OUR GOD REIGNS:
An Amillennial Commentary on
Revelation
By Sam Storms,
Christian Focus: Mentor. 554 pages.
£25.99
ISBN 978 1 527 111 738
Our God Reigns by Sam Storms is, self-confessedly, ‘An Amillennial Commentary on Revelation’, unusually, perhaps, coming as it does from the US (though G.K. Beale’s position is amillennial too, and Thomas R. Schreiner’s not dissimilar – Storms admires both of these commentaries for their erudition).
It is not a verse-by-verse commentary, however, but rather reflects, in accessible prose-style, upon a chapter or part chapter at a time, dividing Revelation into 38 (sometimes overlapping) sections.
Storms claims to aim at being, and certainly is, eminently readable, and writes for those with no working knowledge of Greek. He deliberately sets out to avoid being overtechnical, but to be exegetically thorough nonetheless. By writing in ‘educated but conversational style’, he wants the reader to see the forest, and not get lost amongst the trees.
Storms gives us useful summaries of the four main hermeneutical positions on Revelation (Preterist, Historicist, Futurist and Idealist), identifying clearly with the latter and arguing cogently against the others. As an amillennialist, he rejects the dispensational, pretribulational, premillennial perspective because of his belief that the ‘eschatological framework within which they interpret the book is seriously flawed’. He seeks to justify this exegetically throughout the book. However, it has to be said that any engagement with other alternatives is minimal – e.g. Postmillennialism, Historical Premillennialism (and Mid-tribulation and Post-tribulation Dispensational Premillennialism) get virtually no treatment (though Storms’s Kingdom Come may fill this gap).
Storms takes an interesting line regarding the millennium. It is a ‘literal millennium’, in that it is an actual length of time experienced. But it is not ‘literally’ a thousand years long, but rather the entire space of time between the resurrection of Christ and His return in glory.
Thus far, not unusual. But the idiosyncrasy of his position is that it is experienced not on earth, but by, and only by, deceased saints in ‘the intermediate state’. This latter he believes, with the Westminster Confession, to be the non-embodied post-death state, experienced in real time and enjoyed in company with the risen, glorified Christ, up until His return. Storms seems to disallow the alternative belief that deceased saints are asleep in Christ, failing even to consider it. But the latter is surely far from a minority position in evangelical belief.
But despite these several gaps in his consideration of various alternatives, Storms gives us a brilliantly accessible, pastorally sensitive treatment of his own position, and he is crystal clear throughout.
