CHAPTER 20: THE REIGN OF 1,000 YEARS,
THE BINDING OF SATAN,
THE FIRST RESURRECTION AND THE LAST BATTLE, and
THE PROPHECY OF THE LAST JUDGMENT
(Jesus' reply to the Pharisees when they accuse Him of
casting out demons by the power of Satan) "But if it is through the Spirit
of God that I drive out devils, then be sure that the kingdom of God has caught you unawares. Or again, how can anyone make his way into a strong man's house
and plunger his property unless he has first tied up the strong man? Only then
can he plunder his house."
Matthew 12:28-29
"When the Son of man comes in his glory, escorted by
all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All nations
will be assembled before him and he will separate people one from another as
the shepherd separates sheep from goats."
Matthew 25:31-2
Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass
through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers ... (CCC 675). The Church still will enter the glory
of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her lord
in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a
historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by
God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to
come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the
form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world
(CCC 677; see Rev 20:11-21:1-4).
-Ezekiel References: chapters 38-39
Chapter 20 begins with the
fourth of John's final 7 visions. Each of the visions can be identified with
the words Kai eidon, "And I saw" which begins each vision (19:11,
17,
19,
20:1,
4;
20:11,
21:1).
Please read Revelation 20:1-3 The Binding of Satan
Revelation 20:1-3"(And I saw)
Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key of the Abyss in his
hand and an enormous chain. He overpowered the dragon, that primeval serpent
which is the devil and Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years. He
hurled him into to the Abyss and shut the entrance and sealed it over him, to
make sure he would not lead the nations astray again until the thousand years
had passed. At the end of that time he must be released, but only for a short
while."
The Abyss does not appear to be hell (Gehanna), nor is it
the abode of the dead (Sheol/Hades); it appears to be a separate realm of
demons.
Question: When was the last time we saw an angel/ messenger with
the key to the Abyss, how did we identify him, and what did he do? Hint: see
Rev. 9:1.
Answer: In Rev. 9:1 we identified the angel/messenger as
Jesus the Christ who owns the keys. At that time He released Satan from the
Abyss.
Question: In what 4 ways is the evil one named?
Answer: He is named as the dragon, the serpent, the devil and Satan.
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word satan always appears with the article "the" except in 1Chronicles 21:1 in the Old Testament where it is a proper name. In the Greek LXX (Septuagint) the word appears as diabolos (in English as "devil"), which we translate as "accuser", "adversary", or "slanderer." The basic meaning of satan in Hebrew is "an accuser in a court of law."
In the New Testament Jesus refereed to Satan as "the strong one [man]" (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21); the "evil one" (Mathew 13:19); and "the prince of this world" (John 12:31). Satan even tempts the Son of God (Matthew 4:3-11; Mark 1:13f; Luke 4:2f). When Peter tries to dissuade Jesus from fulfilling His Passion, Jesus calls Peter "satan" because his thoughts are human and not divine (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). Satan takes the "seed" of the word of the Gospel from the mouth of those who receive it (Matthew 13:19; Mark 4:15; Luke 8:12). He put the betrayal of Jesus into the heart of Judas (John 13:2), and then entered Judas for the consummation of the terrible deed (Luke 22:3; Jn 13:27). Satan tries to "sift the disciples like wheat" (Luke 22:31), and he filled the heart of Ananias with deceit (Acts 5:3). He tempts man with designs (1 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 2:11), with wiles (Ephesians 6:11), and with snares (1 Timothy 3:7; 2 Timothy 2:26). He can disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) and he can even seduce some of the faithful (1Timothy 5:15). He is the enemy who is like a roaring lion seeking prey (1Peter 5:8) and Christians should give him no room to attempt his wiles in their lives (Ephesians 4:27). As the prince of darkness he has powers to do bodily harm (Luke 13:16; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1Timothy 1:20) and the power to kill (Hebrews 2:14). He has a house and a kingdom (Matthew 12:26; Mark 3:23, 26; Luke 11:18) and before Christ's resurrection he could claim that all the kingdoms of the earth were in his power (Luke 4:6). He has sons and daughters: those who do not do righteousness and do not love their brothers (1 John 3:8, 10). But he is subject to the power of God and Christ defeated him on the Cross!
These terms to identify the Evil one have been used throughout this prophecy and the Bible as a whole. In Revelation the references to these names are found in:
| Name | Revelation Reference |
| The Dragon | 12:3-4, 7, 9, 13, 16-17; 13:2, 4, 11; 20:2 |
| The Serpent | 9:19; 12:9, 14-15; 20:2 |
| The Devil | 2:10; 12:9, 12; 20:2 |
| The Deceiver | 2:20; 12:9; 13:14; 18:23; 19:20; 20:2 |
He is also called the "destroyer" Abaddon (Hebrew) and Apollyon (Greek) in Rev. 9:11 when he is named as the "angel of the Abyss." But remember, powerful as this evil enemy may seem, he is no match for Jesus the Christ!
Question: What action does Christ take against Satan?
Answer: He throws him into the Abyss and seals the opening.
Question: What is the reason that is given for his imprisonment
and how long is it to last?
Answer: So that he can no longer deceive the nations. He
will be imprisoned for 1,000 years.
Question: His imprisonment is the good news but what's the bad
news?
Answer: He will be released at the end of the 1,000 years but
only for a short time.
Notice that twice we
are told that the great enemy of man will be bound by Christ for 1,000 years in
the Abyss which will be sealed over him.
Question: Is this an event in the future or was this binding of
Satan part of Christ's mission as the Messiah?
Answer: There are scholars who see this as a future event
that will usher in a Golden Age of the Church when Christ will rule a "heaven
on earth." There is, however, strong Biblical evidence that this "binding of
Satan" was part of Christ's mission in establishing the Kingdom of heaven on
earth as the Universal (Catholic) Church. In 1 John 3:8 St. John tells us "Whoever
lives sinfully belongs to the devil, since the devil has been a sinner from the
beginning. This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo
the work of the devil." When Adam and Eve fell into sin through the
seduction of the devil they lost their spiritual dominance of the earth and
Satan became the "prince of the earth." That is why he could make the offer he
made to temp Jesus during the 3 temptations in the wilderness as recorded in
Matthew and Luke when, after Jesus' baptism, the confrontation between Jesus
and Satan becomes all out warfare. Please read Matthew 4:8ff (also see Luke
4:5ff): "Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all
the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to him, I will give
you all these, if you fall at my feet and do me homage."
Question: How could Satan make such an offer to Jesus?
Answer: Because he held dominance over the nations of the
earth. See the Gospel of John:
Before Christ could establish His kingdom the Church, he had to bind the one who claimed power over the earth and could lead "the nations astray." Jesus declared His intention to "bind" Satan in His response to the accusation of the Pharisees that He casts out demons by the power of Satan. Read Matthew 12:26-29 and Luke 11:20-22:
Jesus defeated Satan in His death as the final sacrifice for sin on the cross and in His resurrection. He unlocked the Abyss and used Satan and his forces to bring the end to the Old Covenant, and now He is binding Satan as He promised He would do and is returning him to the Abyss. Therefore, I do not think this is a future action; but instead it is fulfillment of Jesus' mission. With the defeat of death and Satan, Christ establishes His New Covenant Church and fulfills His mission as Messiah by binding the "strong man". This is the final act of the drama! This action of Christ in binding Satan confirms that the great moment of Salvation and the fulfillment of the promise of the establishment of the Kingdom has indeed come. This is what Paul wrote about in Romans just a few years before the destruction of the Temple in 70AD when he said in Romans 16:20, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under his feet." Remember, Paul is making this statement more than 30 years after the Resurrection of Christ! The destruction of the Temple, that had become the "strong man's" house, is the final act that brought about the completion of the New Covenant and the binding of Satan.
But how long is Satan bound before he will be released again? Most scholars agree that the unleashing of Satan from the Abyss will usher in the final eschatological battle and the End of Time. The only scholars who do not agree with this interpretation are those who think the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD was the final "parousia" (presence or coming) of Christ. This interpretation, however, denies the Apostle's Creed. It is the Creed of belief that has come down to us from the Apostles and it clearly states that "He [Jesus] will come again to judge the living and the dead."
Let's look at the next verse and then we will try to tackle the issue of the "thousand year reign" of Christ and the Church.
Please read Revelation 20:4-10 The First Resurrection and the Last Battle
Verse 4 "(And I saw)
Then I saw thrones, where they took their seats, and on them was conferred
the power to give judgment. I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for
having witnessed for Jesus and for having preached God's word, and those who
refused to worship the beast or his statue and would not accept the brand-mark
on their foreheads or hands; they came to life, and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years."
This is the 5th of the 7 Last Visions.
Question: How has the condition of the Old and New Testament
Saints changed with the resurrection of Christ and the fulfillment of the Old
Covenant?
Answer: they now have access to the Kingdom of Heaven and the presence of God because Christ's sacrificial blood has cleansed them of all
unrighteousness. The holy dead now reign with Christ as priest/kings in the
heavenly assembly while we continue here in Christ's earthly kingdom of the Universal Church, the Body of Christ.
Question: When are these two parts of Christ's kingdom joined as
one?
Answer: On the Lord's Day in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
= the most holy Eucharist when we receive Christ Body, Blood, Soul, and
Divinity.
Question: Why are we identified as the "Body of Christ" ?
Answer: From the very early years of the Church we were
identified as the "Body of Christ" because we physically receive Christ into
our bodies and are therefore united with Him in the Eucharist. We are what we
eat.
Question: While Jesus was with His Apostles what 2 promises did
he give them? Hint: see Matthew 19:28.
Answer: 1) they would sit on thrones, and 2) they would judge.
With His death, resurrection
and ascension to His throne (Eph 1:20-22) Jesus began the inauguration of the
Age of the Kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13) in which all the nations of the earth
are invited to the Marriage Feast with the prophets of the Old Covenant and the
Saints and Apostles of the New Covenant (Is. 52:15; Luke 13:28-29, 22:29-30).
In this "New Age" of the Kingdom, the Apostles reign and rule over the New
Israel. They are the foundation of the New Covenant Church (Eph 2:20) which is
a kingdom of priest/kings by Christ's command and their successors, the
bishops, continue their rule and authority on earth. This is exactly what John
shows in this passage: the saints who sit on thrones and judge which parallels
John's statement in Rev. 11:18: "...and now the time has come for your
retribution, and for the dead to be judged, and for your servants the prophets
for the saints and for those who fear your name, small and great alike, to be
rewarded. The time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth." ("Small
and great alike" will be repeated in 20:12).
Now Jesus, as the "Second Adam" (see 1 Corinthians 15:45) has ascended to His throne and has bound Satan and His people have ascended to rule with Him (see Ephesians 2:6). The Dominion Mandate of Genesis 1:26-28 (also see Psalms chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 2) is now fulfilled through the triumph of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the dominion of the Saints as we gradually "disciple" (teach) the nations of the earth just as He commanded us in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 "Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always, yes, to the end of time.'"
Question: In addition to the thrones, what else does John see in
the second sentence of verse 4 and did you notice any similarities to the
description of the martyrs in Rev 6:9?
Answer: Yes, he sees the "souls"
of all those who had been beheaded. He also saw "souls" in 6:9. We will
receive our resurrected bodies in the 2nd Resurrection; for now,
after death and the 1st judgment, the souls of the righteous ascend
to the Father.
In Revelation 20 verse 4 the use of the word "beheaded" is interesting. The Greek verb is pelekizo. It is not used anywhere else in the Bible but the act of beheading is mentioned using a synonym apokephalizo in Matthew 14:10; Mark 6:16, 27 and Luke 9:9.
Question: Can you recall a "beheaded" prophet of God? Read Matthew 14:1-12.
Answer: John the Baptizer, the Forerunner of Christ.
John, the priest, son of the
priest Zachariah is the last of the Old Testament prophets and he is the
forerunner of the Messiah (he was sent by God to announce the coming of the
Christ). He summed up the prophetic witness of all the proceeding prophets
(see Matthew 11:13. Jesus speaking: "Because it was towards John that all
the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading; and he, if you will
believe me, is the Elijah who was to return." And Luke 16:16 Up to the
time of John it was the Law and the Prophets; from then onwards, the kingdom of God has been preached..."). The point is that the Old Covenant witnesses, who
were all forerunners, symbolized by John the Baptist, are counted among the
faithful martyrs who "live and reign with Christ." Luke 24:25-27: [Jesus
speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus] "Then he said the them,
You foolish men! So slow to believe all that the prophets have said! Was it
not necessary that the Christ should suffer before entering into his glory?
Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to
them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself." Also
see Luke 24:44 "..everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the
Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled." and Acts 10:43 "It
is to him [Jesus] that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe
in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.".
Revelation 20:4 continued: "and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years." Catholics usually do not get caught up in the millennium debate. As a matter of fact I do not believe I have ever heard a homily on "the thousand year reign of Christ." Our Protestant brothers and sisters, however, are very much concerned with the interpretation of this passage. In #2 of the Introductory Lessons we talked about the 3 major millennium theories, each of which has variations. I do not want to revisit that lesson but we probably do need to quickly review the major theories. The question is: When is the Millennium? Is it before Christ's Second Coming or is it after His Second Coming? That issue is what separates the Pre from Post Millennialists and then there are the Amillennialists who believe there is no millennium.
I will try to chart these different interpretations to define their views for you, and then we will discuss each of the millennial views. Please note that all views hinge on when Christ returns in relation to the 1,000-year reign and when does the Great Tribulation occur?
| Historic Millennium | Postmillennial | Premillennial | Amillennium | |
| God works with Israel | God works with Israel | God works with Israel | God works with Israel | |
| Christ's mission, death, Resurrection, and Ascension | Christ's mission, death, Resurrection, and Ascension | Christ's mission, death, Resurrection, and Ascension | Christ's mission, death, Resurrection, and Ascension | |
| The Age of the Church | The Age of the Church | The Age of the Church | Church Age: -Tribulation and Millenial reign of Christ over the Kingdom of heaven on earth occur in the same time frame with great increase of evil at the end of the age | |
| (Tribulation ? views divided. Many historicists do not believe in a period of Tribulation) | The Great Tribulation | The Rapture = 1st Second Coming of Christ followed by Pre 3 1/2 years Great Tribulation Post 3 1/2 years | ||
| 2nd Coming of Christ | 2nd Coming of Christ | |||
| Millennial Reign of Christ and the Church | Triumphant Millennial Reign of the Church (literal/symbolic) | Millennial Reign of Christ and the Church | ||
| 2nd Coming of Christ | 2nd Coming of Christ | |||
| Final Judgment | Final Judgment | Final Judgment | Final Judgment | |
| Eternity | Eternity | Eternity | Eternity | |
| Biblical problems with these views | ||||
| No suffering--a golden age | Church is cause of Christ coming | No suffering/ 2 Second Comings of Christ = second chance for unbelievers | ||
|
Death Resurrection Ascension of Christ |
Age of the Church in the spread of the Gospel | 2nd Coming of Christ | Millennial Reign of Christ | Final Judgment | Eternal Reign of Christ |
Historic Millennialists envision the spread of the Gospel through the earth in the Age of the Church which is followed by Christ's Second Coming at the time the Gospel has reached every corner or the earth, completing the Church Age. The Second Coming is followed by the Final Judgment before God's Great White Throne, the destruction of Death and the grave and eternal life for the blessed. Generally (but not all) historic Millennialists do not envision a period of universal tribulation.
|
Death/Resurrection/ Ascension of Christ |
Ministry of Church culminates in lengthy period of peace (millennium) and righteousness before Christ's return |
Second Coming/ Final Judgment |
Eternal Reign of Christ |
Postmillennialists expect Christ's visible return after the Millennium and that the Church Age is this millennial period. They look for God to use the Church's teaching and preaching to usher in a lengthy period (some interpret this as a literal 1,000 years that will come at the end of the Church Age, others symbolically) of peace and righteousness before Christ's return. So Postmills' are divided into two groups: those who interpret the 1,000yrs literally and those who hold it is symbolic but both believe Christ will return at the end of this period. Postmills' are optimists: they believe the world will get better as the Gospel spreads across the earth. Postmillennialists usually adopt the Historical or Preterist view of Revelation.
The Premillennial Views
Premillennialists believe that Christ will return before
the Millennium and that His Coming will usher in the Millennium. They
interpret Revelation chapter 20 literally and hold that Christ will reign on
earth for a literal 1,000 years. Postmills' are pesimists: they generally
believe that things will get worse and worse and then Christ will come again
and the Millennium will be ushered in and things will be great. Most
Protestant ministers, radio evangelists and tele-evangelists are Premills' (ie
Charles Stanley, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, etc.) Within this basic agreement
the most prevalent variations are the Premillennial-pretribulational and the
Premillennial-post-tribulational views:
| Death/ Resurrection/ Ascension of Christ | Church Age | Rapture of the Church | Great Tribulation/ 7 yrs | 2nd Coming of Christ | Millennium Reign of Christ | Final Judgment | Eternal Reign of Christ |
The Premill/Pretrib' scholars argue that there are 2 different peoples of God: Israel and the Church. They believe that these 2 groups have 2 different prophetic programs. According to this view, the Church will be "raptured" prior to a 7 year Great Tribulation. Some of these scholars support a Premill/Midtrib' position and believe the 7 years will be divided into two 3 ½ year periods with a short period of 3 ½ years that the Church will suffer before being "raptured out" by Christ). Following the tribulation, Christ will return to establish a 1,000 year millennial kingdom centered in Jerusalem and which will involve the reinstitution of the Old Covenant sacrificial system (not supported anywhere in Scripture). In their view the millennial kingdom will end with a rebellion by the forces of evil when Satan is unbound, after which will come the Final Judgment and beginning of the eternal reign of Christ. Hal Lindsey, author of the Late Great Planet Earth is a Premill/Pretrib.
| Death/ Resurrec-tion/ Ascension of Christ | Church Age | Great Tribulation = 7yrs | 2 Coming of Christ | Millennium Reign of Christ | Final Judgment | Eternal Reign of Christ |
The Premillennial/posttribulational scholars teach that Christ will return at the end of a 7 year Great Tribulation which the whole Church experiences to establish a millennial kingdom. This kingdom will end with a rebellion lead by Satan followed by the Final Judgment. This view often interprets prophecy in a non-literal way and does not usually view Israel and the New Covenant Church as under completely different divine historical plans. Rather they see Israel and the Christian Church as one people of God. Many early Church Fathers held a view that was similar to the Premill/posttrib' interpretation, but they did not hold the heresy that may Premill/Pretribs' hold today that the Millennium will be a resurrection of Old Covenant Israel. Premills' of both types adopt the "Futurists" school of interpretation of Revelation.
| Death/ Resurrection/ Ascension of Christ | The Church Age " continual growth and continual tribulation for the Church on earth |
2nd Coming/ Final Judgment |
Eternal Reign of Christ |
The Amillennialists scholars interpret Christ's millennial reign in an ideal or spiritual sense. While believing in a literal 2nd Coming of Christ, they however, reject the idea of a literal 1,000 year reign on the earth. Some Amill' scholars assert that Christ's reign began during His earthly ministry or at the time of His resurrection. Others that His Millennium began with the glorious reign of the Saints in heaven or it describes the spiritual authority of the Saints of the Church here on earth. Some Amills' believe both views are correct: the heavenly glory of the resurrected Saints and the authority of the Universal Ch urch now on earth because we can bind Satan in the name of Jesus. As a proof-text they cite St. Peter's declaration that Christ now rules from the right hand of God the Father from Acts 2:33-36. Israel and the Church are viewed as forming one people of God. The Amill's' approach usually involves an "Idealist" view of the book of Revelation as a whole.
My favorite Biblical scholar, Dr. Scott Hahn, has a rather unconventional view of the Millennium rule. Dr. Hahn was influenced by the Catholic scholar Eugenio Corsini who sees the 1,000 years as corresponding to the establishment of the Davidic kingdom approximately 1003BC and lasting until the birth of Christ in 3/2BC, which as you have noticed is a literal 1,000 years. Dr. Hahn sees this period as God's preparation for ushering in of the reign of Christ. I can agree with the last statement but there is no way I can see this thousand year period as a triumphant reign of the Saints. Judah fell into apostasy and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed in God's judgment in 586/7BC. Just before the destruction of the Temple the prophet Jeremiah removed and hid the Ark of the Covenant. The new Temple, rebuilt in 5l6BC, was without the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. God did not take possession of this Temple and Jesus called it an "empty house."
What is this humble scholar's view? I more or less ascribe to St. Augustan's view. As so many of John's numbers are symbolic in Revelation (remember he is told from the very beginning by Christ that this is a book of "signs"), I believe that the 1,000 year represents the perfection of order of the number 10 multiplied by itself. In other words, the Millennium will last the perfect length of time according to God's plan. The millennium may be the symbolic reference to the period that runs from the Incarnation of Christ to the establishment of His Church reigning with Him to the end of time. It is what we were promised. The Messianic Kingdom is therefore established in 2 stages: His first coming in which Christ demonstrates His power over the devil and inaugurates the Kingdom of God and His second coming, at the end of time, when that kingdom will be established in its fullness, and complete form as the Heavenly Jerusalem. In the first stage Satan is bound but that does not mean he does not have influence. We still must fight evil but evil cannot overcome us during this Age of the Church. I also believe the Great Tribulation will come at the end of this Great Age of the Church, Christ's kingdom of heaven on earth. Although the Church has suffered persecution down through the ages, the persecution will be much more intense at the end when Satan is loosed again and through his influence the Antichrist will declare war on the Saints. I do not believe in a "Rapture" of Christians before or during the Tribulation. There is nothing in Scripture to support 2 Second Comings of Christ. A "Rapture" followed by a 2nd Coming makes 2 Second Comings of Christ. Also, why should God spare the Church this great suffering when He did not spare His own Son or His mother from suffering? I think at the end of this period of intense persecution there will be the final showdown between the forces of Christ and the forces of evil. We will, through Christ, be victorious and Christ will establish His Messianic Kingdom. See the CCC # 671-677
The Catholic Church does not support the Postmills' view of an historic triumph of the Church nor does she embrace a literal interpretation of millennium rule: CCC#677 "The Church will enter to glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, buy only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause His Bride to come down from heaven..."
If you would like to pursue these various theories I recommend the book The Rapture Trap by Paul Thigpen, Ascension Press.
The Biblical scholar David Chilton offers an interesting point concerning the 1,000 year mentioned in Revelation 20 and the age of man in Scripture.
Question: Who are the men in the Bible who lived the longest and
what were their ages?
Answer: Adam = 930 years and Methuselah = 969
years. What is significant about their ages is that man's life has never
reached the "perfect" 1,000 years.
Question: Whose kingdom was meant to last forever? Hint: see 2
Sam 7:8-29
Answer: David's kingdom should have lasted the 1,000 years
until the birth of Christ. David conquered Jerusalem circa 1000/ 10033BC and
Christ was born circa 3/2BC. But once again man fell short. Only the Son of
Man was able to bring in the 1,000 year reign!
Revelation 20:5-6 "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the
thousand years were over; this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are
those who share in the first resurrection; the second death has no power over
them but they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him for a
thousand years."
The first line of verse 5 is
a parenthetical statement separating "the rest of the dead" from the blessed.
Question: According to these verses where does this reign of the
Saints with Christ take place, in heaven or on earth, or both?
Answer: Both. Those who reign with Christ are those He has
redeemed, whether now living or death, but raised to new life in Him. See Ephesians 2:4-6; Romans 5:10; 11:15.
Ephesians 2:4-6: "But God being rich in faithful love, through the great
love with which he loves us, even when we were dead in our sins, brought us to
life with Christ—it is through grace that you have been saved—and raised us up
with him and give us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus."
Question: If "those who had been beheaded" in verse 4 are the Old
Covenant faithful, who are "the rest of the dead" who did not come to life in
verse 5?
Answer: It follows that they would be the Old Covenant unfaithful
who are truly dead!
John is stressing the fact
that the righteous dead believers of the Old Covenant have been included in
Christ's Ascension and glorious reign. They live!
Question: What is the "First Resurrection"? Hint: see Acts 2:31-33; Colossians 2:12
Answer: Christ's resurrection is the definitive
resurrection which took place on Resurrection Sunday the 3rd day
after Christ was crucified (as 1st century people counted) for the
sins of the world. We however participate in His resurrection.
Question: How do we participate in Christ's resurrection? Hint:
See Romans 6:5-10
Answer: We partake of Christ's resurrection through
Covenantal baptism in which we are raised to "new life." Romans 6:4-5 "So
by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was
raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, we too should begin living
a new life. If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we
shall be by a resurrection like his; realizing that our former self was
crucified with him..." Also see Romans 6:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:5-6; Colossians 2:12; 3:1 and CCC #1212-13.
Answer: the Baptized believer as a new creation in Christ.
Colossians 3:10: "You have stripped off your old behavior with your old
self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge
the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator." The human race was
created in the image and likeness of God [Genesis 1:26-27]. But the family of
Adam became lost in trying to see knowledge and wisdom apart from the will of
God [Genesis 2:17] and became slaves of sin. This is the "old self" [Romans
6:6] that must die. It is the "new self" that is reborn through the waters of
baptism into Christ who is the true image of God and who has come to restore
fallen humanity to the splendor of that image that had been stained and
distorted by sin.
In Romans 6:5-10 Paul focuses on Christian conformity to the life of Christ. He makes an argument in two steps, beginning each step with a conditional statement in verse 5 and again in verse 8. Each statement expresses a hope that we believe will become a reality through the promises of Jesus Christ. The argument is centered on the Christian's conformity to the ethical pattern of Christ's death, burial, and Resurrection which brought about a release from slavery to sin and God's wrath and His glorious Resurrection to new life:
Question: According to Paul what happens to our former life when
we are baptized? What is freedom to the Christian? See Romans 6:5-6?
Answer: Our old self is crucified with Christ. The new life
the believer is called to live is not only a freedom from sin but a freedom
from "self". See Romans 6:6: "..our former self is crucified with him, so
that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed
from the slavery of sin."
Question: Is our new life merely symbolic? See 2 Peter 1:3-4.
Answer: No, the regenerative waters of baptism yield a
transformation and rebirth. In Scripture a "sign" points beyond the event to a
more significant event. Baptism is a sign or symbol only in the sense that it
is symbolic of the greater supernatural reality of the sacrament which shows in
a visible form God's action to perform what the physical event
signifies—resurrection to new life in Christ. The sinner is immersed in water
and is thus "buried" with Christ [Colossians 2:12], with whom the Christian is
also raised up through the water to resurrection [Romans 8:11] as a "new
creation—infused with "divine life" [2 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:17], and as
a member of God's family and at one with the Body of Christ animated by the one
Spirit [1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:4ff]. However, the Christian's
resurrection will not be complete or final until the End of Time [1 Corinthians
15:12]. Paul assures us that Christians having been freed from sin are literally
freed from the power of sin over their lives because God's grace is more
powerful that the power of sin.
| Christ's crucifixion and death | Christ's Resurrection | Christ's glorified new life |
| Our crucifixion with Christ and our death to sin & self into the waters of baptism | Our resurrection to new life through the power of the Holy Spirit ="born again" or "born from above" in the image of Christ raised up through the water of baptism | Our final Resurrection and glorification |
M. Hunt
In his commentary on Romans 6:1-14 St. John Chrysostom writes about what it means to be dead to sin in baptism: "Being dead to sin means not obeying it any more. Baptism has made us dead to sin once and for all, but we must strive to maintain this state of affairs, so that however many commands sins may give us, we no longer obey it but remain unmoved by it, as a corpse does. Elsewhere, Paul even says that sin itself is dead...in order to show that virtue is easy. But here, since he is trying to rouse his hearers to action, he says that they are the ones who are dead."
The early Church Fathers clearly regarded baptism by water and the Spirit as more that simply symbolic, recognizing the sacramental character of baptism in which the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit dies to sin and self and is resurrected to new life. This teaching has come down to us unchanged after 2000 years and is expressed in the Oral teaching found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to plunge' or immerse'; the plunge' into the water symbolizes the catechumen's burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as a new creature'." CCC# 1214. "This sacrament is also called the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,' for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one can enter the kingdom of God." CCC# 1215. Also see Tertullian's 2nd century AD treatise On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 47.
Question: The Fathers of the Church were fond of saying, "Born
twice—die once, but born once—die twice." In light of what we have just
studies about the Sacrament of Baptism, what did they mean by this statement?
Answer: The transforming character of
Christian baptism which regenerates the supernatural life of the Trinity into
the Christian soul is what John means when he tells us that we have a part in
the resurrection of Christ—it is a regeneration that will be celebrated in its
fullness when baptized Christians who have persevered in faithfulness will
enter into a state of "beatitude" in the presence of God.
"Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection." This is the 5th of the 7 blessings in Revelation.
Question: In the Book of Revelation what two classes of people
are being identified—especially in 20:4-6?
Answer:
The resurrection of the Christian martyrs in Revelation 20:4b recalls the "resurrection" promises of Isaiah 26:19 and Ezekiel chapter 37]. Some Catholic scholars have interpreted this "resurrection" in Revelation 20 as symbolizing the rising up from "near death" of the Church after the Roman persecution from 64AD " 312AD and the "reign of a thousand years: as then following period of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth from the end of the Roman persecution to the Final Judgment. Other Catholic scholar like the great St. Augustine and others identified the "reign of a thousand year" as the period from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the "first resurrection" of Christians in the Sacrament of Baptism to the Final Judgment. The difficult phrase here in Revelation 20:5 is that the unbelievers "did not live until the thousand years were completed." Some scholars conclude that the "rest of the dead"—all who died unsaved—will live again only after the Millennium has ended in the Second Advent of Christ since John is concerned with telling us only about the Millennium itself and that the rest of the dead are excluded from "life" and "dominion" for this whole period. The question is what does John mean by "life"—is he writing of "life" spiritually or physically or both? Passages like John 5:28-29 and Acts 24:15 tell us that there indeed will be a general resurrection of both the just and the unjust at the end of time and this is what John is witnessing in this particular vision.
Question: Believers have already experienced the "first
resurrection" in baptism but according to John's vision what will be the "first
resurrection" for the unrighteous?
Answer: The Final Judgment.
But what is the "second resurrection?" In the Old Covenant the imagery of 2 resurrections is found in the articles of the Law. The Levitical purification system foreshadows the double resurrection promised to the faithful in the purification prescribed after one had been defiled by coming in contact with a dead body. Please turn to Numbers 19:11-12 and read the passage.
The cleansing ritual becomes a symbolic resurrection for the person who had become ceremonially "dead" through becoming defiled by coming in contact with a dead body. The "death" was the separation from the community. It was necessary for such a person to be symbolically resurrected in order to be returned to fellowship with the community and with God.
Question: This symbolic resurrection was
accomplished by the sprinkling of holy water on which days of the 7 day period
of defilement?
Answer: the third and the seventh days. In other
words, this was a double resurrection.
Question: What day (number) was Jesus
resurrected--a resurrection we share in through our baptism? Hint: see
Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19;
Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34;
Luke 9:22; 18:31-33
Answer: on the third day. The 3rd day
was the first resurrection in the purification rite.
Question: What was the 2nd resurrection
of this purification period?
Answer: on the 7th day.
Question: What will be the 7th day of
our 2nd Resurrection? Hint: see John 5:24-25 & 28-29. Also see 1
Corinthians 15:20-23.
Answer: There is to be a resurrection at the end
of history—that will be the 7th day—signifying fulfillment and
completion—the day the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is finally fulfilled. 7 is
symbolically the number of fullness and spiritual perfection [see the document The
Significance of Numbers in Scripture]. Time will be in all its fullness at
the 2nd Advent of Christ. It will be the Last Day. See John 6:3,
8, 40, 44, 54; Acts 24:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 and CCC #673-77
Question: 1) What is the "first death" and 2) in Revelation
20:6 what is the second death that has no power over those who share in the first
resurrection? Hint: see Revelation 20:14d-15
Answer: 1) Our physical death. 2) The Lake of Fire = Hell. The "real and final" death is eternal separation from God.
At the end of verse 6 John is told that the faithful "will be priest of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for 1,000 years." This is a restatement of what John was told in Revelation 1:5-6 "He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a Kingdom of Priests ..." All Christians are royal priests. Through baptism we have been resurrected to eternal life. This is the first resurrection. Christ is ruling now and the first resurrection, the baptism of believers is continuing now and those who are baptized are ruling with Him now (on heaven and on earth). Does this mean that the Millennium is taking place now and the 1,000 years is symbolic for the perfection of order in time of the spotless Bride of Christ? Will the millennium of the first resurrection continue until the 7th day—the day of completion when the 2nd resurrection is fulfilled? Something to think about....
Revelation 20:7-8 "When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to lead astray all the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and mobilize them for war, his armies being as many as the sands of the sea". Please read Ezekiel 38 and 39. Especially note 38:2, 9 & 15 and 39:6
In the Ezekiel passages Meshech and Tubal are countries in Asia Minor. The country of Magog' is only an invented name that means country of Gog.'
The Book of Revelation, the last Bible book, is tied to Ezekiel at many points especially the last twelve chapters of Ezekiel and St. John's concluding chapters in the Book of Revelation. Gog and Magog are mentioned again in the Book of Revelation: When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to lead astray all the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and mobilize them for war, his armies being as many as the sands of the sea. They came swarming over the entire country and besieged the camp of the saints, which is the beloved City. But the fire rained down on them from heaven and consumed them (Rev 20:7-9).
St. John uses the vivid imagery of Ezekiel 38-39 and the ungodly forces are called God and Magog, but it cannot be the same enemy and it cannot be synonymous with the eschatological (end time) Battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:16). We cannot neglect the differences between the passages:
None of these details point to events taking place in the modern age.
In addition, the war of Gog and Magog in Revelation cannot be identical to the Gog prophesy in Ezekiel for these reasons:
In Revelation, Gog and Magog (mentioned as one like the combination of Hitler and Germany) become a symbol for Gentile nations opposed to God and His Divine Plan for Israel (see Ps 2) in the same way that the Jezebel of Revelation (Rev 2:20) is not the same woman as in the Book of Kings (1 Kng 16:29-31; 18:3-4, 19; 19:1-18; 21:5-16; 2 Kng 9:30-37). Sodom in Revelation (11:8) is not the same Sodom as in Genesis 19. Babylon in Revelation (Rev 11:8; 18:8-9, 24) is not the Babylon of the Old Testament books, and the "new" Jerusalem in Revelation (Rev 3:12; 19:7-9; 21:1-22:5) cannot mean the old Jerusalem. In each instance, the former serves as a Biblical type. Queen Jezebel had already died, the cities of Sodom and Babylon had already received God's judgment, and the battle of Ezekiel 38-39 had already met its fulfillment within the setting of the time before the Advent of the Christ.
Question: When God deems the time is ready for the final defeat
of Satan, what will happen to initiate the last great battle? See Revelation 20:7.
Answer: Satan will be released from the Abyss.
Question: When was he released earlier in Revelation?
Answer: He was released in chapter 9 to lead the attack
against the Great City. That war was a prelude that foreshadows this final
battle.
Question: For what reason will he be released in addition to
leading the nations astray? Hint: see Matthew 13:37-43. What is the outcome
of this parable?
Answer: When both the wheat (believers) and the tares (those
who reject Christ) come to full maturity, Satan will be released for a short
time to deceive the nations in one last attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Christ.
This has been his goal from the very beginning. Do you remember the sudden concentration of demonic activity during Jesus' ministry? Satan knew he was facing the ultimate fight. But God used Satan to fulfill His plan by allowing Satan to engineer his own defeat at the cross! This last and final battle will be the sequel to the last attempt to defeat God's plans for man's salvation. Satan will be released to bring about the last rebellion.
In this Last Battle sequence, John uses vivid imagery from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapters 38-39, the prophet is most likely predicting the Greek invasion of Alexander the Great and the Maccabees' victory over the pagan Syrian-Greeks and the reestablishment of Judah as an independent nation in the 2nd century BC. Ezekiel writes about Gog and Magog, but they are not the same Gog and Magog of Revelation chapter 20. In Ezekiel Gog is a chief ruler and in Revelation a nation. In Revelation, Gog and Magog become the standard expression for rebellious nations just as Jezebel (in Rev 2:20) is not the same woman as the harlot queen of Israel in the book of 1Kings. Instead the Jezebel of Revelation 2:20 is a "type" of the previous Jezebel just as Gog and Magog are a "type" of the rebellious nations under the influence of Satan in the Last Battle.
These rebellious nations, symbolized by Gog and Magog, are "from the four corners of the earth;" in other words, they are not centrally located. They are numbered "like the sands of the sea," which is hyperbolic imagery to express their great numbers (see Joshua 11:4; Judges 7:12; 1Samuel 13:5; 2Samuel 17:11 1Kings 4:20, 29; Job 6:3; Isaiah 15:8; 33:22; Hosea 1:10; etc). It is the same hyperbole used by Joshua for the Canaanite nations in Joshua 11:4 and for the numbers of the Midianites defeated by Gideon in Judges 7:12. Joshua's defeat of the Canaanites and Gideon's defeat of the Midianites became two of the greatest victories in the history of the Covenant people. This victory against the armies of Satan is going to be a repeat of those first victories to take possession of the Promised Land! And it is the real "Promised Land" that is at stake here! Just as God brought judgment on the Temple in 70 AD, so too will He bring judgment in this final battle, and just as God brought judgment on the people of Judea and Jerusalem who heard the Word and rejected Christ, so too will He also bring the same judgment on the nations and great cities of the earth: on Rome, on Ephesus, and on the United States of America.
Revelation 20:9-10 "They came swarming over the entire country and besieged the camp of the saints, which is the beloved City. But fire rained down on them from heaven and consumed them. Then the devil, who led them astray, was hurled into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and their torture will not come to an end, day or night, for ever and ever."
Again John writes in the imagery of Ezekiel chapters 38-39 where Ezekiel describes how the invaders advance until they reach the mountains of Judah where the great city of Jerusalem sits. The reference to the "camp of Saints" recalls the kahal or "called out" sacred assembly "camp of God" of the Sinai Covenant Church. When David took Jerusalem in 1003 BC, the city which became known as "will provide peace" in Hebrew, [yireh (jireh)-salem] became Jerusalem [in Hebrew, Yerusalem] the "holy camp of God."
Question: What is this beloved city? Hint: see Revelation 21:9;
22:5.
Answer: In this scene, Jerusalem has become the symbol of the
"beloved city" the New Covenant Church.
Like Ezekiel's vision, the invasion is suddenly halted by the overwhelming power of God who destroys the unbelievers with fire and condemns the devil to Hell and eternal torment. Satan's release from the Abyss was a trap intended to draw the forces of evil out into the open so that they could be destroyed. Once again Scripture teaches the everlasting duration of divine punishment (also see Matt 18:8; 25:41, 46; Mk 4:43, 48). One point to note is that in the Premill view of a perfect Messianic kingdom prior to the 2nd Coming of Christ how could Satan be successful in orchestrating such a defection and rebellion? However, if the Millennium rule is the Age of the Church, it is understandable that there would be those in the world who have not yielded themselves to Christ and therefore have yielded themselves to Satan.
Please read Revelation 20:11-15: The Prophecy of the Last Judgment
"Then [kai edion =
And now] I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. In his
presence, earth and sky vanished, leaving no trace. I [kai edion = And I] saw
the dead, great and small alike, standing in front of his throne while the
books lay open. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and
the dead were judged from what was written in the books, as their deeds
deserved. The sea gave up all the dead who were in it; Death and Hades were
emptied of the dead that were in them; and every one was judged as his deeds
deserved. Then Death and Hades were hurled into the burning lake. This
burning lake is the second death and anybody whose name could not be found
written in the book of life was hurled into the burning lake."
This is the seventh and eighth repeats of "kai edion" = "And I saw."
Question: What does this prophecy point to; something past [in
the 1st century], or does it point to future events?
Answer: The easy answer is that it points to the future
final judgment of man and the world. But you may have noticed that nothing is
"simple" in the Book of Revelation. Don't forget John is witnessing this
vision in his present and in our past. This
vision may be the eternal future breaking into the historical past. This
passage introduces the theological principle of "compenetration." This
principle expresses the action of Biblical prophets who describe a present
event (or an event that is imminent) in terms that transcend the events that
are about to happen because the events about to happen prefigures events that
will occur at the end of time.
Question: For example let's ask the, what did the events that
led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70AD signify?
Answer: the destruction of the world at the end of time. In
this way Israel's history in the Old Testament is a prototype of the history of
all the gentile nations that will receive the Word of God in the New Covenant
Age. So Israel's conversion (at Sinai) and lapses and renewals and final fall
into apostasy which led to judgment and destruction foreshadows the unfolding
of salvation history in the other nations of the world. What happened to Israel will happen to all the nations when they come into judgment. This is what we are
seeing in Revelation 20 verses 11-13: the unfolding of the Final Judgment at
the End of the Ages of the New Covenant.
Once the devil is thrown into the Lake of Fire evil ceases to act in the world. In that eternal fire the unbelievers along with the Beast and False Prophet will suffer eternal punishment. For those who doubt the existence of Hell, this verse confirms that there is an everlasting duration of divine judgment. The teaching of the church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity (CCC#1035) but also teaches that God predestines no one to go the hell CCC#1037). Such a punishment is a willful turning away from God. The existence of Hell may be an uncomfortable thought but it confirms the existence of a just God (also see Matthew 18:8; 25:41, 46; Mark 4:43, 48). See CCC#1861; 633, 1035-7
Let's look at this sixth vision verse by verse:
Revelation 20:11 "[And I saw] Then I saw a great white throne and the
One who was sitting on it. In his presence earth and sky vanished, leaving no
trace.
Question: Whom does John see on the white throne?
Answer: Usually it is understood in Revelation that God the
Father is seated on the throne in the heavenly assembly, but in this case it
may be the Son that John sees. In Revelation 3:21 Christ says "Anyone who
proves victorious I will allow to share my throne, just as I have myself
overcome and have taken my seat with my Father on his throne." (also see
Matthew 25:31-2 quoted in the introduction). That the throne He is seated on a white
throne may also help to identify Christ.
Question: Previously how has the color white been associated
with Christ? Hint: see Revelation 1:14; 6:2; 14:14; 19:11 (Revelation trivia: I
found references with "white" 18 times).
Answer: It may be Christ on a white horse in 6:2; it is most
probably Christ on a white horse in 19:11, and He was seen in a white cloud in
14:14. There may also be a connection to the Bishop's chair and Christ as our
Priest/King. In 1Peter 2:28 Peter speaks of Christ as the great Shepherd and
Bishop. We also have evidence that in the earliest centuries of the Church it
was the custom to spread a white cover over the chair of the Bishop, but we do
not know how early this practice was in use.
If this is Christ that John sees seated on the Judgment throne it would be in agreement with the great Creeds of the Church. The Apostles' Creed "[Jesus Christ} ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from where He shall judge come to judge the living and the dead." The Nicene-Constantinople Creed: "He ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge bother the living and the dead;..." The Creeds support the teaching of Sacred Scripture. Christ, we are told in the New Testament texts is the Judge charged with this duty by the Father (Mat 16:27; 25:31-46). The power to judge belongs to Jesus in His own right because the Father has given it to Him (John 5:22; 9:39; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Earth and sky vanished: Everything transient disappears and is laid bare before the awesome judge on the great white throne. The way is now made for the New Heavens and earth (Revelation 21:1; 2 Peter 3:13; Romans 8:23).
Revelation 20:12 [And I saw] I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing in front of his throne while the books lay open. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, as their deeds deserved." This is the 7th repetition of "kai edion" = "and I saw", but it is still part of Vision #6. There are 7 Visions but "and I saw" is used 8 times. Eight is the number of salvation, redemption, resurrection, and re-creation. It is the number of Jesus. The gematria (addition of the numerical value of the Greek letters) of Jesus' name is 888.
Question: How will the dead be judged?
Answer: According to their works! See James 2:14-26. See
CCC# 1038-1041.
Question: What information do the books contain?
Answer: One book records the actions of all people (see
Daniel 7:10; Isa 65:6; Jer 22:30). The second book contains the names of those
chosen for eternal life (Dan 12:1ff; Ex 32:32; Revelation 3:5 "Anyone who
proves victorious will be dressed, like these, in white robes; I shall not blot
that name out of the book of life."
This verse reveals 2 mysteries: 1) We have freedom of choice and 2) There is a grace of predestination. Man cannot attain salvation solely by his own efforts. God in His grace offers the gift of salvation, but He also knows who will accept His gift. We must act in such a way to respond to the destiny God planned for us. If we fail to respond we run the risk of having our names blotted out of the Book of Life.
Revelation 20:13-14 "The sea gave up all the dead who were in it; Death and Hades were emptied of the dead that were in them; and every one was judged as his deeds deserved. Then Death and Hades were hurled into the burning lake.
Question: How careful are you about the words that come from your mouth? In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says [12:36] "So I tell you this, that for every unfounded word people utter they will answer on Judgment Day, since it is by your words you will be justified, and by your words condemned." Also see 1Corinthians 3:13b "The Day which dawns in fire will make it clear and the fire itself will test the quality of each person's work."
Note: In this verse Hades refers not to Hell but to Sheol, the abode of the dead. Now death and the grave no longer have any hold on mankind.
Revelation 20:15 "This burning lake is the second death; and anybody
whose name could not be found written in the book of life was hurled into the
burning lake."
The Catholic Church teaches
that the Last Judgment is a truth of faith. This passage refutes the heresy of
universalism. Universalism teaches that all people will be redeemed and no one
will face damnation. The Church, from its earliest years has condemned this
heresy. Pope Paul VI in Creed of the People of God writes "He
ascended to heaven, and he will come again, this time in glory, to judge the
living and the dead—each according to his merits; those who have responded to
the love and compassion of God going to eternal life, those who have refused
them to the end going to the fire that is not extinguished [....]. We believe in
the life eternal. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace
of Christ, whether they must still be purified in purgatory, or whether from
the moment they leave their bodies Jesus takes them to paradise as he did for
the Good Thief, are the people of God in the eternity beyond death, which will
be finally conquered on the day of the Resurrection when these souls will be
reunited with their bodies." (Creed of the People of God, 12 and 28).
We who have experienced the first resurrection can call on the promise of Christ that we need not fear the second death for Emmanuel (God with us) always keeps His promises!
"Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection; the second death has no power over them.." (Revelation 20:6) In His love He assures us "And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." (Matthew 28:20)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2008 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.