Q:
As a premillennialist, I belive that many prophecies from the Old Testament have not yet been fulfilled and will be fulfilled literally at or just before the return of Jesus Christ. However, as I understand it, amillennial views most of these prophecies as having been fulfilled at the first coming of Christ (e.g. Zecheriah 9:10), in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 (e.g Matthew 24) or as being fulfilled in the church age now (e.g. Isaiah 11). This leads me to ask:
Within the amillennnial/partial preterist frameworks, are there any OT prophecies that are yet to be literally fulfilled? And more especially, was the second coming of Christ prophesied at all in the Prophets? If so, where?
A:
The amillennial approach to Old Testament prophecy is sometimes called the "realized" approach—meaning, by that expression, that the fulfillment has been realized in the church age. It is perhaps more accurate to use the term "inaugurated," rather than "realized," because many of the prophets speak of the entire church age, which has only begun, and is not yet completed.
When the Bible speaks of all nations worshiping the Messiah, or all kings bringing Him gifts, or other universal-sounding expressions like these, there are two possible ways to understand their fulfillment. One is to take them as hyperbole—speaking only of a situation such as currently prevails, in which individuals and kings from many nations have become followers of Christ. This is probably the view of most amillennialists.
It is also possible (alternatively) to see these prophetic expressions as speaking of a time, yet to be realized, in which literally all people and all rulers will surrender to and serve Christ.
Those who take this view can be either postmillennialists or premillennialists—the former being those who expect this development to be attained before Jesus returns, through the preaching of the gospel; and the latter being those who expect the same circumstances, except that they think it will require the actual second coming in order to accomplish this result.
I regard myself to be an "optimistic amillennialist," which some (e.g., Gary North) would regard to be a cowardly way of being
"postmillennial" without wearing that label. However, my amillennialism differs from postmillennialism in a significant way.
The postmillennialist anticipates the conversion of the world prior to Christ's second coming.
My optimism is not with reference to the conversion of the world, but rather, the maturing of the saints. I see evidence, in places like the parable of the wheat and the tares, and Revelation 20:7ff, that there will be a large number of unbelievers on earth at the time of the second coming—so much so, in fact, that the church may be driven underground by persecution. Nonetheless, the church, through its trials, will be purified and brought to maturity (Eph.4:13/ Mark 4:28-29/ 1 Pet.5:10/ 2 Cor.4:16-17/ Rom.8:18, etc).
To answer your question directly, then, most amillennialists would have no reason to apply any Old Testament passage to the second coming. Jesus said that Jerusalem would be destroyed (in AD 70) and the Jewish State dissolved "so that all things that are written may be fulfilled" (Luke 21:22). This gives the impression that nothing written prior to the time of Jesus' utterance anticipates a fulfillment in any specific event beyond AD 70.
However, insofar as many Old Testament prophecies predict the church age, which was inaugurated prior to AD 70, but continues for centuries beyond, the continuing effects predicted in certain prophecies prevail until the second coming of Christ.
As for that actual event (the second coming), that does not seem to be mentioned in any Old Testament passage. It was announced plainly for the first time only after Christ's departure (Acts 1:11). Thus neither the rabbis nor the disciples had any inkling, from the Old Testament scriptures, as to there being two separate comings of the Messiah—until it was revealed by the angels in the New Testament (some may consider Jesus' remarks in the upper room to be an exception to this statement, though we must acknowledge that comments like those in John 14:16-18 and verse 23 render the topic ambiguous, and this discourse did not seem to get the doctrine of the second coming clearly into the minds of the disciples).
I would not be opposed, in principle, to finding references to the second coming in some passage or other of the Old Testament. The question would be, which passage? I do not know of any Old Testament prophecy that specifically mentions the second coming, and the ones commonly suggested (e.g., Dan.7:13/ Hagg.2:7/ Zech.14:3-4/ Mal.3:1/ etc.) all seem to me to have an earlier fulfillment than that, as identified by the New Testament
