Millennialism

The term "millennium" refers to the thousand years of Revelation 20. Revelation 20 and 21 portray the entire New Testament era and its consummation with the coming of a new heaven and a new earth. It begins with a picture of an angel capturing Satan and binding him in the "bottomless pit" for a millennium, after which he must be released for a little while (Revelation 20:1-3). During this millennium the martyrs are raised in a first resurrection and reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4-6). When the millennium is over, Satan is released and assembles forces to attack the camp of the saints. But fire comes down from heaven and consumes them, and Satan is thrown "into the lake of fire and sulfur" (Revelation 20:7-10). Then come the resurrection and the final judgment (Revelation 20:11-13). The wicked are thrown into the lake that burns with fire and sulfur (representing eternal death, Revelation 20:14-15) and the righteous inherit eternal life in the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21).

But the term "millennialism" has come through the years to refer not only to various views about this period, but also to different views about the timing and even the nature of the return of Christ. As the label suggests, "Millennialism" and "Millennial views" refer to this millennium. The most common millennial views may be classified under four categories: "historic premillennialism," "postmillennialism," "amillennialism," and "dispensational premillennialism."

We look look at these four categories in the next few days.

-- Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

The Time of His Second Coming

According to the gospels, Jesus repeatedly taught that the day of judgment would occur in the near future (Matthew 10:23; Matthew 16:28; Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32).

However, some of these passages may refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, and others may refer to Pentecost or to the Savior's return to take the believer to himself in death. It is evident that not all "comings" are to be identified with the parousia (Christ's second coming), since Christ and the apostles also caution the Christian to remain watchful because the Lord's return may occur at a more distant time, and scoffers may use the delay to deny that he will ever return (Matthew 24"48-50; Matthew 25:5,19; Luke 12:45; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Peter 3:4).

There may even be those who will claim that the day of the Lord has already come (2 Thessalonians 2:2). The Lord, however, clearly indicates that the time of the parousia has not been revealed. It is unknown to all except the Father. Even Jesus in his state of humiliation did not know the time of his coming (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32-37; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; 2 Peter 3:10).

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Over the next few Good Morning Church devotions I will be looking at what the Bible has to say about Jesus' second coming and what that looks like and what it doesn't.

The Second Coming of Christ

The coming of Christ to this earth is clearly taught in both the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament announced a "day of the Lord" a day of judgment and salvation when the wicked will be destroyed, when God and His people will be vindicated, and God will show Himself to be king over the whole earth. Isaiah 2:12-21, Isaiah 13:9-13, Joel 2:30-32

The fact that Christ will come again is clearly established by Jesus himself in Luke 9:26, Matthew 24:30, and Matthew 26:64; by the the testimony of angels at His ascension (Acts 1:11), and by numerous references in the epistles (1 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 11:26; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 John 2:28; James 5:7-9; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 4:13)> The knowledge and firm confidence that the Savior will return has been an important part of the Christian church's confession of faith throughout its history (Apostle's Creed; Nicene Creed; Athanasian Creed; Augsburg Confession III, Smalcald Article II; Luther's Large Catechism)

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Ecclesiastes 2:9-11

On April 12,2012, Philip Humber pitched a perfect game. That is, he retired twenty-seven batters in a row, three up and three down, every inning for nine innings. No walk, no hits. Only eighteen other men in the 108-year history of Major League Baseball have accomplished the feat. In November of that same year, his team cut him, making him available to any team in the league. What happened?

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Humber tried to explain it. The article is subtitled: "For one magical April afternoon, Philip Humber was flawless. But that random smile from the pitching gods came with a heavy burden: the pressure to live up to a standard no one can meet."

The ladder of perfection has no top rung. There is no platform upon which we can finally rest. Whether our goal is to be a good father, a good Christian, or a good pitcher, each exemplary act carries with it the expectation (the requirement) of another. And another. "Being like Christ" is not like throwing a perfect game. It is like throwing perfect games every day of your life, while never being proud of the fact that you're throwing perfect games.

The quest for glory, the chasing of perfection, killed Humber's season. He never regained the form that mowed down all those hitters, and his team eventually gave up on him. In order to move on, Humber had to give up, admitting that "he's done chasing perfection. He's done trying to be the pitcher with the magical fastball and the unhittable slider. He knows he's a 30-year-old pitcher with a fading heater and a curveball that doesn't bite like it once did, and he accepts that."

Humber came to grips with his limitations, the truth about himself. He knows that, in order to be a good pitcher, he has to let perfection go. Let's remind ourselves daily, hourly, and by the minute that we can let perfectio go, because it is a mantle that Christ has taken up for us.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Proverbs 30:8

What people want to hear from a religion and what they need to hear are two very different things. We want to hear that we are fundamentally good, fundamentally in control and fundamentally on the right track. We also want to hear that the problems we experience in our lives are the result of outside forces and can be overcome by following a short number of simple steps. In essence, we want to hear that it's all good, and that if we start feeling life becoming less good, we can easily right the ship.

I don't think it's any coincidence that many large churches in America proclaim this kind of message. Tell people what they want to hear, then the people and the money roll in.

The problem with this "what we want" refrain is that it can't actually help us. When our lives start sliding off the rails, it's all well and good to go to the handy self-help manual, but it becomes decidedly less "well and good" if the manual lets us down. What happens when we follow the ten steps and still find ourselves financially insecure? Or when we follow the eight steps and they only serve to further alienate our families?

As it turns out, we need something different than what we want. We need the truth.

What people need to hear from religion is an accurate diagnosis of their condition. Wanted Religion can't offer a profound solution because it refuses to diagnose a profound disease. Needed Religion recognizes our plight and can offer a weighty cure: a Savior who substitutes Himself for us.

It will probably always be true that Wanted Religion will take in the money; it's offering a much more desirable front end. Needed Religion, however, will be there when the bankrupt devotees of Wanted Religion need somewhere to turn and have no money left to buy their way in.

Today, revel in a God who gives us what we need: a Savior.

-- Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Numbers 21:4-9

The Israelites are in the middle of their years wandering in the desert, looking for the Promised Land, and they're getting impatient. They complain about the lack of good food and water, and they wish they'd never left Egypt in the first place. God, hearing their complaints, sends poisonous serpents among them, and many of the Israelites get bitten and die.

Ah, the joys of the Old Testament. Complain about how God's treating you? Here are some poisonous snakes! So the people come back to Moses and they say:

“We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

There are a lot of foreshadowing elements in this story. Jesus references it in John 3 when He says that He, too, must be lifted up. In the same way that the elevation of the snake on a pole is the avenue for the Israelites' salvation, Jesus' hanging on a cross is the way in which eternal salvation comes to the world.

A particularly fascinating thing about this story is that God chooses the serpent to be the image lifted up on the pole - the very thing that is killing the people. Again, He is foreshadowing the final act of His plan of salvation. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin on the cross so that we might become the righteousness of God. The very thing that is killing us - sin - is laid on Jesus and lifted up on the cross. The bringer of death - the serpents and the cross - becomes the way of life.

Today, know that Jesus took your sin unto Himself and gave you His righteousness, so that you might live, and live forever.

-- Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

 

Matthew 13:45-46

On an episode of the TV show The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon discovers that Penny has gotten him a Christmas present. Angered, he reminds Penny that the "foundation of gift giving is reciprocity" and that she hasn't given him a gift, she's given him "an obligation." He says that he now has to go out and purchase for her " gift commensurate value and representing the same perceived level of friendship" as that represented by the gift she's given him.

His solution is to purchase three gift baskets (of various sizes) of bath products. His plan is to see what her gift to him is, excuse himself from the room, give her the appropriate gift basket, and return the other two baskets to the store. What happens, though, is that Penny has gotten Sheldon a napkin that Leonard Nimoy has used and autographed. Sheldon notes that he now not only has Nimoy's signature, he has his DNA.

After excusing himself, Sheldon returns with all three gift baskets, barely able to carry the weight. "I know, I know," he wails. "It's not enough!"

And that's the problem, isn't it? We don't know how to react when we get really good gifts. When the gift is that good, no response is good enough. Certainly a plain "thank you" won't cut it. There is no bath product cornucopia that can balance the scales when Leonard Nimoy's DNA is on the other side, and there doesn't seem to be an adequate response when Jesus' death for our sins holds that place, either.

Many of us Christians spend our lives trying to reciprocate for Jesus' gift to adequately say thank you. But if we turn a big enough gift into an obligation, we are crushed by it.

Let's acknowledge from the beginning, then, that this is a gift that tips the scales forever. Let's treat the gift like a child would, with excitement and joy, and go play, remembering that even our most heartfelt gratitude is not commensurate with His life-giving gift - liberating us from the impossible burden of repayment.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,