Wesley, John, Eschatology of
The doctrine of last things as taught by John Wesley (1703-91), the great Methodist evangelist, has been and continues to be a matter of controversy among students of the great man. Known for his untiring efforts to preach the Gospel, Wesley's theological thinking often focuses on the presentation of the Gospel of Christ and the present ongoing effects it produces in the sinner. Consequently, the ideas of prevenient grace, entire sanctification, and the Spirit's work in the believer get most of the attention in examinations of his work. In fact, this focus sometimes leaves the impression that Wesley was not interested in the details of eschatology beyond the destinies of the saved and the lost in heaven and hell. In addition, no detailed sermon about the Second Coming of Christ and associated events exists in the Wesley collection. However, there appears to be enough evidence in his writings and in the historical records to suggest that Wesley held to a form of premillennialism and at some time during his life held to a somewhat bizarre hybrid of premillennialism and postmillennialism.
Such a conclusion is supported by two lines of evidence. First, Wesley published a letter in 1783 in the Methodist Magazine to one Rev. Thomas Hartley. Nineteen years earlier Hartley wrote the large volume entitled Paradise Restored: A Testimony of the Blessed Millenniumin which he presents the clear view that Christ will return to earth to set up a literal, visible reign for one thousand years. Wesley's letter, which is cited in multiple modern sources, extols Hartley's work with the following words: "Your book on the millennium was lately put into my hands. I cannot but thank you for your strong and seasonable confirmation of that comfortable doctrine: of which I cannot entertain the least doubt, as long as I believe the Bible."
The second area to pursue is Wesley’s own Explanatory Notes on the New Testament (1754). In the introduction to the book of Revelation, Wesley humbly asserts his lack of expertise in understanding that particular book and that his own notes are a kind of abridgment of the work of the "great Bengelius" by which he means Johann Bengel (1687-1752), the pietistic German theologian and scholar. Wesley's dependence is clearly spelled out on the last page of the book. There he lists a chronology of events from the birth of Christ until the events of the last times. His belief is that there are two millenniums, that is, two one thousand year periods. The one thousand year time of the binding of Satan stated in Revelation 20:2, 3, 7 and the one thousand year time of the reigning of the saints mentioned in Revelation 20:4, 5, 6 are to be distinguished as to time and nature. The thousand years of the binding of Satan, which was to begin in 1836, occurs first and is a time of unprecedented success for the work of the Church on the earth. This concept fits neatly into a vision of postmillennialism.
However, at the end of the first millennium, the second thousand year period begins as the saints reign in heaven. Presumably, the Second Coming of Christ occurs between the two millenniums. This has the flavor of premillennialism although the standard feature of an earthly reign of Christ and the saints is not incorporated. However, there appears to be an ongoing earthly existence of pagan nations which will be judged at the end of the second millennium at the great white throne. Wesley’s motivation in adopting Bengel’s chronology appears to be the need to harmonize the passages that seem to suggest the flourishing state of the Church (postmillennialism) and those which affirm the “fatal security of men in the last days of the world” (premillennialism; see Notes, 724).
It must also be pointed out that Wesley is not clear about the actual event of the Second Coming which may be between the two millenniums. One looks in vain for any assertion that Christ comes to the earth as in traditional premillennialism. The confusion one feels in reading Wesley on this point is compounded when one compares his strong affirmation of the clear premillennial Hartley and his complete surrender to Bengel’s double millennium theory. Was Wesley confused and unsure with respect to this issue? If so, that may account for the lack of sermons on the Second Coming as well as the self-effacing language of the introduction to his notes on the book of Revelation. However, Wesley’s Notes were written almost thirty years before his article promoting Hartley. This allows the possibility that later in life, Wesley moved to a more traditional form of premillennialism and perhaps gave up the notion of a double millennium.
If Wesley’s position is best viewed in terms of Bengel’s influence upon him, it would certainly distinguish his form of premillennialism from the later futurist and literalist dispensational premillennialism popularized by John Nelson Darby in the early nineteenth century. Unlike Darby, one finds little in Wesley’s handling of these issues that relates to the nation of Israel and its Old Testament covenants and kingdom hopes. In addition, Wesley’s (and Bengel’s) view that prophetic events throughout the book of Revelation map to historical events from the time of Christ and throughout the present age places Wesley squarely in the historicist camp. Bengel’s calculation leading to the 1836 date for the start of the first millennium is based upon the typical historicist view of the 2300 days in Daniel 8:14 as 2300 prophetic years. Such reasoning is not much different from the predictions of the Millerites in the American experience in the generation following Wesley.
Michael D. Stallard
References
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, (New York: Carlton & Porter); Stanley Ayling, John Wesley, (New York: Collins, 1979); Kenneth O. Brown, "John Wesley--Post or Premillennialism?" Methodist History 28 (October 1989); William M. Greathouse, "John Wesley's View of the Last Things" in The Second Coming: A Wesleyan Approach to the Doctrine of Last Things, edited by H. Ray Dunning, (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1995); Le Roy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Volume III, (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald, 1946).