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The Millennium In Light of The Cross — 10 Comments

  1. Sometimes chapter and verse additions can be more trouble than good. It seems to be the case with the millennium. For some reason it is viewed apart from preceding material and out of it all sorts of mischief on its meaning and message comes forth. But letting the narrative flow from chapter 19 into chapter 20 things are a bit clearer.

    The false trinity is first introduced in chapters 12 and 13. They turn up again in the sixth plague, and most likely represent the three parts of the city of Babylon. Now the three are placed in the context of the second coming with the beast and false prophets being destroyed (chapter 19), and the ring leader of the entire false system captured (chapter 20). It is here that reemphasis upon who the dragon is, is told: The old serpent, Satan. The other half of the great controversy. The one that drew Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil with the promise that by consuming the fruit she would become "as God."

    We have been introduced to an abyss and an angel (star) earlier in Rev. 9:1, and a key and opening. The angel or star of Revelation 9 falls from heaven and is given a key, and the star unlocks the pit. Out of it comes a fury of evil (Satan acting upon his belief that freedom comes apart from God). Now we have an angel descending from heaven with the key and a chain. Since the dragon is bound from entering heaven as we find in chapter 12, this angel is not the same as in chapter 9. The angel of 9 is the fallen star, Satan, who was allowed to work his manner upon earth. The abyss being the laboratory of the evil machinations that come forth from it. Now Satan is confined to that laboratory with no subjects to carry his experiments out on.

    This confinement is a terrible mocking of all Satan has believed and promised. The earth is scorched, not a soul is alive. No one to deceive and despite all that he claims, he isn't like God. He can't raise the dead. He can't grow a plant. He can't produce an animal. He is trapped upon an empty scare that covers a rocky planet to contemplate the results of his rebellion. It must be an ultimate sense of loss and despair for Satan.

    (6)
  2. Thanks for the comment on the Millennium - but I still have some questions that I would appreciate to have some light poured on based on Scripture:
    1. Are the 1000 years literal or symbolic? Considering the load of symbols in the book of Revelation concerning time - 1260 days = years - would 1000 years represent 360,000 years? - 1 day = 1 year = 360 days = 360 years?
    A little longer - Rev. 6:11
    3 and 1/2 days Rev. 11:9-11
    1 hour - Rev. 17:12
    a little season/while Rev. 20:3
    the time is at hand Rev. 22:10

    3 and 1/2 days Rev. 11:9-11

    2. Many bible scholars believe the dimensions of the New Jerusalem to be symbolic along with the 144,000 virgins. Why not a symbolic period of 1000 years? The word “thousand” appears 521 times in the King James Version Bible. Below are some Bible passages that include the number 1,000:

    * In Mathew 5:41 requires Christians to walk two miles if compelled to walk a mile. It’s interesting to note that a Roman “mile” was made up of 1,000 paces (mille passuum) or steps (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers).

    * In Amos 5:3, for its punishment, a city of 1000 men would be reduced to 100 men.

    * In Isaiah 60:22 during the prophesied Messianic time there will be an increase from 1 to 1000. “A little one shall become one thousand”.

    * Psalms 84:10 – A day in the courts of the Lord is better than a 1000 days anywhere else.

    * Psalms 105:8 – The covenant that God concludes with Abraham was valid for 1000 generations.

    * 1 Kings 3:4 – On the altar of Gibeon Solomon offered 1000 “burnt offerings” to God asking Him for wisdom and understanding.

    * 1 Samuel 18:13 – King Saul established David to be the chief of 1000 men.

    * Judges 15:16 – Samson killed 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey.

    * Genesis 20:16 – Abimelech gave Abraham 1000 pieces of silver in compensation for acting inappropriately towards Abraham’s wife, Sarah.

    3. Why would the ransomed need to judge again the dead and the fallen angels?

    Thanks for your answer.

    (2)
    • i. Millennium: Literal, or Symbolic. I think the 1000 years simply means a long time. For us, 1000 years is a long time, so it could be literal or symbolic. Does it matter as far as our salvation is concerned?

      2. I don't think the use of 1000 in other places in the Bible other than just a number. In some cases, I think it is just an approximation.

      3. As I mentioned in another comment, the judgment is really about transparency. God is not going to hide anything from us.

      (5)
    • 1. Since prophetic time ceased in 1844, according to Rev. 10:6 (and 7BC 971.7), the 1000 years would be literal. So would the 1/2 hour of Rev. 8:1, which James Whites' footnotes to Ellen White's first vision in WLF acknowledges. So would the one day or one hour in which Babylon's plagues or fall comes.

      2. I know of no reason why the New Jerusalem's dimensions would not be literal. The small-scale model in the final chapters of Ezekiel certainly doesn't point to something symbolic. And if it was intended to be symbolic, I doubt we'd be able to use the measurements in Revelation and Ezekiel to calculate the circumference of the earth (http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/ezekiels-city-circumference-of-the-earth.htm).

      The JW's don't believe in a literal New Jerusalem. I was having a study with a JW elder, and when I covered how you can use Ezekiel's city and the New Jerusalem to calculate the circumference of the earth, he was freaking out, because the end conclusion was that the city had to be literal.

      3. The way most Adventists explain the millennial judgment, the redeemed during the millennium judge the Judge, but not the lost. Reviewing cases to see if the judge did right is judging the judge, not the defendant.

      It should be pointed out that from EW 291 to GC 661, Ellen White said that the millennial judgment involved the sentencing of the wicked, the determination of punishment the lost would receive in the lake of fire. I have never found where she said we will judge so that we will get our questions answered. Of course, that could be a secondary result, but it's not the primary purpose.

      Sentencing would be judging the wicked, not the Judge. The sentencing phase is done by a jury of peers. The redeemed, in union with Jesus (as Ellen White put it), are that jury.

      Actually, the sentencing idea can be found in her writings back in PrT 11-1-1850. So from 1850 to 1911, this was the explanation she gave.

      Ps. 149:5 says, "Let the saints be joyful in glory." Vss. 6-9 then speak of the execution of the judgment, and has the redeemed playing some sort of role in that, and speaks of it as being an honor. Rom. 16:20 says that God will bruise Satan under our feet shortly, and so there is some sort of role for us to play in the destruction of the wicked. Our determining the sentence would explain these verses.

      (0)
    • Thank you for your prompt reply, Maurice. Agreed:literal or symbolic it shouldn't matter, but the way it is taught in SDA churches (at least in Brazil)
      it never, ever is mentioned as symbolic; consequently, the implication is it is literal. So the church is led to believe that there is only one way to interpret that. "My way Or the highway". Also based on the many different interpretations elsewhere in Revelation I think it's high time we said "we understand that as meaning x, y or z but that's not the only possible interpretation". I think there is too little humility in talking about prophecies still to be fulfilled.

      (3)

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