| Part I looked at an
introduction to the millennium of Rev 20:4 and
investigated two possible meanings. These two meanings were discounted
as
implausible. Part II will consider the resurrection of Rev 20:4 and the
state of the righteous at death in the present day. Part II will close
with a explanation of what the thousand years means in harmony with the
scriptures.
That Rev 20:4 speaks of the present time is made sure by
the fact that the
souls who live are the ones who are secured from the second death, but
the
second death does not occur until after the Resurrection and Judgment.
Clearly the souls who experience the first resurrection experience it
before the general resurrection of the dead. Since Jn 5:28 speaks of
"the
hour" in which all the dead are raised, it does not permit a thousand
years
between the general resurrection of the righteous and the general
resurrection of the wicked. Therefore the souls who experience "the
first
resurrection" experience some type of resurrection that is distinct
from
the general resurrection of the dead.
What is the resurrection of Rev 20:4 and to whom does it
apply? The
subject of verse 4 is those who:
1)Were beheaded for their witness of Jesus and the word of God.
2)Had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his
mark.
These lived (Gk. zao-to live, life) and reigned with
Christ 1000 years
after the first resurrection. What is the first resurrection? The text
says the first resurrection is these souls living and reigning with
Christ.
There is nothing in the context that says these souls received bodies.
It
says the souls lived. Their resurrection was receiving access to God. A
living soul is one that has access to God (Gal 2:19). A dead soul is a
soul that is isolated from God (I Tim 5:6, Eph 2:1, Col 2:13). What
does
it mean for a soul to obtain access to God? Consider the situation
before
the cross. The dead were universally destined for the Devil's realm. In
the Devil's realm they were cut off from access to God (Ps 88:5, Isa
38:18). They were taken captive of the Devil (Hos 13:14) and held in
his
Hadean realm against their will. Jesus came to set the captives free
(Lk
4:18). Who were these captives? They were not captives of the Romans.
Jesus did not literally free anyone from prison on earth. The captives
He
set free were the captives of the Devil. These were the ones that Jesus
took as spoils of His struggle with Satan (Mt 12:29). These former
captives of the Devil were the souls of the righteous ones that Jesus
captured from him and led away as His possession (Eph 4:8). These He
repatriated (redeemed) from Hades into heaven "when he ascended up on
high". When Jesus ascended on high, He came into the presence of God
(Acts
2:33). The righteous whom He captured and led therefore also came into
the
presence of God. Those who had been dead to God due to isolation by the
former power of death were now alive to God by their proximity to Him.
Revelation defines this coming up to be with God as the first
resurrection.
It is not the bodily resurrection. After He ascended, Christ began to
reign on His Father's throne in heaven (Rev 3:21). Those, whom He
brought
with Him, reign with Him in heaven having received life through their
proximity to God and their freedom from Hades (Rev 20:4).
What is the situation of the righteous at death at the
present time? At
death the souls of the righteous now go to be with God (II Cor 5:6-8,
Php
1:23). This is the first resurrection for souls who die now. They
receive
life by having access to God under the altar in heaven. Since the souls
of
the righteous are claimed by God at death and go to heaven as
disembodied
spirits to await the general resurrection, they are confident of their
eternal fate. They are acknowledged by God and claimed by Him and taken
to
heaven as their first resurrection: a close relationship with God.
Therefore they have no fear of the Judgment and the second death. The
Judgment of the righteous will be to determine the extent of their
reward,
not to determine their eternal destiny.
In the account in Rev 20 there is no mention of a number
of things key to
premillennialism. These key ingredients must be assumed into the
picture.
There is no mention of:
1) the earth
2) bodies of the righteous
3) Jerusalem
4) the Battle of Armageddon
5) the throne of David
6) the Rapture
In contrast to a reign upon the earth, we instead find
the souls of the
righteous mentioned in Rev 20:4 located in heaven under the altar in
Rev
6:9. We know the souls in Rev 20 and Rev 6 are the same because both of
them were slain for the word of God and for their testimony. In both
Rev
20 and Rev 6 these souls are spoken of as disembodied spirits. Since in
the premillennial view there is a general resurrection of the righteous
at
the beginning of the millennium, the time in which these souls are
disembodied must occur before the millennium. We learn from Rev 8 that
these souls under the altar are in heaven. We know they are in heaven
because the altar is before the throne of God (Rev 8:3) and the saints
are
under the altar and speak with God and He speaks with them. These
saints
are in the proximity of Christ in heaven as He exercises the power of
the
fifth seal in the time before the end of the present age.
Another argument against the premillennial view is that
the millennium is
of no apparent use. The uselessness of the premillennialists'
millennium
is in stark contrast to the very useful present order. God has used the
present time to create an eternal answer for sin. The world has
provided
that solution by providing an environment where sin could exist and
allow
the Lamb of God to be slain. The present world allows God to
demonstrate
His wisdom, glory, mercy, and power in ways not possible in a perfect
world. In this present world God allows man to explore every
possibility
and to do every thing to see if it is possible for man to save himself
or
to make himself happy without God. In the world to come God is going to
provide peace and plenty forever. Since God has already accomplished
all
these things in the present world and has planned for righteousness to
cover the earth as the waters cover the sea in the world to come, of
what
use is the millennium? It does not one thing that has not been
accomplished already, and David's throne is actually a demotion from
the
position that Christ now enjoys. Furthermore, having only 1000 years
for
Christ's reign on David's throne presents a very serious problem to the
premillennialists. They have Jesus ruling upon David's throne for only
1000 years after which the earth is burned up and a new world is
created.
That fact is totally at odds with the promise in Lk 1:33 that God would
give Jesus the throne of His father David, and of His rule upon that
throne
over that kingdom "there shall be no end." Once Jesus begins to reign
upon
the throne of David, there can be no interruption to that reign, but
premillennialism burns it up. The Bible says, "Of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,
and
upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and
with
justice from henceforth even for ever" (Isaiah 9:7). Premillennialism
denies this Bible teaching.
Premillennialism is not consistent with the facts of the
age to come as the
Bible reveals it. That eliminates the second alternative and leaves the
third alternative of taking the thousand years of Rev 20:4 as symbolic
of a
long, but definite period of time in which Christ rules. That position
is
consistent with the facts. Christ teaches that this world continues
with
the good and evil till the harvest, the end of the world (Mt 13:30,39).
The Bible teaches that God gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to
men
(Mt 16:18), and men now actually may enter the kingdom of heaven (Col
1:13). It teaches that Christ has sat down at the right hand of God (Mk
12:36, Mk 16:19) where He has all power in heaven and on earth (Mt
28:18).
No ruler can be more powerful than Jesus currently is. He is in the
position of power in God's throne with all power, and He must reign
until
all enemies are subject unto Him (I Cor 15:25). Therefore, Christ now
reigns in God's throne. We observe also that Satan is currently bound
as
Jesus defined "bind" in Mt 12:29. There Jesus defined the binding of
Satan
as the restriction of his miraculous power. Since we do not observe
demon
possession in the present age, Satan's powers are restricted, and he
therefore is bound while Christ reigns. We are in the millennium now.
It would actually be inconsistent for God to have made
the 1000 years
literal because Jesus stated, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no,
not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Mt 24:36). A literal
thousand years would enable one to calculate the precise time of return
of
the Lord, therefore the symbolic use of the "thousand years" should be
expected.
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