The third area needing to be addressed in determining the interpretation of the 1000 years in Revelation 20 is understanding the ‘First Resurrection’ and the ‘Second Death.’ In Revelation 20:4b-6 we read, “…They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”
These questions must be answered. What does it mean for the people to ‘come to life’? What is the first resurrection? What is the second death? We have already discussed the condition of those who are reigning with Christ in this passage. They are martyrs who are seen standing in the throne room of God. A Premillennialist believes that the phrase coming to life indicates a physical resurrection of the believers that are then brought into the 1000 year kingdom. Walvoord says,
At the end of the church age, the rapture of the church will take place and the dead in Christ will be raised. At the end of the great tribulation, the tribulation saints will also be raised from the dead. It would seem clear from these facts that the term “the first resurrection” is not an event but an order of resurrection including all the righteous who are raised from the dead before the millennial kingdom begins. They are first in contrast to those who are raised last, after the millennium, when the wicked dead are raised and judged. Just as there are two kinds of physical death, namely, the first death which results in burial, and the second death which is described as being cast into the lake of fire (20:14).10
Walvoord’s interpretation does not leave us with a resurrection of type but of number. Both are physical. He sees the difference being in whom is being resurrected not what character (type) of resurrection is being described. First is a resurrection of the saints and second a resurrection of the ungodly. But what of those who live through the millennial kingdom as saints but have yet to receive their physical bodies? If the resurrection at the end of the millennium is distinctive because it is for the ungodly, then how will those saints experience physical resurrection? The resurrection for the Godly would have already happened. Another problem for the Premillennialist is that there is a seven year gap between the Rapture and the Second Coming. This is distinctive to Dispensationalism (including Walvoord) not Historic Premillennialism. According to Dispensationalism, all Christians who would be considered part of the church age or the Dispensation of Grace will be raptured secretly by Christ and brought to Heaven. All of the Christians who fit into this category will be resurrected and given their eternal, glorified bodies. So for Dispensational Premillennialism, the resurrection at the time of Revelation 20 is actually the second resurrection of believers.
While Ladd, a Historic Premillennialist, doesn’t agree with the Dispensational doctrine of the Rapture, he does agree with Walvoord on Revelation 20.
In Revelation 20:4-6, there is no such contextual clue for a similar variation of interpretation. The language of the passage is quite clear and unambiguous. There is no necessity to interpret either word spiritually in order to introduce meaning to the passage. At the beginning of the millennial period, part of the dead come to life [the martyrs], at its conclusion, the rest of the dead come to life. There is no evident play on words. The passage makes perfectly clear sense when interpreted literally.11
The Amillennialist would say that the two resurrections in Revelation 20 are of contrasting types. The first is a spiritual resurrection while the second is a physical resurrection. Hendriksen says, “The first resurrection is the translation of the soul from this sinful earth to God’s holy heaven. It is followed at Christ’s second coming by the second resurrection when the body, too, will be glorified.”12
Many Amillennialists/Postmillenialists would agree with Hendriksen, although a more accurate interpretation would be the interpretation put forward by Kim Riddlebarger in a lecture. Pastor Riddlebarger argues that spiritual resurrection occurs earlier, at the time of regeneration.13 At death, the believer will be freed from his or her sin nature and will experience their spiritual resurrection in full. Just as we are reigning with Christ now, we have also been raised spiritually now. We have been united to Christ so that all that is Christ’s is ours. In this age, we experience in part what we will have in full in the age-to-come. Elsewhere in the New Testament, this doctrine of spiritual resurrection is seen occurring at the time of salvation. Biblical evidence for this would be: “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:3) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (II Cor. 5:17) “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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.” (Eph. 2:4-6)
Before we are saved, our spiritual condition is dead so that it takes the regeneration of the Holy Spirit to bring us to spiritual life. This is the first resurrection. We do not experience this in full until we experience our first death and go to be with our Lord. In order to understand what the first resurrection is, it would be helpful to determine the meaning of the second death.
Verse six tells us that the second death has no power over those who experience the first resurrection. Verses fourteen and fifteen tell us that the second death is experiencing the Lake of Fire. It seems reasonable that if the second death is spiritual and it is being compared to the first resurrection then the first resurrection is also spiritual. Greg Beale says,
The ongoing suffering must be considered a figurative ‘second death.’ A figurative understanding of the ‘second death’ is supported not only by the obviously non-literal ‘lake of fire’ but also by the above analysis of 20:4-6, where there was found both physical and spiritual resurrection and both physical and spiritual death. That the first and second deaths are qualitatively different is supported also by 21:4, 9. There, physical death is part of the ‘first things’ that ‘have passed away.’ Which are contrasted with ‘the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’ The reference to ‘fire and brimstone’ in 21:8 identifies the ‘second death’ with the eternal, conscious torment by ‘fire and brimstone’ in 14:10-11 and 20:10.14
The final area that we need to examine is how other Scriptures use the term 1000. If it is always used literally in other passages, then an argument could be made for a literal interpretation here. Psalm 50:10 tells us, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” II Peter 3:8 likewise states, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”
It is obvious in these two passages that the term 1000 is not being used literally, but figuratively. God owns all the hills and all the cattle, in fact He owns all the everything; that is what the Psalmist is trying to convey. Peter’s purpose is to show that time is of no consequence to God. The passage is specifically talking about the saving of the elect, the punishing of the wicked and the destruction of the old Heavens and Earth and the creation of the new. Martin Luther says, “Since now in God’s sight there is no reckoning of time, a thousand years must be with him, as it were, a day.”15
In conclusion, the term 1000 years in Revelation 20 should be taken figuratively. It is being used by the author to denote an undetermined period of time when Christ’s Kingdom will be spreading throughout the earth breaking down the gates of Hell. Satan is bound by the Gospel during this time until shortly before the end when he will be released to once again deceive the nations. Satan will lead a revolt against Christ Who will with one word defeat him casting him into the Lake of Fire with death and Hades and all those who are not found in the Lambs book of life; this is the second death. We are given a picture of the throne room of God where we see souls of those who have been martyred for the name of Christ standing in Heaven waiting for the day of vindication. The first resurrection is best described as spiritual since it is contrasted with the second death that is a spiritual death.
Time does not permit me to discuss the clear teaching in Scripture regarding the Two-Age model nor the parables of Jesus or the doctrine of the Second Coming as taught throughout the New Testament. Suffice it to say that before the Second coming, we are told that we live in an evil age surrounded by things that are temporary: homes, marriage, etc. In the Age-to-Come, we are surrounded by things that are eternal: righteousness, life, no pain, no sorrow, etc. The dividing line between the two ages is at the Second Coming of Christ when He will raise both the wicked and the righteous. He will separate the wheat from the tares and the sheep from the goats, casting the unrighteous into everlasting punishment and giving the righteous the new universe forever in the presence of their Lord.
Notes
1. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Findlay: Dunham, 1958), 477.
2. Simon Kistemaker, Commentary on Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 534.
3. John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: N.T. (Wheaton: Victor, 1983), 979.
4. Leon Morris, Revelation TNTC (Downers Grove: IVP, 2009), 225.
5. Simon Kistemaker, Commentary on Revelation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 538.
6. John Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom (Findlay: Dunham, 1959), 271.
7. John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: N.T. (Wheaton: Victor, 1983), 978.
8. C.I. Scofield, Addresses in Prophecy (Greenville: Gospel Hour, 1975), 110.
9. Leon Morris, Revelation TNTC (Downers Grove: IVP, 2009), 225.
10. John Walvoord, Revelation (Chicago: Moody, 1966), 298-299.
11. George Ladd, Commentary on Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 265-66.
12. William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1940), 192.
13. Kim Riddlebarger, “Christ the true Israel”, Amillennialism 101, (Anaheim: Christ Reformed Church, 10/17/08).
14. G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 1036.
15. Martin Luther, Commentary on Peter and Jude (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1982), 298.
No comments:
Post a Comment