The Need for a Future Millennium

[Alive]

1 hour ago, Walter Goraj jr said:

So how can anyone be a hundred percent sure that the term "Thousand Years"has to be taken literally?

This is a valid consideration--is it not?

[AandW_Rootbeer]

18 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

Let us look to the Psalm which informs us when the reign of Christ, the anointed one of our Father, commenced.

The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
The LORD will stretch out Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
Your people will volunteer freely on the day of Your power;
In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,
Your youth are to You as the dew. 
(Psalm 110:1-3 NASB)

Past and present tense, my friends. We know that when He ascended to heaven, our Lord sat down at the right hand of our Father.

So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19 NASB)

The opening passage of the Psalm has been fulfilled; our Lord rules in the midst of His enemies. This is also present tense for His enemies have yet to be destroyed as written in the closing passage of the prophecy. We also note that He is forever a priest after the order of Melchizedek --- a refutation of the restoration of the Levitical priesthood insisted upon by Darby and his assigns, modern futurists, third temple-ists, premillennialists, et. al.  

The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord is at Your right hand;
He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.
He will judge among the nations,
He will fill them with corpses,
He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.
He will drink from the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He will lift up His head. 
(Psalm 110:4-7 NASB)

The day of the Lord is a recurring theme in Old Testament scripture, described as the great and terrible day of His wrath; the Psalm testifies this is the day of our Lord's wrath. The language of the Psalm is irrefutable. The prophet writes of our Father granting His Son all authority and rulership (sit at My right hand, and rule in the midst of the Your enemies) until He makes His enemies a footstool for His feet. The present tense of His rulership is affirmed by the words of our Lord Himself, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." (Matthew 28:18) 

The "millennium" is figurative, referring to an indeterminate period of time defined by the rulership of Jesus Christ as Lord God Almighty, who He has always been and always will be, forever. We know this period of time is indeterminate because only the Father knows the hour (Matthew 24:36) when He shall send His Son forth in the day of His wrath. Hence the return of our Lord is imminent as this can happen at any time. 

Let the apostle Paul inform us as to the order of things following the resurrection of Christ, when our Lord began to reign in the midst of His enemies. I have underlined key portions which illuminates the prophecy of Psalm. 

But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28 NASB)

The prophets and the Lord's apostles have delivered the only eschatology worth keeping.  
 

And yet, there is a period of Deception.

 

Why would God explain when Satan is Released, he will DECEIVE People?

 

Because there is coming a Period where it is the Gospel of Christ and no other beliefs.   And for a Period of time, People will adhere to the Gospel of Christ...until...Satan is Released for a SHORT TIME and Deceives them!

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by AandW_Rootbeer

[Alive]

19 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

Let us look to the Psalm which informs us when the reign of Christ, the anointed one of our Father, commenced.

The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
The LORD will stretch out Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
Your people will volunteer freely on the day of Your power;
In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,
Your youth are to You as the dew. 
(Psalm 110:1-3 NASB)

Past and present tense, my friends. We know that when He ascended to heaven, our Lord sat down at the right hand of our Father.

So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:19 NASB)

The opening passage of the Psalm has been fulfilled; our Lord rules in the midst of His enemies. This is also present tense for His enemies have yet to be destroyed as written in the closing passage of the prophecy. We also note that He is forever a priest after the order of Melchizedek --- a refutation of the restoration of the Levitical priesthood insisted upon by Darby and his assigns, modern futurists, third temple-ists, premillennialists, et. al.  

The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord is at Your right hand;
He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.
He will judge among the nations,
He will fill them with corpses,
He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.
He will drink from the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He will lift up His head. 
(Psalm 110:4-7 NASB)

The day of the Lord is a recurring theme in Old Testament scripture, described as the great and terrible day of His wrath; the Psalm testifies this is the day of our Lord's wrath. The language of the Psalm is irrefutable. The prophet writes of our Father granting His Son all authority and rulership (sit at My right hand, and rule in the midst of the Your enemies) until He makes His enemies a footstool for His feet. The present tense of His rulership is affirmed by the words of our Lord Himself, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." (Matthew 28:18) 

The "millennium" is figurative, referring to an indeterminate period of time defined by the rulership of Jesus Christ as Lord God Almighty, who He has always been and always will be, forever. We know this period of time is indeterminate because only the Father knows the hour (Matthew 24:36) when He shall send His Son forth in the day of His wrath. Hence the return of our Lord is imminent as this can happen at any time. 

Let the apostle Paul inform us as to the order of things following the resurrection of Christ, when our Lord began to reign in the midst of His enemies. I have underlined key portions which illuminates the prophecy of Psalm. 

But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28 NASB)

The prophets and the Lord's apostles have delivered the only eschatology worth keeping.  
 

This puts an asterisk next to a question in an OP of mine that quickly went astray.

'What happens when the Lord returns? What happens on 'the Day of the Lord'.

This is one of the questions that has helped me to be on track.

[AandW_Rootbeer]

Can we Imagine, after God's Wrath, and the only Belief to withstand the test of all things is Still IN Existence.   And People will just naturally adhere to the Gospel of Christ.  And it will become so NORMAL, when Satan is released, he will pick em off like berries on a tree.   No wonder God only gives him a Short Time.   He could probably knock off 1/3 of the Population [youth-teenagers-young adults] rather easily!!

Edited November 4, 2021 by AandW_Rootbeer

[Marathoner]

39 minutes ago, FrankIeCip said:

Sorry to jump in here. I can’t understand something “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” So while I don’t see the 1000 years to be literal, I still can’t grasp a few things. Can someone help me out please? Thanks, Frank. 

The following is my understanding, brother.

Jesus Christ is the first resurrection as the apostle Paul testified in the passage from 1 Corinthians which I shared in my previous post: He is the first fruits of the dead. As it is written in the book of Revelation,

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:8 NASB) 

There is an enormous body of scripture underpinning what I'm about to write so in the interest of avoiding a wall of text, I'll render what scripture teaches us in my own words.

We who are drawn to Christ Jesus by our Father belong to Him;
We have been crucified with Christ,
Buried with Him in death,
And raised with Him in newness of Life.
Therefore our lives are hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ,
And we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. 

The Lord has promised that we shall never taste death for He will raise us up on the last day; therefore the second death has no power over us. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection --- Jesus Christ --- for we are priests of God and Christ, and we will reign with Him for a thousand years. We are seated with Christ right now, brother. The teaching of the apostles is in harmony with the passage from Revelation which is revealed as present tense, not some event far in our future. 

As for the second resurrection? This occurs at the end, when the Lord judges the dead. The dead (a fluid term in the New Testament which describes a spiritual condition, or the perishing of this flesh) will be judged by Him upon His throne. We can accordingly say, over these the second death does indeed have power.

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Marathoner
typos

[AandW_Rootbeer]

4 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:8 NASB) 

I am not so Familiar with that Version of Revelation 20:8, I tend to use the actual first Greek Bibles like Codex Sinaiticus, that we would ask why not all other New Testament Translations Follow, being so original?

 

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and the power of judging was given to them; and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God; and of those who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark on their forehead, nor on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5 [no verse]

6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in this first resurrection; over such the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

This Version clarifies the Thousand Year Theme a bit clearer, in my viewpoint.

[Alive]

10 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

The following is my understanding, brother.

Jesus Christ is the first resurrection as the apostle Paul testified in the passage from 1 Corinthians which I shared in my previous post: He is the first fruits of the dead. As it is written in the book of Revelation,

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:8 NASB) 

There is an enormous body of scripture underpinning what I'm about to write so in the interest of avoiding a wall of text, I'll render what scripture teaches us in my own words.

We who are drawn to Christ Jesus by our Father belong to Him;
We have been crucified with Christ,
Buried with Him in death,
And raised with Him in newness of Life.
Therefore our lives are hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ,
And we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. 

The Lord has promised that we shall never taste death for He will raise us up on the last day; therefore the second death has no power over us. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection --- Jesus Christ --- for we are priests of God and Christ, and we will reign with Him for a thousand years. We are seated with Christ right now, brother. The teaching of the apostles is in harmony with the passage from Revelation which is revealed as present tense, not some even far in our future. 

As for the second resurrection? This occurs at the end, when the Lord judges the dead. The dead (a fluid term in the New Testament which describes a spiritual condition, or the perishing of this flesh) will be judged by Him upon His throne. We can accordingly say, over these the second death does indeed have power.

 

I tend to agree that the first resurrection and the 'first fruits' are indeed connected. That we who are 'In Christ' regardless of when in the timeline, represent the first resurrection. This awareness has the potential of clearing up much when we consider this (if accurate) in the context of the events depicted in Revelation. When also, at the same time, considering what scripture clearly states happens at the 'second advent'--Day of the Lord.

In  my mind--these two points are well worth deep consideration as we study the whole of scripture.

[AandW_Rootbeer]

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and the power of judging was given to them; and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God; and of those who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark on their forehead, nor on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5 [no verse]

6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in this first resurrection; over such the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

Is Really indicating that True Believers will suffer Death, but will be Conquerors over the Second Death, and RULE with Christ for 1,000 years!

^

When, has this ever happened from the Cross until Now?

Edited November 4, 2021 by AandW_Rootbeer

[Marathoner]

4 minutes ago, AandW_Rootbeer said:

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and the power of judging was given to them; and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God; and of those who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark on their forehead, nor on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5 [no verse]

6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in this first resurrection; over such the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

Is Really indicating that True Believers will suffer Death, but will be Conquerors over the Second Death, and RULE with Christ for 1,000 years!

^

When, has this ever happened from the Cross until Now?

The context is clearly understood as it was explained to us by the Lord's apostle, my friend. 

We are crucified with Christ, present tense. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20 NASB)

We were buried with Christ in death, present tense. We have also been raised with Him in newness of life, present tense. "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4 NASB)

We are seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly places, present tense. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7 NASB)

Therefore knowing that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, declaring that all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him, and He ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God our Father; knowing that we are seated with Christ also, we accordingly understand the present tense of our estate as His holy nation of kings: a royal priesthood of God and Christ offering up spiritual sacrifices pleasing to the Lord our God. 

Present tense, my friend. I understand many do not believe the testimony of the scriptures, but the truth is clearly stated as I have shared in this post. The language is unequivocal:

We reign with Jesus Christ right now.  

[Marathoner]

52 minutes ago, Alive said:

I tend to agree that the first resurrection and the 'first fruits' are indeed connected. That we who are 'In Christ' regardless of when in the timeline, represent the first resurrection. This awareness has the potential of clearing up much when we consider this (if accurate) in the context of the events depicted in Revelation. When also, at the same time, considering what scripture clearly states happens at the 'second advent'--Day of the Lord.

In  my mind--these two points are well worth deep consideration as we study the whole of scripture.

We are in agreement, brother. I've read what you've written elsewhere on the matter and I was edified by those words. Perhaps the key to understanding the "millennium" is grasping that this is an edifice of prophetic hyperbole, an expression of a terrifically lengthy period of time upon this earth. Hyperbole is not foreign to prophetic scripture by any means. An excellent example is found in Joel's prophecy concerning the day of the Lord (chapter 2): "A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness" (verse 2a). 

The words of the prophet impress upon us the end of the heavens and the earth. It's beyond our capacity to grasp until His day is upon us.  

I believe that the veracity of the "thousand years" representing prophetic hyperbole (a linguistic device if you will) is verified by the truth that only our Father knows when He shall send forth His Son in that great and terrible day of His wrath. 

We can couch that hyperbole in a way which engages our modern sensibility: the day of the Lord is the end of the cosmos as we know it, when the universe will flee before the face of the Lord. The thousand years is a terribly long period of time... I challenge everyone to visualize "one thousand" in their minds without resorting to shorthand. What's shorthand?

"1,000." Nope, Visualize the totality of one thousand in your mind... every single number. The one who commits to this will come to appreciate shorthand and hyperbole. 

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Marathoner