Here is a quote from Spurgeon from that link. He is arguing against postmillennialism which purports that Christ's second coming is preceded by an extended period of time when Christianity overtakes the world. I believe Jonathan Edwards had that view also. I think it was fairly common, especially in the US, simply because it seemed plausible, until along came two world wars and a continuous moral downward trend etc. It did spark worldwide missions however.
Personally I don't agree with it because I see the Bible declaring just the opposite.
If I read the word aright, and it is honest to admit that there is much room for difference of opinion here, the day will come, when the Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of the archangel and the voice of God. Some think that this descent of the Lord will be
post-millennial — that is,
after the thousand years of his reign.
I cannot think so. I conceive that the advent will be PRE
-millennial
— that he will come first; and
then will come the millennium as the result of his personal reign upon earth. But whether or no, this much is the fact, that Christ will suddenly come, come to reign, and come to judge the earth in righteousness." [
from Justification & Glory MTP Vol 11,
Year 1865, pg. 249, Romans 8:30 (
age 31)]
Paul does not paint the future with rose
-colour: he is no smooth
-tongued prophet of a golden age, into which this dull earth may be imagined to be glowing. There are sanguine brethren who are looking forward to everything growing better and better and better, until, at last, this present age ripens into a millennium. They will
not be able to sustain their hopes, for
Scripture gives them no solid basis to rest upon. We who believe that there will be no millennial reign without the King, and who expect no rule of righteousness except from the appearing of the righteous Lord, are nearer the mark. Apart from the second Advent of our Lord, the world is more likely to sink into a pandemonium than to rise into a millennium. A divine interposition seems to me the hope set before us in Scripture, and, indeed, to be the only hope adequate to the occasion. We look to the darkening down of things; the state of mankind, however improved politically, may yet grow worse and worse spiritually." [
from The Form of Godliness Without the Power MTP Vol 35,
Year 1889, pg. 301, 2 Timothy 3:5 (
age 54)]