have expected that something magical might occur after the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Marx certainly anticipated a radical transformation of reality and Hitler believed that his Third Reich would fulfill all past expectations about the climax of history. Yet the expectations of these revolutionaries were tied to concrete changes that had to take place. Marx anticipated a grand crisis of capitalism that would end when the workers would break free from their chains, overthrow the capitalist order, and transform the whole of reality. Hitler believed that when his kingdom had overcome all opposition, a thousand-year order of peace and prosperity would ensue. The calendar had little to do with the timing of any of this.

Why do so many Christians today make so much of a calendar shift from 1999 to 2000? Why the expectations of cataclysm or the return of Christ or the end of history just because the clock is about to strike a particular hour?

In part, these expectations are evidence that magic, speculation, and the Gnostic tradition have had a greater influence than the Bible on many Christians. The Bible ties the climax of history to concrete developments, not to a man-made calendar. God has given humans their marching orders—to steward the earth and one another. Jesus Christ has called disciples to follow him in obedience through faith, to show by deeds what it means that his kingdom is indeed ultimate, that through him human stewardship of this world will be fulfilled to God's glory. There is no magic involved, no call to speculate about the calendar, no promise that a privileged few can gain secret knowledge of God's mysterious will so they can play God over others.

God doesn't work magic or encourage speculation. The Lord of heaven and earth nurtures citizens of his kingdom. Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, works concrete changes in and through people. Christ's return for judgment and blessing will come not because the calendar makes him do it but when God has determined that time—real history—is full. In the meantime, our human calling is clear: serve God faithfully every day with all the gifts and opportunities given to us. When Christ returns, he wants to find us faithfully at work.

All of this has an important bearing on our political behavior. Our steady, ongoing activity as citizens should be on behalf of justice for all our neighbors. Neither we nor America have any messianic role to play. America will not save the world, nor will Christians save America. The history and culmination of God's kingdom does not depend on the United States. Millenarian expectations should be focused on the actual achievement of God's worldwide kingdom in Christ. What we may legitimately anticipate is that our faithful service for justice will be rewarded by God's benediction: "Well done, good and faithful servant." The same can be said of faithful love of family members, faithful care of neighbors, and faithful employment of talents in education and health care, science and industry, and in every station in which we find ourselves.

There is no magic in the calendar and there are no Gnostics who have figured out God ahead of time. True insight into our times comes from faithful deeds in the power of the Spirit, who continues to move history toward its climax.

—The Editor