Postmillennial Worldview

PMT 2013-012 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In my last article I provided a brief study of the significance of covenant to postmillennialism. In this one I will continue that by looking at the Noahic Covenant. As we might expect, Noah was a postmillennialist. And probably Mrs. Noah (since they seem to have gotten along well).

In the Noahic Covenant appear various features which undergird the postmillennial hope of victory in history. We find this particularly in Genesis 6:17–22 and 8:20–9:17. Here God reaffirms the Cultural Mandate, which is fundamental to the outworking of his eschatological purpose through his highest creature, man.  Thus, we are witnessing God’s continuing gracious redemptive relation to man as the ongoing basis of the Cultural Mandate. We see this also in the references to the birds, cattle, etc. (cp. Gen 6:20; 8:17 with Gen 1:24, 25), the command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 9:1, 7 with Gen 1:28), and the dominion concept (cf. Gen 9:2 with Gen 1:28). This is necessary to the redemptive-historical character of eschatology. Continue reading →