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Why I believe in a 1000 year millennium and why it is important!
In Revelation Chapter 20 Satan is bound for one thousand years while the saints reign with Jesus for one thousand years. Six times in verses 1-7 the 'term thousand years' is mentioned. True it is not a salvation issue but that doesn't mean it should be overlooked, so why is it such an important doctrine?
Augustine mistakenly taught that the millennium commenced at the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah and would last for one thousand years. When 1000yrs passed some people thought the Messiah would return. Jesus didn't and so others tried to force the belief that the 1000 yr period was an indefinite length of time that they were in. Some believe that Satan has been defeated and that we are in the millennium now. That too is not correct.
Lets go back to Revelation 20. Satan is supposed to be bound for one thousand years. If he was do you think it is a coincidence that this world is still in its wretched state? Secondly where are the saints sitting on thrones with judgement committed to them? In Romans 16v20 Paul wrote 'And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.' Satan was obviously not crushed at the cross but He will be cast into the lake of fire. Romans 16 v20 relates to the first prophecy in the Bible, Genesis 3v15 where there is emnity between the serpent 'and the woman and between his seed and her seed He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.' When Jesus died on the cross Satan wasn't cast into the lake of fire or bound, but Jesus did provide atonement for our sins.
Theologians who argue against a future literal one thousand year millennium, state that Revelation 20 is the sole passage in support of the same and hence it would not be wise to establish a doctrine on the basis of one isolated passage of scripture. Whilst that is true with respect of the duration of the millennium, which, after all, is specified six times, there is numerous reference to the millennium particularly in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 instruct us concerning the peaceful living conditions during the millennium. 'He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people, they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift sword up against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.' (Isaiah 2v4) Ask yourself have there been any wars lately? Is the above statement true of today or of any time in history? No, of course not. So we must conclude it is a future event and relates to the millennium.
Isaiah 11 and 65 teach us regarding the restoration of the animal kingdom which shall be similar to the Edenic conditions whereby green herbs where given to animals for food (see Gen 1v30) 'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them' (Isaiah 11v6) Is this happening now? No. Why? Because it relates to the millennium! Also 'the lion shall eat straw like an ox' (Isaiah 65v25) I have sat with a tame cheetah that ate meat but I would not be willing to offer some straw to a 200 kg wild lion!
Isaiah 65 comments on life expectancy during the Messianic reign 'No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days, for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed, (v20) and 'for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people.' (v22) This cannot relate to heaven as there is no death in heaven and no-one I am aware of is outliving trees with life expectancies similar to the Genesis account!
Fair enough I have provided sufficient evidence from the scriptures that there will be a literal one thousand year Messianic reign. I am not interested in scoring points or winning arguments. What is imperative though is teaching respective of the Millenium. If there is no literal 1000 year reign then the passages which do relate to it have to be allegorised to provide an explantion which will result in either guesswork or intellecual dishonesty. One explantion is that all of the content in the Old Testament has been fulfilled in the New Testament. As I have explained this simply cannot be the case as Jesus needs to be reigning and judging on earth, war needs to cease, life expectancy needs to increase somewhat significantly and the animal kingdom needs to be restored.
Another issue is the doctrine of Dominion theology which supposes that Jesus descended to hell (which is not true as Jesus said to the robber to the right of Him whilst He was dying on the cross 'today you will be with Me in paradise' Luke 23v43 ) and returned after being persecuted by the devil for three days in hell triumphant. There is no biblical evidence in support of that either! They also argue that as Satan was conquered after Jesus supposedly went to hell then it is our mission to convert the whole world to Christianity and give the kingdom back to the Son of God. The emphasis is on naming and claiming and Jesus needing our helping hand, rather than God being strong in our weakness, us being completely reliant on Him and being used for His purposes and glory!
Lastly I would stress again that the millenium is not a salvation issue but it is certainly worthy of careful study. Titus 1 v9 explains that a bishop should be 'holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.'
We should therefore eagerly await and be ready for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ our Messiah and His coming Messianic reign. Let the Psalmist therefore have the last word on the millennium and the arrival of the King! 'Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are those who put their trust in Him.' (Psalm 2v12) Amen |
