Beyond these words, it is impossible to go in speculation, of hope or despair. Whatever that final sentence may mean; it is the sentence of Him who occupies the Great White Throne.
Eschatology is a complicated subject. How do the events revealed in Revelation chapter 20 impact how you live your life today? Are you surprised that at the end of the Millennium there will be some who still choose to follow Satan? Why or why not? Lord God, You are worthy to be praised, and I glorify Your name.
I thank You, Lord, for Your amazing grace and redeeming love. Lord, I ask for Your kingdom to come, Your will to be done. Teach me and Your church to live each day for You. Help us to keep short accounts with You, oh God, and to bring You glory in all that we do and say. I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. The 1,Year Reign June 22, Revelation And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.
Devotion In this chapter, we are given a preview of the Millennial Kingdom in relationship to Christ, Satan, man, the tribulation saints, the resurrections, the earth, and the Great White Throne judgment.
God, You are faithful and true. Amillennialists argue that the millennium began with the resurrection of Jesus and will last until the second coming. During this time, deceased believers reign spiritually with Christ in heaven in the intermediate state, awaiting their physical resurrection and the renewal of all things, and Satan is bound in the sense of being bound at the cross while the gospel goes out to the nations Matt.
Premillennialists say Christ will literally return to earth before the millennium hence the prefix pre and will reign one thousand years on earth before bringing an end to everything at the end of the millennium. Most premillennialists believe the thousand years designate a literal period of time, but such a view is not necessary for the position, for one could believe in a literal reign of Christ on earth for a long period of time other than exactly one thousand years and still be premillennial.
Premillennialists are divided into historic and dispensational premillennialists. Some are called historic premillennialists because they identify themselves with premillennial church fathers, including Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus. Dispensational premillennialists, who first appeared in the nineteenth century, are distinguished from historic premillennialists by arguing for a secret rapture seven years before Jesus returns to inaugurate the millennium. Dispensational premillennialists emphasize the fulfillment of promises to the Jewish people during the millennium.
Premillennialists maintain the phrase has chronological significance, but amillennialists say this is not necessarily the case. Given the diversity of usage of the phrase, it is difficult to argue that it clearly points to a new section chronologically. It is quite possible that —10 describes from another angle the events recorded in —21, as we have often seen Revelation recapitulate the time of the end.
One significant problem with the premillennial view is that Jesus had destroyed all unbelievers at the end of chapter 19; thus it is difficult to understand how anyone could enter the millennium with an unglorified body. Why would Satan need to be bound if the armies opposing God were destroyed at the second coming?
Historic premillennialists argue the armies in chapter 19 do not represent all people—some were not destroyed at the second coming and thus enter the millennium. However, nowhere else is there any indication that some human beings are not judged at the second coming. Perhaps there is ammunition for the premillennial view in Zechariah 14; there the Lord judges and slays those opposed to him Zech.
Angels descending from heaven are a common feature in Revelation, and here an angel holds in his hand the key to the abyss and a great chain cf. The angel seizes the dragon, the great monster opposing the people of God, and binds him in the pit for a thousand years.
They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. The angel throws Satan into the pit and locks him in.
Thus Satan is unable to deceive the nations for one thousand years. Near the end of the thousand years, Satan is released for a short time to wreak havoc. Premillennialists say the events in verses 2—3 occur when Christ returns to earth, arguing that Satan cannot be locked up before Jesus returns, for he is alive and well during the present evil age, standing behind the beast and false prophet, deceiving and inciting the people of the world to persecute Christians — It is difficult to see how, according to premillennialists, these statements can be true if Satan is confined to the abyss.
In Revelation 12 Satan is cast from heaven to earth, and the point there, though certainly symbolic, is that Satan has no ground to accuse believers before God since the death of Christ has removed their guilt. It seems here, however, that John goes a step further, the symbolism indicating Satan is absolutely restricted from acting on the earth.
Amillennialists suggest the locking away in a pit is symbolic and does not mean Satan is absent from earth. The text says he can no longer deceive the nations. Some interpret this to mean that Satan, during the present evil age, is unable to deceive the nations into gathering at Armageddon. By Andrew Russeth. Given the harrowing experiences that the artist and activist Ai Weiwei has endured over his sixty-four years, it is a bit miraculous to see him exude mordant humor and calm determination throughout his lucid new memoir, Years of Joys and Sorrows.
Even in very dire circumstances, he seems able to engage—maybe even enjoy—one absurdity or another. Writing about the eighty-one days he spent in Chinese custody in , having been detained after years of outspoken political activity, Ai relishes the cat-and-mouse exchanges he had with his interrogators, who he says accused him of everything from bigamy to subversion.
The first follows Qing, who was born into a well-off family in a village in Jinhua in , developed into a freethinking painter, traveled to Paris in the late s, and later became enmeshed in the impossible politics of revolutionary China. Ordered to clean toilets, his father did not complain. He has done important work leading an amateur investigation into the Sichuan earthquake, in which thousands of children died when shoddy buildings collapsed.
Sierra H. Follow the Little Promptings David Dickson. Tune In to the Spirit Eric B. Eight Reasons for Revelation Dallin H. Where Was My Answer?
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