Paradise Restored Book Review

Paradise Restored Book Review
Reviewed by Ben Kayser
340 pages
Rating: 9/10

Paradise Restored, written by David Chilton. I must say that this was the simplest explanation of Post-millennialism I have ever heard. That doesn’t mean it was easy to understand though. I will try to summarize the book as best as I can. (Reading this review doesn’t mean that you don’t have to read the book. I’m trying to inform you on whether or not you should read it.) Mr. Chilton splits the 24 chapters in 5 parts.

Part 1:An Eschatology of Dominion
Mr. Chilton starts the book off with hope. He doesn’t declare that the ant-Christ is with us. He doesn’t predict when the world will be consumed by fire. He doesn’t suggest that we sit back and let evil take over. He starts off with declaring the hope from the scriptures. Psalm 72:8 “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
And His enemies will lick the dust.”

Part 2: Paradise: The Pattern for Prophecy
In this section he goes through all of the Biblical imagery used in the Bible. He goes through why we were created and what the theology of Dominion is. He explains that Christ didn’t come to be defeated by the devil.
1 John 3:8, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

Part 3: The Gospel of the Kingdom
The common eschatology today is that this world will get worse and worse until Christ comes back to take us home. Well, what did Jesus say? Mark 4: 30-32, “Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
The kingdom of God started when Christ came. It started with a handful of people and grew just like Jesus said. Then people will bring up Matthew 24 and remind me of the great tribulation. Those people seem to forget verse 34 where Jesus tells them that it will happen soon. REALLY SOON! As my friend Matt Blackburn pointed out, when people say “soon” they usually don’t mean thousands of years. The great tribulation was judgment on Jerusalem. Mr. Chilton also deals with the anti-Christ and the last days in this part. Just read the book if you want to read that part.

Part 4: Studies in the Book of Revelation
In this part, Mr. Chilton goes through the book of Revelation and explains many of the symbols. He also shows us who the beast of Revelation is, and how we know it. (I’m not telling you who it is. You have to read the book.)

Part 5: To the Ends of the Earth
In this last section, Mr. Chilton explains how we can apply the great commission to our lives.

Conclusion: With the way our nation is going, I was starting to worry. But reading this book put everything into perspective. One thing I must add is that it was a very easy read. It could have been titled “Post-millennialism for Dummies.” But the best thing about the book is that it was FILLED with scripture. I doubt you could find a single page that didn’t have scripture in it. All I can say is, “YOU should read this book.”