Hello Aaron,

It's cool that you have a staunch postmil as your profile pic (Jonathan Edwards).

The catechism teaches us that the Lord's Prayer will be answered:

"Question 191: What do we pray for in the second petition?
Answer: In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come), acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends."

In other words, the Catechism and other standards are "latter day glory postmil", as was Jonathan Edwards.

That said, the historic view of 1 Tim 3 would be that a great apostasy would take place right before the second coming. As pointed out above, the folly will be known by all, meaning that it would be only a small portion of the total world populace who would fight against Christ. This is also countenanced by Isaiah 19 (esp v.18, where one sixth of the Gentiles, as represented by "Egypt" and "Syria", is said to be wicked).

Modern Postmils, myself included, deem this to be speaking of 70 A.D. and the destruction of the Temple and the Jewish people. So likewise do we take Matthew 24, John Baptist's declarations of the "wrath to come" and the "enquenchable fire" etc. They appear to be affirming the prophets' teaching of the destruction of the Temple, the call of the Gentiles, and the future recall of the Jews (as per Romans 11, and our Catechism).

Cheers,

__________________
Adam Brink, Grace Church of Pleasanton, PCA, Pleasanton, California

"Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"

Antonio - The Merchant of Venice (Act 1, Scene 3)