PMW 2026:013 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

As postmillennialists, we should have a strong interest in the creation account in Genesis 1–2. The sovereign God who created all things in the space of six days is the sovereign God who will lead his kingdom to victory in history.

Not only so, but we should note the important linkage of the creation account to the immediately following fall and redemption account in Genesis 3. When these two theologically foundational accounts are read together, we begin seeing very early in Scripture a clear anticipation of the postmillennial hope. Let me explain.

THE SABBATH PRINCIPLE

The original creation account is provided for us in Genesis 1. There we see creation transpiring progressively over a period of six literal days. [1] Then in Genesis 2:1–3 we see God establishing the sabbath [Heb. Shabbat, “cease, stop, rest”] of rest on the seventh day upon completing his work of creation. The sabbath appropriately and significantly appears at the end of the creation account. God works for six days, then rests from his labor on the seventh day:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Gen. 2:1–3)

As It Is Written: The Genesis Account Literal or Literary?
Book by Ken Gentry

Presents the exegetical evidence for Six-day Creation and against the Framework Hypothesis. Strong presentation and rebuttal to the Framework Hypothesis, while demonstrating and defending the Six-day Creation interpretation.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

And this pattern is established for man’s own work week, wherein he is to rest from his own weekly labors. We see this clearly in the fourth commandment. There God commands man to rest based on the principle established in his original creation pattern:

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (Exo. 20:8–11)

Not only so, but God’s original sabbath rest at the end of his creation process is typological. It points ahead to the rest God has in store for us at the end of the historical process. Adam and Eve were expected to see in this sabbath principle their ultimate goal of rest in complete, full, eternal communion with God.

THE TREES OF TESTING

In this regard, it is important to note that they were tested by God in Eden. They were tested through the use of the two special trees in the Garden: (1) the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:17) and (2) the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22, 24). These two trees served as visual evidence of two sanctions lying before them: either blessing or curse.

Reformed Eschatology in the Writings of Geerhardus Vos
Ed. by Ken Gentry and Bill Boney
This is a collection of several key eschatological studies by the renowned Reformed theologian Geehardus Vos. We have modernized Vos’ grammar and syntax and updated his layout style according to modern publishing conventions (shorter sentences and paragraphs). We did this without changing any of Vos’ arguments.

For more information on this new Vos work or to order it, see:
https://www.kennethgentry.com/reformed-eschatology-in-the-writings-of-geerhardus-vos/

We may consult Geerhardus Vos for helpful insights on this matter. Vos well explains the eschatological meaning of Eden’s Tree of Life in his groundbreaking Biblical Theology (pp. 38–39):

“From the significance of the tree in general its specific use may be distinguished. It appears from Gen. 3.22, that man previous to his probation [i.e., before his fall into sin] had not eaten of it, while yet nothing is recorded concerning any prohibition which seems to point to the understanding that the use of the tree was reserved for the future, quite in agreement with the eschatological significance attributed to it later [e.g., Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19]. The tree was associated with the higher, the unchangeable, the eternal life to be secured through the probation. Anticipating the result by a present enjoyment of the fruit would have been out of keeping with its sacramental character. After man should have been made sure of the attainment of the highest life, the tree would appropriately have been the sacramental means for communicating the highest life. After the fall God attributes to man the inclination of snatching the fruit against the divine purpose [Gen. 3:22]. But this very desire implies the understanding that it somehow was the specific life-sacrament for the time after the probation. According to Rev. 2.7 it is to ‘him that overcometh’ that God promises to give of the tree of life in the midst of his paradise. The effort to obtain the fruit after the fall would have meant a desperate attempt to steal the fruit where the title to it had been lost (cpr. Gen. 3.22).”

Ultimately, that rest comes to us in the consummate order. That is, at the end of history itself we will find full, complete, and perfect rest in the new creation wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13). [2] And to understand the significance of this for the postmillennial hope, we must note a second principle at work the original creation. But that must await my next article! Stay tuned.

Thine Is the Kingdom
(ed. by Ken Gentry)

Contributors lay the scriptural foundation for a biblically-based, hope-filled postmillennial eschatology, while showing what it means to be postmillennial in the real world.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

NOTES

1. For a defense of literal six-day creation, see my book: As It Is Written: https://kennethgentry.com/as-it-is-written-book-by-gentry/

2. In 2 Peter 3 the apostle is pointing to the ultimate, consummate creation at the end of history. He is not speaking of the establishing of the new covenant by means of the local judgment on the Jewish temple in AD 70. This is evident from several angles. Perhaps the most important is in the way Peter brings this new creation account to us. He points out that the scoffers are mocking the promise of the Lord’s coming by harkening back to Noah’s catastrophic worldwide flood judgment. They do this rather than pointing back to the express parallel to the AD 70 temple judgment: the Babylonian destruction of the temple in the Old Testament. He is dealing with a global issue, not a local judgment.