The future of the kingdom of the Messiah as it relates to this earth has been the subject of debate and speculation for many centuries. Nothing seems to intrigue the mind of man more than the fate of the universe of which he is a part. Seeking to peer inside the veil of the future, he tries to determine the time and manner of the coming of the Lord, and varied theories have been constructed around certain interpretations of the words of the Holy Spirit. One should approach any such topic with humility and reverence. It is not our purpose to become dogmatic with reference to unfulfilled prophecy, yet we deem it unfair to the reader of such a treatise to conclude without expressing those views which have crystallized through study of the living oracles.
It is not our intention to examine exhaustively any of the multitude of theories. We will discuss three which we deem of special significance, the skeptical, pre-millennial and post-millennial viewpoints. Each of these can be divided into many branches, resulting from the diverse schools of thought which have advocated them. We are primarily concerned by the fact that our Lord is coming again, we are content to await that majestic event in God's own time and way. Yet we deem it not unwise to examine some of the statements which have a direct bearing on the topic.
The word of God plainly predicted that in the last days there would come blatant skeptics who would deny the coming of the Lord. The fact that there are many who do so is but one more attestation to the truthfulness of the Bible. The apostle Peter wrote, "First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation'" (2 Peter 3:3, 4). It is interesting to note the motivation for their denial of the coming of the Lord, as well as the foundation for their false reasoning.
Those who scoff at the idea of the Lord's return are "following their own passions." The return of the Lord is to be for judgment. Jude repeats the words of the patriarch Enoch, "Behold the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." He applies this directly to scoffers of the last time "following their own ungodly passions" (verse 18).
The apostle Paul wrote, "The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thess. 1:7-9). With such a frightful destiny in store for them, profligates could find no pleasure in their carnal practices, so to stifle the voice of conscience they deny the coming of the Lord. Their scoffing words constitute "wishful thinking."
The basis of their contention is that there will be no disruption of the present order because there has never been one. The uniformity of the past assures the continuity of the future. Jesus cannot come, for if he did, this would upset the world, and the world has never suffered such an upheaval. "All things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation." The postulate is that since God has never called the whole world into account, we have no reason to conclude that he ever will. There are two ways to handle such false reasoning, but the easiest is to show that the affirmation is contrary to fact. If there can be recalled one deviation from the normal course of events, and if it can be shown to have affected the universe of mankind, then another such event could transpire.
This is the plan of attack followed by the inspired writer. "They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." The same word which created the world can destroy it, and that it has the power to do so was once demonstrated.
This devastating argument can only be met by a denial of the deluge, and some skeptics claim that the Bible account is but Jewish folklore and fable, and cannot be corroborated. These only demonstrate the truth of the scriptural accusation that "they deliberately ignore facts," for every nation of antiquity has its tradition of the flood. George Smith, of the British Museum, in 1872, discovered accounts of the flood among the clay tablets sent from the library of Assurbanipal in Nineveh. These were copied from inscriptions made shortly after the flood, and certain of these have since been found. In these Babylonian accounts which credit the deluge to the gods, it is said that sin against the gods was responsible. A ship smeared inside and out with bitumen, which contained seed of life of every kind, and which finally came to rest on a mountain, is mentioned.
So numerous are the references to the deluge, that one writer of note, says, "The mythologies and histories of the ancient nations are full of remembrance of it. It is described in the stories of the Greeks and sung in the verses of the Latins. Its memory is enshrined in the sacred books of the Parsee, the Brahmin, and the Mohammedan, and has been assigned a place in the Legend of the Scandinavian, and the mythic records of the Chinaman. Its symbols are found stamped on the coins of ancient Greece, may be traced amid the hoary hieroglyphics of Egypt, recognized in the sculptured caves of Hindostan, and detected in the pictured writings of Mexico. In Cuba and Tahiti, on the banks of the Orinoco, on the pampas of Brazil, in the mountains of Peru, and in the islands of the Pacific, the traveler has met with traces or traditions of the flood, the ark, and the rescue of the favored few."
Even more conclusive is the testimony of the man who "found the flood." This happened at Ur, about 120 miles north of Basra, near the Persian Gulf. Excavations by British and American archeologists began in earnest at this site in 1923, and opened up a real treasure trove of antiquity. Within six years, by dint of careful work, a great Sumerian city had been exposed and the explorers had opened up sepulchers of the kings with all of the wealth of objects interred with the bones of these departed monarchs. The leader of the British party was Sir Leonard Woolley, a painstaking and careful scientist. In 1929, the work was about completed, but the British leader, fearful that something of value would be overlooked, had his native workers again lowered into the lowest tomb to begin sinking a shaft. As the shaft penetrated downward, every bucket of debris which was hauled out contained potsherds and artifacts. Then, one day, the workmen sent word that they were on ground level.
The British scientist was lowered into the shaft. It was apparent that the report was correct and they were upon solid ground. The leader began to probe and bring up samples, and to his amazement he found that he was standing upon pure clay, and such clay as could only be deposited by receding waters. A check was made and it was determined that this was above the river level so it could not have been deposited by that stream. A group of his colleagues were summoned to verify his findings, and the agreement was unanimous that it was a sedimentary deposit, but no one could account for it.
A decision was made to see if they could go through it, so the diggers were again put to work. The spades were shoved deeper and deeper and continued to bring up clay. Finally a depth of ten feet had been reached, when suddenly the clay ended, and the baskets of earth were again found filled with the rubble and debris which indicated human habitation. As the scientists sifted the fragments of pottery they sought for the smallest trace of metal, but found not one piece. The only weapon revealed was of chipped flint. The great truth broke like a beam of light.
In the distant past there had been a great inundation. It had brought the residence of man to a conclusion. When the waters receded from their turbulence, a great deposit of alluvial clay had blanketed the ruins of prior existence. When the full import of this discovery registered with the archeologists a telegraphic message flashed to Great Britain. It read simply "We have found the Flood." Sir Leonard wrote, "About sixteen feet below a brick pavement which we could with reasonable certainty date about 2700 B.C. we were among the ruins of that Ur which had existed before the flood." The spade had covered up the argument of the skeptics as it uncovered the truth of the Biblical account.
Generally speaking, the believers in the return of the Lord are divided into two classes. These are commonly designated pre-millenarian and post-millenarian. The word "millennium" is a combined form of the Latin mille, a thousand, plus annus, a year. It means a thousand years, and is specifically used with reference to the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20. In a broad sense, the pre-millenarian argues that Jesus will return, resurrect the righteous dead, and reign a thousand years upon the earth in a period of universal happiness and freedom from sin. At the close of that period the wicked dead will be raised and destroyed. This is purportedly a literalistic view of Revelation 20, although investigation will show that it is not necessarily so. The post-millenarian contends that the return of the Christ will be after the thousand years.
These two irreconcilable views have been the means of dividing virtually the whole of modern Christendom, although the conflict has not been confined to these latter days. In ecclesiastical history the term "Chiliasm" is used to designated the pre-millenarian view. It is from the Greek chilioi, a thousand. Papias is generally mentioned as the first Christian writer to maintain the doctrine. He lived in the middle of the second century and was a bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia. However, there were some who preceded him who clung to the view, and we should mention one in particular.
Cerinthus, who resided at Ephesus, while the apostle John lived there, was a Jew, who was said to have studied in Alexandria. He is credited with first teaching the errors which developed into the system of Gnosticism. This heresy eventually wreaked havoc upon Christendom. It is in refutation of the teachings of the sect that John wrote his first and second letters. In conjunction with the Gnostic theory, Cerinthus taught that as a completion of God's creative work, after the world had lasted six thousand years, there would be a universal Sabbath, the millennium, in which a new order would prevail upon the earth. The righteous, raised from the dead, would enjoy unspeakable delights and indescribable pleasures in Palestine, with their victorious King, the Messiah.
It is noteworthy that Cerinthus was a Jew, and that he is sometimes classed with the Ebionites. When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the last hope of retaining Christianity within the fold of Judaism was dashed. But there were still many who continued to regard the law of Moses and circumcision as of perpetual and universal obligation. The name "Nazarenes" which had been formerly applied in contempt to all believers, was now limited to the Judaising sect and as time passed on many of these came eventually to deny the divinity of Jesus and to hate Paul, whom they regarded as an apostate.
The millenarian views of Cerinthus may have been influenced greatly by the Jewish expectations at the time that Jesus came. There is no question but that the Palestinian Jews had contrived a splendid mental picture out of the prophecies, the comments and disputes of the sages, and the infiltration of Oriental imagery. This vision included the appearance of the Messiah, the simultaneous regeneration of all things, the resurrection of the ancient worthies and saints, and the reign of the Messiah upon earth. They confidently expected a branch of Jesse to come and regain Zion, and establish it as the capital of a universal sway. He was to stand in the holy temple on Mount Moriah and summon to his side the scattered Jews of the earth to commune with the fathers, and to "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom."
The first resurrection was to be the portion of the seed of Abraham exclusively. In the golden age it ushered in, all Israelites would participate except those who denied the resurrection of the dead, and that the law came from heaven, and the Epicureans (Mischna, Tract. Sanh. c. 11, 12). The righteous dead were to be called from Paradise, the realm of the departed spirits, and in glorified bodies were to reign for a thousand years of bliss upon a recreated and renovated earth. It was the prevalence of this theory which helped influence the Palestinian Jews to reject Jesus of Nazareth. His manner of coming was so utterly in contrast with their expectation that they preferred to sacrifice him rather than to relinquish their preconceived notion. Nor did this view disappear with his ascension, for many of his Jewish followers devoutly expected his imminent return in conformity with the vision they had entertained. Even when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, and the temple razed, the millenarian aspect lingered on. It was revived in times of persecution and catastrophe, with those who fostered it always imagining their personal exaltation to a chosen position in an earthly regime of the Messiah. Those who regard the millennium as of strictly Christian origin are mistaken, and the Article (forty-first) of the Church of England, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, is no doubt correct in designating it as a fable "of Jewish dotage."
In the second century, in addition to Papias, there were other writers of distinction who adhered to the millenarian idea. Among them was Justin Martyr. He writes, however, that there were many who did not agree with the view he held. It was not allowed to become a source of division, and by the beginning of the third century the theory was beginning to wane. Its decline was hastened, no doubt, by the fact that it became a tenet of the Montanists. About 170 A.D. Montanus, a former priest of Cybele, who had recently been converted to Christianity, announced that he was the Paraclete (Comforter) whom Jesus had promised to send. He sought to reproduce the mysticism and raptures which were a part of the pagan worship of Cybele.
Two women, Priscilla and Maximilla, who claimed to have rapturous trances, attached themselves to Montanus and travelled with him. He regarded them as oracles. The favorite theme of their visions was the approaching end of all things. No doubt the persecutions of the day motivated them to predict the imminent coming of the millennium, and they confidently prophesied that the New Jerusalem was soon coming down at Pepuza. Priscilla claimed to have seen the Lord Jesus in the form of a woman with shining raiment, and alleged that he revealed to her his speedy return, the resurrection of his saints, and the final triumph over his enemies. The extremism of the Montanists gradually separated them from the church, and there was a strong reaction to their teachings.
The next controversy over millenarianism occurred in Egypt in the city of Alexandria. An Egyptian bishop, Nepos, published a work entitled "A Confutation of the Allegorists." In this he defended the literal interpretation of the Scriptures, and from his premises, deduced the doctrine of a millennium. After his death, this work aroused a great interest, and gained many adherents in Egypt. Coracion became the acknowledged leader of the doctrine. Dionysius, who was bishop in Alexandria, summoned a number of the clergy who were interested in the question. They convened in A.D. 262, and their discussion lasted three days. At the end of this time, Coracion acknowledged that he was convinced of his error and pledged himself to abstain from advocacy of the doctrine during his lifetime. Dionysius summed up his conclusions on the matter in two books, "Upon the Promises" and from this time on few writers of note defended the doctrine until after the rise of the Protestant sects following the Reformation.
The opinion that there will be two future personal advents of the Christ, one before and another after the thousand years in which Satan is confined, is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20. That opinion holds that Jesus will come first to resurrect the righteous dead and inaugurate a universal sway of righteousness over the earth, during which the saints will reign with him in the flesh and share his trumph. Later--a thousand years later--he will come to terminate the present order in a universal judgment. To this interpretation there are some very grave and serious objections which cannot be lightly esteemed by the lover of truth.
The millenarian view must be fully set forth in this one chapter of Revelation, or it is not contained in God's revelation at all, for nowhere else is mention made of the thousand year reign, or of the first and second resurrection, as set forth here. Here are some factors of importance to consider.
1. The book of Revelation is a book of signs and symbols as all must admit. The passage relied upon is an obscure one in a book composed of highly figurative language. It is dangerous to construct a system of doctrine dependent upon such a foundation.
2. While insisting upon a literal interpretation of this passage, millenarians do not hesitate to interpret as figurative and symbolic other portions of the book, and even of the same chapter.
3. There are some things definitely lacking in the passage which are essential to the maintenance of the theory. In the first place, the second coming of Christ is not mentioned. There is nothing said about the resurrection of bodies. The writer saw "souls" and not bodies at all. There is no mention of Christ returning to earth, nor is there anything said about a reign on earth. All of these are ingredients of the millenarian view, and it cannot be constructed without them, yet not a one of them is found in the passage which is the foundation of the system.
4. In spite of the fact that many references are made to the resurrection elsewhere, and that this subject was one of primary interest to the primitive saints, the idea of two literal resurrections, one of the righteous and another of the wicked, with a thousand year interval between, is not mentioned elsewhere, and in this case occurs couched in symbolism and imagery.
5. The view that the saints will be raised physically and will reign on the earth in the flesh, is inconsistent with the uniform teaching of the sacred writings as to the nature of the resurrection body.
a. In reply to the questions, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" the inspired writer says, "What you sow is not the body which is to be" (1 Cor. 15:37).b. It is specifically stated that "It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:44).
c. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable" (1 Cor. 15:50). In view of this, if the righteous dead are raised in the flesh they will be debarred from the kingdom.
d. "For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:53). Flesh and blood are neither imperishable nor immortal, for "all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers..." (1 Pet. 1:24).
6. The interpretation under consideration contradicts the plain teaching elsewhere that the righteous and wicked dead will be raised and judged together at the second coming of Jesus.
a. Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28, 29). This is a universal resurrection. It includes all that are in the tombs. The "all" is made up of two classes, "those who have done good" and "those who have done evil." They are to be raised the same hour and not a millennium apart.b. Jesus said, "This is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). This presents positive proof that the righteous will be raised at the final day, but if there is a thousand years following, it cannot be the last day. It will not help to say that "time" will cease to be counted when Jesus comes to begin a pre-millennial reign, for that would negate the idea of a literal thousand years. A literal year is composed of days.
c. The wicked will be judged on the same day the righteous are raised. "He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day" (John 12:48).
d. On the same day that Jesus comes to be glorified in his saints, he will inflict vengeance on the wicked. "When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints" (2 Thess. 1:7-10). Notice the expression "when he comes on that day." This seems to indicate but one coming with a dual purpose to be accomplished "on that day" of his coming.
e. The types which Jesus uses from the old covenant scriptures to illustrate his coming indicate the salvation of the good and the punishment of the evil simultaneously.
One of these concerns Noah and the wicked antediluvians. "They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27). "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened...On the very same day Noah...entered the ark" (Gen. 7:11-13).
The other type is that of Lot and the wicked dwellers of Sodom. "On the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all." The next verse says, "So will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed" (Luke 17:29,30).
In view of all these matters we cannot agree with the premillennial theory as so widely taught in these days. However, we must face up to Revelation 20, and if the millenarian view is incorrect we should be able to show that it does not correctly explain the chapter. Moreover, we should be able to give a logical explanation thereof. This we shall attempt in our next chapter.