In which our regular
writers toss around subjects a little more volatile than usual.
A few weeks back we spent some time considering eternity as described in our Bibles, and the various misunderstandings that exist
about it even among believers.
Tom: I promised at the end of that exchange that we would put together some thoughts on the
subject of the Millennium, the coming thousand year reign of Christ, a subject
explored mostly in the psalms and the writings of the Hebrew prophets and
touched upon only briefly in the book of Revelation, where we are told that
Satan will have no part in it, having been
consigned to the abyss.
So let’s talk about this golden age a little, IC. Why have a
Millennium at all? Why is it so important? Why not transport Christians
straight into our promised eternity with Christ?
That Dreaded ‘D’ Word
Immanuel Can: I
think that to answer that question we have to look at the whole span of God’s
plan for his creation, don’t we? I mean, the Millennium is one phase of
God’s dealings with man: it makes sense to set it in the context of the other
parts of that general plan, does it not?
Tom: It does indeed. Do tell.
IC: I hate to say the “D” word, because it has been slandered so often that many people have
been programmed to reject it on sight, but …
“Dispensationalism.”
Tom: Aaaaagh! Okay, I’ll bite, since I haven’t got sufficient garlic to fend you off, but
you’re going to have to walk me through it.
IC: Okay. It’s quite straightforward. Dispensationalism is the observation that the Bible teaches that at
different times in history, God required of humankind specific kinds of
response, certain “stewardships” under his guidance. And these did not stay
identical throughout history. So what was expected of Abraham or Isaiah was
somewhat different from what was expected of Peter or Paul, and from what might
be required of us today. And it’s worthwhile to look at what was, and what will
be, expected in each era of God’s plans.
A Different Plan of Attack
Tom: Okay, so you’re saying that God had a different plan of attack with respect to man’s sin
problem at different points in history (or, really, a different phase of the
same plan of attack), depending on the capacity and the development of the
individuals he was dealing with, and the specific thing he was trying to
accomplish in any given generation. Does that cover it adequately?
IC: Yep, that’s tidy. Now I’m going to be a little more contentious. Everybody is a Dispensationalist. There are only two types of rational Christians: those who know they’re Dispensationalists, and those who don’t know they are, but still are.
Tom: I agree. Even the Covenant Theologians acknowledge two dispensations, though they
wouldn’t use that word. But tell me: how does that factor into our
discussion of the Millennium?
IC: How can you answer the question of why we have the Millennium when you have no idea how it
differs from any other time period, or how it fits into the more general plan
of God?
Tom: Um … valid point. So what’s different about it then? What is God doing in that period that
is so important?
Millennial Distinctives
IC: The key passage is Revelation 20:2-7. The Millennium is there described very
specifically as a 1,000 year period during which Satan is bound, and the earth
is dominated by the righteous rule of God. That makes it very different from
the present age, I think you’ll agree. It’s with reference to that time that we
get the famous OT passages about the
restoration of Israel as a centre of righteous rule, swords being beaten into agricultural instruments, an end to the world food shortage, wolves lying down with lambs and a peaceful, worldwide theocratic government. In short, things will run very differently from how they run now.
Tom: The Millennium will be unprecedented and amazing, but it’s not the Eternal State
either. We need to distinguish the two. There will be
death during the Millennium, and sin as well. There will be Old Testament-style animal sacrifices offered in a new but very physical temple. There will still be clear national distinctions, along with a hint that
not all nations will quietly cooperate at all times with God’s administration of their affairs. There is the potential for
plagues on rebellious people. And if you read Isaiah carefully, there’s even reason to suspect that the restoration of the animal kingdom to its Edenic state is to be
a state of affairs connected specifically with Zion rather than the entire planet.
So the Millennium is not eternal perfection. It’s something
not wildly dissimilar to the conditions we experience today, only perfectly
governed, and with the Father of Lies conveniently out of the way.
IC: But we haven’t quite pinned down precisely why that’s necessary: in other words,
someone might ask, why not jump straight from the “Age of Grace” into the Eternal
State? What do you say, Tom?
A Few Outstanding Promises
Tom: Well, for one, there are some things God has promised to do first that can’t be overlooked if he is to remain true to his word, like the fulfillment of his covenants with Abraham and David. Abraham had some
land he was supposed to receive. David had a throne that was never rescinded from his lineage. Somebody has to make good on that stuff, or God is a liar. Needless to say, God
is not a liar. So we’re not going to get through human history without God
making good on his promises.
IC: You’re reminding me of Moses’ prayer of intercession for Israel. He agonized over what
it would mean to the reputation of the Lord as savior if he should fail to
complete his promises to Israel. The nations would say, “Because
the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the
wilderness.” And indeed, what other explanation could there be, but “the Lord was not able …
so he killed them”?
A Demonstration of Competence
Tom: This is the ongoing problem. Further, God has other things he wishes to prove once and for all.
Read Psalm 2 and imagine a world in which God fails to once and for all
demonstrate that his Son is the answer to every one of the world’s problems. I can’t imagine a scenario in which man wins and Christ loses. God fully
intends to overturn the verdict of the Jewish religious hierarchy against his
Son, and demonstrate that only his Christ is competent to administer world
order. Good luck to those who think otherwise.
IC: Heh. No luck to them at all.
“He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” “Must”, meaning, “Oh, yes; this is going to happen.” And “all”: there will be
no leftover victories for the opposition to claim. Nada.
A Demonstration of Man’s Innate Sinfulness
Tom: Right. But there’s another problem with mankind, and that’s that he is perpetually claiming that all his
problems are a product of the devil’s shenanigans; “The devil made me do it,”
and all that. So God must take the devil out of the equation for
1,000 years to demonstrate that the problem was always much more than
Satan: man absolutely and utterly colluded with the Prince of Darkness. He was
not just a pawn but a willing playmate. The Millennium is the end of all man’s
pathetic excuses for our behavior.
IC: This brings
us back to what I meant by God’s general plan for history. Man’s been tried in
a state of relative innocence in the Garden of Eden: failed. He’s been tried
under the judges and prophets, the kings and the Law: failed. He’s been tried
under the regime of the Chosen Nation: failed. He’s been tried under his own
rule, of many and various kinds, in our age: failed. During the Millennium he will be tried under a regime of perfect governance: aaaaand ... [drumroll, please]
At that point, I think the conclusion of the historical
demonstration is obvious: no set of conditions is sufficient to allow a man to
earn his way into fellowship with God. Only the Lord saves.
Tom: Amen to that. But there are still significant numbers of Christians who believe we are
capable of making the world a whole lot better — even to the point of
issuing in Millennial conditions — before the Lord will return to rule.
That seems to me to be missing a point that the Holy Spirit has been writing in
36 point bold capital letters across the pages of history. Yes, the Church
has the indwelling Holy Spirit. Yes, we are privileged to enjoy God’s grace in
a unique way. But we are not equipped on our own to reverse-engineer the
effects of the Fall in either society or in human lives, and certainly not in
terms of its impact on creation. We need not just God IN us, but God WITH
us — Immanuel, so to speak — and God has just the ticket for that.
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