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The Interpretation of Prophecy Part Two Chapter 3 Section 4

In the fourth and final section of his chapter on the prophetical future of the Church and the Kingdom of God, the author concludes his work with an examination of the culminating events of human history: the millennium, the second advent of our Lord, the final judgment, and the entrance of the redeemed into the eternal state of perfection. He particularly addresses the nature of the millennial reign and where it stands in relation to the physical return of Christ.

As the coming of the Lord is a common prophetical theme in both testaments, it is important first to discover and distinguish the ways in which His coming is foretold. We observe that often in Scripture, “the coming of the Lord” is not a literal physical appearing, but rather an unusual manifestation of His works of righteous judgment or merciful deliverance. Hence the Lord is said to “come down,” to see and hear the offense of Sodom prior to judgment, to deliver His people from Egypt, and to restore the captives from Babylon. David speaks of his deliverance in the graphic figurative language of Psalm 18.7-19, saying, “He bowed the heavens also, and came down.” The aforementioned are examples of the usual mode of prophetic language concerning the coming of the Lord, but there are clearly certain prophetical passages that speak of a strictly literal personal coming, as in Malachi 3.1, in which we are told “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple.”

In the New Testament we find the same distinctions, as demonstrated by the book of Revelation itself, in which we find the figurative coming of the Lord in passages like Revelation 2.5: “I will come to you quickly, and remove your lampstand…” In all such prophetic passages in Scripture, we are not saying that these are not real comings of the Lord, only that they are not physical and terminal. As in the Old Testament, there are in the New Testament a small subset of all the texts regarding the coming of the Lord in which it is clear that the visible, physical, and therefore final advent is in view, “which every eye shall see.” In all of these passages, the coming of the Lord is the great culminating event that will end history.

Prior to the final end of all things comes the millennium, which though alluded to in other prophetical passages, e.g. Habakkuk 2.14, Zechariah 14.9, Isaiah 11.1-9, et al., is described explicitly only in Revelation 20. Hence it here we must turn our attention to determine the nature of that blessed period of human history. In keeping with the symbolical use of numbers in Revelation, it is plain that 1000 is an ideal number, not a literal one. 10, the number of completeness is multiplied thrice, to portray a very long period of the reign of the saints upon the earth.

We learn in Revelation 20.1-3 that at the commencement of the millennium Satan is bound, that he may no longer deceive the nations. To be exegetically consistent with the rest of Scripture we must understand this as describing a great reduction in the power, activity and influence of the spiritual powers of darkness in the world, rather than as an indication that Satan himself will be literally bound. Figurative descriptions of Satan’s activity are the norm in Scripture. Our Lord speaks of Satan “falling from heaven like lightning,” in Luke 10.18 in reflecting upon the authority bestowed upon his messengers to deliver the demonized. Later in John 12.31 He speaks of Satan being judged and cast out of this world as he anticipates the completion of His redemptive work upon the cross. In Revelation we have passages such as the Lord’s letter to Pergamos, which is said to be “where Satan’s throne is” in Revelation 2.13, and Satan seen as being cast out of heaven consequent to our Lord’s resurrection and ascension in Revelation 12. Hence it follows that to attempt to understand this as a literal binding of Satan himself is to arbitrarily intermix the literal and symbolical, following the pattern and practice of so many who have sown hermeneutical confusion in the interpretation of the prophetic scriptures. It manifestly breaks "the Analogy of Faith, " that fundamental hermeneutical principle that informs us that scripture must interpret scripture.

The millennium is characterized as the saints ruling and reigning with Christ, and also as the “first resurrection.” Scripture teaches us that after His triumphant resurrection, our Lord ascended to heaven, where He now rules until all His enemies are made subject to Him. All authority in heaven and earth has been committed to Him, and in that authority His Church has gone out into all the world with the gospel of salvation. This is the age of the Church, in which she in the name of her Head, is crushing the head of the serpent (Genesis 3.15, Romans 16.20, et al.). The first resurrection must be seen in the light of other prophetic scripture, e.g. Ezekiel 37, in which the mass resurrection in the valley of dry bones depicts the future spiritual resuscitation of the people of God. [Aside: To this I would add John 5.24-30, which this author does not mention. Being written by the same author as Revelation, it describes the same two resurrections: the first, which now is, in which “the dead will the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live,” and the second in which “all who are in their graves will hear” and come forth to judgment.] Likewise in Revelation the second resurrection comes at the end of millennium, and is the resurrection unto final judgment. Over those who have partaken of the first resurrection, i.e. new life in Christ, the second resurrection, judgment, has no power.

Concerning the final return of Christ, there are compelling and conclusive reasons that show that it does not precede the millennium, but rather comes at its terminus. The personal presence of the Lord Jesus is not mentioned at all the in the account of the millennial reign. Rather the reigning of the saints with Christ is similar to the description in Ephesians 2.6 of them “being seated with Him in heavenly places,” which is clearly a description of the Church in its present militant state. Placing the return of Christ before the millennium necessitates a bizarre mixture of the states of humiliation and glory. Christ would dwell upon the earth in His glorified and incorruptible body among saints still living in a pre-glorified state. The events that are chiefly associated with the return of Christ, viz. the general resurrection and the final judgment, occur at the close of the millennium, not at its outset.