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    Three Views of the Millennium
    Three Views of the Millennium
    Three Views of the Millennium
    Ebook62 pages58 minutes

    Three Views of the Millennium

    By Michael D. Morrison and Paul Kroll

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    About this ebook

    Christians have different views of the millennium of Revelation 20. Some believe it is occurring now; some believe it will occur before Christ returns, and some believe it will happen after he returns. Equally sincere, equally Bible-believing Christians disagree. Is it necessary for us to disagree? What do we have in common?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGrace Communion International
    Release dateJun 7, 2016
    ISBN9781311734839
    Three Views of the Millennium
    Author

    Michael D. Morrison

    I grew up in a small town in southern Illinois: Sparta. Our family of seven was religious but did not go to church - instead, we had a Bible study at home every week. I eventually began attending a church after I moved away, and then I went to a Bible college, and eventually a seminary. Now I work for Grace Communion Seminary, an online seminary based in Glendora, California. My interests are the Gospels, the epistles and theology of Paul, and ethics.

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      Book preview

      Three Views of the Millennium - Michael D. Morrison

      Three Views of the Millennium

      By Michael D. Morrison and Paul Kroll

      Copyright 2016 Grace Communion International

      Scripture quotations, unless noted, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

      Cover art copyright Grace Communion International.

      Table of Contents

      The Millennium of Revelation 20

      Three Views of the Millennium

      The Premillennial View

      The Problems of Premillennialism, and the Amillennial View

      The Postmillennial View

      Perspective on the Millennium

      Summary Chart

      About the Authors…

      About the Publisher…

      Grace Communion Seminary

      Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      The Millennium of Revelation 20

      The idea of a thousand-year reign of Christ – a millennium – is found in only two verses in the Bible — Revelation 20:4, 6. The length of the martyrs’ or saints’ reign is here said to be a thousand years. This number has produced the term millennium, which is derived from the Latin mille (thousand) and annus (year).

      Jewish apocalyptic writings of the first century speculated about the length of the Messiah’s reign, when it was assumed that the nation of Israel would be restored to glory by God. The time spans were as little as 40 to as many as 7,000 years. The author of 4 Ezra thought the Messiah’s reign would last 400 years (7:28). The original audience of Revelation probably would have been familiar with the idea of a limited reign of the Messiah.

      The writer of Revelation may have mentioned the millennium to counter the idea that the kingdom of God was to be based around a Jewish nation. An important point of Revelation is to reinterpret Old Testament prophecies in terms of Jesus’ redemptive work and the church. Revelation was written to point out that the church was the recipient of God’s grace, made possible by Jesus’ saving work. The book’s message to the church contradicted the Jewish idea that salvation would come to the Jewish people alone. Given this context, it’s not surprising that Revelation would make a comment about Jewish millennial speculations and expectations, and reinterpret them in terms of God’s real purpose in the church.

      However, we also have to distinguish between some Jewish ideas about God’s ideal kingdom and what the Old Testament says about it. The Old Testament says nothing about the Messiah’s rule as being a thousand years in length, or that it would last for a limited time. It seems to speak of the kingdom of God on earth as being open-ended, continuing without end once it begins. Even the kingdom of the new heavens and new earth in Isaiah 65:17-25 and 66:22-24 appears to be an extension of the earthly and seemingly eternal reign of God.

      Neither does the New Testament speak of Christ’s kingdom as existing for any limited time. The only passage that might indicate a time-limited kingdom as existing between Christ’s coming and the beginning of a more glorious kingdom is 1 Corinthians 15:22-24. Paul here may speak of the end as being in some way distinct in time from Christ’s return. If that is so, Paul gives no specifics. In none of his writings does he express any interest in or undertake any discussion of a limited millennium. Neither do the other New Testament writings. We should also note that the concept of the end is understood in the New Testament as that time that begins with the completion of Jesus’ work of redemption – that is, his crucifixion and resurrection.

      The only mention

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