condition of peace that was completely absent the previous day; the kingdom will arrive by degrees. This, then, is the fourth distinctive motif: the gradual growth of the kingdom.5 An earlier millennialism, like the premillennialism of our day, held that the millennial reign would begin in a sudden, dramatic fashion, through the visible, bodily return of the Lord. The postmillennial conception, on the other hand, is that the continuing spread of the gospel will increasingly introduce the kingdom.