Trimillennialism

George Eldon Ladd opened his inspirational book, Crucial Questions about the Kingdom of God, with this question: ‘Is the kingdom present or future? Is it a spiritual, inner reality, or is it a kingdom to be manifested apocalyptically? Is it the present reign of God in the hearts of men, or is it a future reign of Christ on earth? Can it be both?’ (p. 21).
Ladd devotes four-fifths of his book to showing that the kingdom is both ‘now’ and ‘not yet’, both spiritual and literal. In chapter seven, however, he inconsistently denies that this same kingdom—the kingdom of Revelation 20:4, 6, over which Christ reigns for one thousand years—has a fulfilment in this age (as in amillennialism), as well as a consummation after the second advent of Jesus (as in premillennialism).
In the same vein, Herman A. Hoyt, commenting on Anthony A. Hoekema’s defence of amillennialism, concludes,
Generally I found myself in agreement with Hoekema’s sketch of amillennial eschatology. Christ did win a decisive victory over sin, death and Satan at his first coming. … The kingdom of God in the universal sense is operative, and most certainly a spiritual aristocracy is being conscripted for the future. We are now living in the last days and have been since the first coming of Christ (Acts 2:16-17; 1 Cor. 10:11; 1 Jn. 2:18). I am in perfect agreement that these days constitute an inaugurated eschatology while at the same time remembering a final consummation lies ahead called “the last day” (Jn. 6:39-40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48). This means that believers are tasting the blessings of the future such as “the first fruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23). And it further means that there is urgency of responsibility resting upon believers (2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Cor. 6:19; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:9-10). But I cannot agree that we are now living in the millennium as set forth in Scripture.
In Trimillennialism: Revelation 20 and the Final Judgement, I have endeavoured to show that the best hermeneutic for interpreting Revelation 20 is not just amillennialism, which focuses exclusively on the fulfilment of the kingdom in this present age, or just premillennialism, which focuses exclusively on the consummation of the kingdom in the age to come, but trimillennialism which focuses on how the prophecy of Revelation 20 was inaugurated by Jesus; how it is now being fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, and how it will be consummated by the Father.
It is a cornerstone of trimillennialism that had Jesus not inaugurated this millennial kingdom there would be no kingdom for us in either this age or the next. His inauguration of the prophecy of Revelation 20, through accepting the righteous judgement of God against our sin, provides the foundation for the subsequent phases of the prophecy—its fulfilment and consummation.