Alright, we're going to come to this little green area on my chart up here, the millennium. The return of Jesus Christ and afterwards, we believe, based upon Revelation chapter 20, there will be a thousand years. Now what I want to do is take a look at a number of passages and augment them because we can't just parachute in to Revelation chapter 20 without some initial passages from the Old Testaments. And we have to think in terms of the fact that God had promised to David a son who would reign on his throne and that his kingdom through this one who would come in the future would be established forever. So turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 17. 1 Chronicles chapter 17. Actually this is a reiteration of what was also given in 2 Samuel chapter 7. But here in Chronicles we have the chronicler who is speaking and narrating how God entered into a covenant with David. Even though the term is not used, later scripture looks back at this promise as being a covenant that God made with his servant David. Some of this looks to the past. Verse 7 and 8, thus says the Lord, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel. Prince looks particularly at one who leads, one who goes before. And I have been with you wherever you have gone and cut off all your enemies from before you. And David had, he'd become the greatest ruler over the land of Israel in the Old Testament. And by the time you put all of the vassals who came underneath him, you came close but not quite to the dimensions of the land that had been promised to Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 by the Lord. From the Tigris in the northeast to the Baruch of Egypt to the southwest, that land mass except for along the Mediterranean coast, and David had not conquered that, and therefore it was not Israel and a vassal, but he had actually entered into a treaty with Hiram of Tyre, and so all of that territory was at peace, and probably 80% of it was under the direct control of David. So this is what God had done, cut off. all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a name like the name of the great ones of the earth." And so not only had that taken place where his name had become known in his generation, but for generations to come his name would be one of the great names. And I will appoint a place for my people, I will plant them, and they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. Violent men shall waste them no more as formerly from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house." So David, this is what God has done for you. This is what he's going to do in the future. Yet obviously David is going to grow old and die, and so verse 11, when your days are fulfilled, to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. The interesting thing is, is this did not take place during history leading up to the writing of Chronicles. Neither David nor any of his sons had his kingdom established. Now the promise of establishing his kingdom was given to Solomon, his son, by the Lord in 1 Samuel 3-10, but you remember in chapter 11 Solomon's heart was turned to idols by his wives And so his kingdom was torn from him. His kingdom was not established. And yet God has promised that one of your seed, one of your own sons, that doesn't mean literally, and David had many sons, but none of that first generation, what it's looking is, is ultimately someone who's going to come in David's line, a son, would have his kingdom established. God goes on that he will build a house for me, that is the temple, and I will establish his throne forever. Again, Solomon built a temple, but his throne was not established. So wherever this son is going to come in the future, he's going to be the one when he comes, he's not only going to rule, but he's also going to build a temple, a house to the Lord as well. I will be, verse 13, to him a father and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from him who was before you, that is Saul, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever. His throne shall be established forever. And so David, there's going to be a king who's going to come in your line, that's the human ancestry, he's going to be a son of David and his kingdom is going to be established and he is going to reign my kingdom, God's kingdom forever. Well then go over to Isaiah chapter 9, I already stated This is an important passage, Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. And again this looks at the humanity of a child who is going to come in the line of David. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now a wonderful counselor, Prince of Peace, these would be obviously human. He is a counselor, one who could direct his people in a wonderful way. He is a leader who will bring peace. But he also has the character not only as a wonderful counsel and Prince of Peace, but also being Mighty God, an everlasting Father. Of course, Mighty God would look at this one in the line of David, being God, that's how he was referred to, and he would be a father-like individual as a ruler, and yet his directive as a father would have no end. So the Messiah would be a father to his people. He's not saying he's God the Father. He is a father-like character to those over whom he rules. In fact, wouldn't you like to have this kind of an individual on the ballot for Prime Minister? Someone whose counsel is always right, who is none other than God himself, who will be a father to his people, that is, protect, nourish, take care of them, and he'll be a leader who will bring peace, harmony. Well, you don't get to vote for that kind of a candidate, but God is going to give that kind of a ruler to his people, for the government shall be upon his shoulder. And of the increase of his government and of peace, There will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. By the way, here's a very important point. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This will not be through human efforts. This will be God's work. It will be his zeal as the ruler of the armies of heaven who will provide this individual for the well-being of his people. Of course, first of all, the nation of Israel, but the fact that his government, his peace is going to extend to the very ends of the earth. Now, you can tie back to Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1 to 4, this is when Jerusalem will be established as the place where all of the nations will go to learn of the Lord. And this is where peace will come from. And so, many other passages that we could go to in the Old Testament prophets, and I said we take a look at Zachariah chapter 14, but toward the end of the Old Testament time period, we We see this one who is going to come and bring peace, who is going to destroy the enemies of his people and bring harmony and peace to the Gentiles as well. So verse 2, I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. The city will be taken. Houses plundered, women raped, half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. So disastrous times. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on the day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. By the way, significant in Acts chapter 11, in Acts chapter 1 verse 11, 9 through 11, when Jesus left, where did he leave? Mount of Olives. He's going to return on that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies between Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mountain shall move northward and the other half southward. And you shall flee. And there'll be earthquake. But the Lord my God will come at the end of verse 5, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there'll be no light, cold or frost. And there'll be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but in an evening tide there shall be light. On that day living waters, etc. In verse 9, the Lord will be king over all the earth. day the Lord will be one in His name, one. On that day, verse 13, great panic from the Lord shall fall upon them. Even Judah, verse 14, will fight at Jerusalem and the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. Verse 16, and everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year." So they're going to be survivors from this great battle where the Lord will fight for His people. The geography, literally, of the land changed. His rule will be established. And then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come up against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King. the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths." Not just Israel, all the nations. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, there'll be no rain on them. If the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then they shall have no more reign. There will be plague which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. It's going to be a time still of discipline upon those who rebel against the Lord. It's not going to be a time of perfect peace and harmony, though you're not going to get away with anything, those who rebel. The ruler is going to punish them. This shall be the punishment to Egypt, the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. On that day they shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, holy to the Lord. And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat on the sacrifice in them. and there shall no longer be a traitor in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day. So a day is coming when the Son of David is going to come and establish a rule over Israel from Jerusalem that will extend to all the nations of the earth. Now I've only given you three passages out of maybe 103 that I could point to in the Old Testament to speak about this coming king and this coming kingdom. And as your notes say, the Jews in the New Testament period had an expectation that a Messiah would come that would establish God's kingdom upon the earth, a kingdom which would come from God, a kingdom which would come from heaven, established upon the earth. And of course, when you get to the New Testament, in the early chapters of Matthew, Matthew shows that this one who the Old Testament predicted was the man, Jesus, born of a virgin. So Son of God, Son of Man, that is the fulfillment of the promises that God gave to the Old Testament Israelites in Scripture. Yet obviously, He did not establish His rule at His first coming, but assures us, Matthew chapter 24, what we know as the Olivet Discourse. He speaks to his disciples and talks about the fact that in the future he would return and establish his kingdom here over the earth. Yet, despite these biblical indications of millennial kingdom, the notes say, there's substantial and widespread disagreement over whether Christ will ever reign physically on this earth. Is this all now fulfilled in a spiritual way by the Lord's reign in heaven during the present age? Is He in heaven reigning upon David's throne, Lord over all things to the church? Is that the fulfillment of the promises that were given to Israel? And of course, that becomes the crux of the discussion concerning the millennium. Now one thing we do have to make clear at this point, when we come to Revelation chapter 20, the Bible does not explicitly say that this rule of a thousand years by Christ equals the promised kingdom to David and to Israel that we have read about in the Old Testament. It's one of those places based upon inferences from the New Testament that that seems to imply this is, you know, one and the same when we come to the thousand years. So over to Revelation chapter 20, and John says, and then I saw an angel coming down from heaven after the beast and the prophet had been cast into the lake of fire. and holding in his hand the key to a bottomless pit and a great chain, and he sees the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan." Now, John makes it very, very clear who he's talking about. He uses just about every term that had been used. The serpent, that goes back to Genesis chapter 3. The devil and Satan, so this evil one, this adversary. that have been the enemy of God and God's people from Genesis 3 all the way, obviously, through Revelation chapter 19. He is the accuser of the saints. He is the one who is opposed to God and opposed to those who are God's. He is the instigator, He is the authority, He is the influence behind all of the rebellions taking place in the world that culminates against God during the tribulation period and particularly through two human individuals, the beast and the false prophet that are introduced to us in Revelation chapter 13. The beast usually identified with the man of sin, the man of iniquity. of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, who is the prince that was going to come, Daniel chapter 9, verses 26-27, that the one who is the little horn of Daniel chapter 8, I'm sorry, Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 8, remember is Antiochus Epiphanes. One like a little horn, like the little horn is going to come. And so, this is Satan who is bound for a thousand years. And that's the first time that number is used in relationship to Satan. Threw him into the pit, shut it up, sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, after the thousand years, he must be released for a little while. How long? A little while. So how long after those thousand years? Well, I don't know, matter of days, matter of months, years, a little while. Then I saw thrones and seated on them, that is after Satan had been chained and put into the pit. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom authority to judge was committed. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands." These would be tribulation saints. those who had trusted Christ as Messiah during the tribulation period and had been martyr for their faith. And, of course, everything here, the beast and the mark, all of this, it goes back. In fact, you can see these martyrs in chapter 6 with the breaking of the fifth seal being, you know, being under heaven. In fact, turn back there to Romans, to Revelation chapter 6. as we see the sealed judgments. And the sealed judgment is the open, the fifth seal. Verse 9, I saw under the altar the souls of those who'd been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O Sovereign Lord, Holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Then they were given each a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. So just wait a little while, there's more that are gonna be slain Then God would avenge their deaths and of course now we see those who were slain in chapter 20 verse 4, coming to life, they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. So these dead tribulation saints, they are resurrected and reign. The rest of the dead, not until a thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power. But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years." Now, right away it's pointed out that this only looks to those who were martyred during the tribulation period. They're the ones who are raised to life to reign with Christ. They are the ones who reign with Him for the thousand years. They are the ones who are priests, that is, representing men to God and of Christ who reign with Him a thousand years. But turn back to chapter 2 of the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 2. The promise of the church at Thyatira, verse 26, the one who conquers and keeps my words until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron even as the earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. So the one who conquers I will give authority over the nations." Why he has that right to do so? Because he's going to become, he's going to be the one who's going to come and rule and reign. Uses the image of rule over them with a rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken. And there we see imagery going back to the second Psalm. So this is all relating to Messiah's reign And not only is it promised in chapter 20 that martyred saints of the tribulation will rule and reign with Christ, but Revelation chapter 2 that church-age saints will also rule and reign with Christ during that time period. And then tying in Daniel chapter 12, a resurrection of Old Testament saints, they too will rule and reign when this kingdom is established. So it's true, Revelation 20 just talks about this one group, but we would associate As part of the first resurrection, church-age saints and Old Testament saints as well, they're all part of those who are going to rule and reign with Christ. And what Revelation 20 points out for us is it is going to be a thousand years. Now, talk about literal. During the first four centuries of the church, How was the thousand years in Revelation understood, do you think, since I'm going to make a point of it? It was understood as a literal thousand years, that this was going to be when Christ would rule and reign, and believers of Old Testament church age and tribulation would rule and reign with Him. And this was known, again, based upon the Greek as the chialists, the millennialists, those who held to the fact that this rule and reign of Jesus over Israel and the nations would be a thousand years. Now, what happened in the early church, particularly by the third and fourth century, is that much like Israel of old, Christians started to think in terms of this thousand years as a big party. This is the kingdom. This is going to be where there's going to be peace and there is going to be bounty and prosperity. This is where Genesis chapter 49, that that wine will be, the fine wine will be as plentiful as milk, you know, where the vines that produce the best of grapes are so commonplace you can actually, you know, tether your donkey to them and who cares whether the donkey stomps them down because there's so many vines. I mean, just this bountiful abundance and plenty And of course, you've got to realize that when you are a persecuted minority within the empire, all of a sudden, a great banquet and luscious gardens and food and fruits and just everything that was tied in as far as the bountiful provision of God in the future. And a church father named Augustine comes along and says, this is not right. And to emphasize the physical aspects without ultimately the most important part being spiritual, being one's relationship with God and flowing out of that are God's bounty and provisions, His blessings to us. But they got so carried away with the blessings that Augustine was one of the first ones to say, well, this millennium is just a spiritual time period and is the present, Christ is ruling from heaven, et cetera. And what became known as the amillennial position became predominant. Now we can argue on, and there are great scholarly arguments, on exactly when what we now know as the Amillennial position came into the church. And some try to show that there was still already some looking at the millennium being the present age from the second century on. But everyone would agree that until around 400 AD, the predominant position in the church was premillennial. Christ is going to come and going to rule and reign, and the saints are going to rule and reign with him, taking the passage of Scripture here in Revelation 20 literally. But slowly but surely, and particularly with the influence of Augustine from 400 AD on into this present day, it is the amillennial position which has become prominent in the church. and the premillennial position reversed and became the minority viewpoint. Now, you have to realize as we're going to start looking at these three major views, and really there are two major views historically, and that is amillennialism and premillennialism. Although in the 17th century, it was also postulated post-millennialism, and that is that Christ comes after the millennium. But by and large, it's been omni-millennialism versus pre-millennialism. And that was true during the medieval time period, during the Reformation, and continues on to the present. And so pretty much universe agreed historically that the second and the fourth century predominant viewpoint was premillennialism. And since then, the predominant viewpoint has been amillennialism. And so what do these different positions hold? Now certainly, we have to do something with Revelation chapter 20. Six times in Revelation 20, it talks about a thousand years. And in fact, Revelation chapter 7, 20 verse 7, when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison. And remember, he's going to be released for a little while. And He will come out to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. So there's going to be a great group that join with Satan in rebellion, march up against the camp of the saints of the beloved city, Jerusalem. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were. And they were tormented day and night forever and ever. And then the great white throne, the final judgment. And the rest of the unregenerate are ultimately cast into the lake of fire as well. Sometime after the millennium had come to an end. So how do we understand this millennium? Well, as I said, the major viewpoint has become amillennialism. And amillennialists believe there is no future coming physical kingdom. Because they believe the millennium is now. So amillennialism means no millennium, literally. But really, it means no future millennium. There's no future millennium because the millennium is now. By the way, those in the train of Augustine were so convinced that the thousand years was still a literal number, that is why all of the clamor within Western Christianity, Roman Catholicism, at the year 1000 because this is the end of the millennium and Christ then was going to return. And eternity was going to begin. So it is pictured, and if you didn't take a look at Dr. Grudem, hopefully you can see this, that basically the Amillennial position is that now this is the Church Age and the Church Age equals the Millennium. As I said, for at least from 400 to 1,000, most who held to the Amillennial position still believe this was a literal 1,000 years. Now, obviously, after the, you know, 1000 was passed, okay, the Almillian position holds that, okay, this is just symbolic of a long time. And then at the end of the millennium, Christ will return. There is my arrow. And there will be the resurrections and the judgments. And then we will have the eternal state. And that is the basic amillennial position. Now you'll notice that on page 8, Amaliel has many strengths which make it appealing to, well, the broad range of evangelicals. Among them are, and six things are noticed. It focuses on the absolute sovereignty which Christ presently has over the earth. Jesus is presently seated on the throne of David, exercising kingdom authority through the church over all of the earth. Now, certainly there is an element of truth there. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 20 talking about the greatness of God's power that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age, the present age, but also in the one to come, understood by the Amalekites to be the eternal age, the eternal state. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Is it true that Christ today is seated at the right hand of the Father, exercising authority over the church and through the church, exercising authority over the earth? And the answer is yes. But the question is, is that what the Bible is talking about when it speaks about God's kingdom? The promises that were given to David, and the government being upon his shoulders, and his rule extended, and they literally coming to Jerusalem to worship. Even the Gentiles, Zechariah 14, Isaiah 2, learn of the Lord and learn the way of peace. Well, of course, you've got to start making, well, the church is Israel. Jerusalem is the church, and the Gentiles come to the church, and they are learning, you know, through the church and the way of peace, etc., etc. But nevertheless, the fact that Al-Mu'allam reminds us of the sovereignty which Christ is presently exercising over the earth And that God has already given, as it were, the lordship of His exercise of authority over the earth, His exercise through Christ. And so, number two, it exalts the past and present work of Christ and rightfully acknowledges its sweeping ramifications. And the fact that, obviously, even within the church, that it is the great power of Jesus Christ in reconciling Jew and Gentile together in one new man, the body, the church of Jesus Christ. It takes many statements in the New Testament to face value, recognizing the spiritual nature of the kingdom. And it is true that the problem with premillennialism, classically, has been that we so concentrate upon the literal, we forget the spiritual foundation. Turn if you would back with me to Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3, where we see John announcing the nearness of the kingdom. because the Messiah was present. But before he says, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, the kingdom of heaven has drawn near, he says, repent. Why? For the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. 417, that becomes Jesus' message, repent. For the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." And only he's going to send his disciples out, 10-7, just again, the kingdom has drawn near. But the key is repent, for the kingdom has drawn near. The kingdom has drawn near and you're not ready for the kingdom. You're not ready for the rule. You're not ready for the reign. And repentance, of course, is the message of the Old Testament prophets. You've turned away from the Lord, now you need to turn back, confess your sins, experience forgiveness, and so be prepared for the kingdom. Or John chapter 3, when Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and says, Rabbi, we know you're a teacher sent by God because no man could do these things that you are doing. And Jesus immediately confronts him with what? Unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus, being a literalist, well, how do I get back in my mother's womb and get born a second time? No, unless you're born of the Spirit and of water, And that relates back to Ezekiel chapter 36. There's another passage talking about God's coming kingdom, His rule and reign, and only those will participate from Israel that experience the birth from above, that is, that have their stony hearts, their rebellious hearts taken out, replaced by compliant hearts and the Holy Spirit. Be born of the water. Which brings forgiveness in the spirit. Unless you have that birth, that regeneration that Ezekiel spoke about, you will not enter the kingdom. And we forget that as pre-mills many times. There's a spiritual foundation to the kingdom. You don't just say, I'm of Abraham, I get in. Because that's what the Jews thought of the New Testament time period. But we do the same thing. Hey, I'm now part of the Abrahamic covenant, I'm in. Well, we are in because of repentance and faith toward Jesus Christ. There's a spiritual foundation. And this is what Amalem reminds us of, of the spiritual aspect, if we could put it that way, the spiritual foundation. of the rule of Christ. It recognizes the church's present centrality in God's program. Yes, predominantly God is working through the church during the present age. Now that doesn't necessarily make it the millennium, but it's a very important point. God's work in the church. It recognizes the broad and sweeping theme of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Although, I'm just into a debate on this, on whether Reformed theology emphasizes the work of the triune God or particularly fixates upon Jesus Christ. But that's another topic for another article and another seminar on another day. But it does realize the importance of Christ to God's purposes in the world. And it does provide a great deal of flexibility interpreting difficult passages in the Old and New Testaments which appear to be at odds with each other. And this is due in part because whenever the literal doesn't make sense, their default position is what? It goes back to John's question on hermeneutics. If the literal doesn't make sense, it must be symbolic. It must not be literal. Now, I gotta be careful here, because I don't want to denigrate, you know, my believing friends. But that does become easier when you hit a hard passage, you just say, it's just spiritual. to come to Revelation 20 and say, well, the millennium is just a long time. I don't have to wrestle with how this might fit together with what has been stated within the Old Testament. And I don't have to worry about taking it literally and trying to understand it in a literal sense, because it's just symbolic. Now obviously, if there weren't strengths to Amalielism, it would not have had the influence and impact that it has had and continues to have in the contemporary church, contemporary Christendom. But along with the strengths, we do have to talk about its weaknesses. First of which, his interpretation of many Old Testament passages would have been amazing to the original Israelite audience. We know from their own writings at the time of the New Testament. They believed in a physical throne, a physical rule, a physical kingdom from a real Jerusalem. They didn't think in terms of Messiah coming and building a spiritual temple, i.e. the church. They wouldn't think in terms of the church being Jerusalem. The land representing again the church and even the salvation of Gentiles as predicted in the Old Testament is now being fulfilled and Gentiles coming to faith in the church. Second of all, while we agree that they've had an important role to play reminding believers of the spiritual foundation of the kingdom, they also fail to recognize the physical aspects of the kingdom. But there is ultimately a rule and reign that is going to culminate and take place. Now by the way, and I have to say this, some Amillennialists, a minority but a growing minority, actually are starting to believe that there is a future salvation for Israel and there are some literal aspects of a real temple being built. and the possibility of Israel being restored in, quote-unquote, the land and that is part of the eternal state. And by the name of Anthony Okuma in the US, Graham Goldsworthy in Australia. Well, see, there might be more literality to what is in the future than we thought as far as these Old Testament promises are concerned. By the way, we do influence one another as believers in Jesus Christ as we wrestle with these things. It fails to recognize third, the future work of Christ still to be accomplished. And of course, particularly the aspects of a literal rule and reign being primarily of that. Probably one of the greatest challenges that Amillennialism faces is going back to Revelation chapter 20. This is one of those hard passages for the Amillennialists in verses 1 to 3 when it talks about the chaining of Satan. Now remember, their position is what? Now. And so that means Satan is chained now. So why does the New Testament talk about the fact that we have to be alert because our adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion? 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7. Why do we have to be alert if he's chained? Well, the Amillennial answer, majority answer is, well, he's chained only, verse 3, that he might not deceive the nations any longer. He's still the adversary, the opponent of believers. We still have to be careful, but at least his influence over the nations has been restricted. particularly that he doesn't deceive so the gospel might go forth. Well, that's kind of hard when we see the New Testament still speaking about the fact of our battle against spiritual principalities. Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 to 12, as I've already brought out, 1 Peter chapter 5, I said 7, 8, James 4, 7. There's just too much in the New Testament to arm us and to alert us to the fact that we have to be careful about the schemes of Satan, to say that he is chained. And even as we see what's taking place in the world, even among the nations, to say that Satan is still not deceiving, in fact, again, okay, since we're dealing with this, take a look at 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter four. 2 Corinthians chapter four, as Paul speaks, in verse three and four. Now this is important because the Amillenius says that while Satan's binding during the present age, during the millennium, is he no longer deceives the nations so that the gospel might go forth. Before 3 and 4 of 2 Corinthians, Paul says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world who is Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God. Did Paul think that Satan's activity during this age of being curtailed? I find it hard with that passage to hold to that. And I would say along with, you know, broader theological concerns, It is an aspect of somehow Satan being chained during this age, which to me is the hardest point of holding to the amillennial position. It interprets the passage spiritually, five, even when a literal interpretation makes sense. Six, it's inconsistent in its interpretation of prophecy, sometimes taking things in a literal fashion and other times taking them spiritually. And by the way, that changes depending upon which Amillennialist you happen to be reading. You know, what is literal, what is spiritual? And this is the foundation and basis, and Grudem even brings this up, it confuses the distinction between Israel and the church and fails to recognize Israel's future centrality in the program of God. Israel is, if I could put it this way, the real crux of the debate between the Amillennialists and the Premillennialists. Now having said that, And it's interesting because Grudem doesn't make this point, as we do in the notes, as far as Amillennialism is concerned, but he will bring that up as far as the pre-tribulational rapture, that at root it comes down to Israel and the church. Are they one and the same? What is their relationship? And even Grudem asserts that in his discussion as well. Now the reason I want to modify it is, once again, this discussion has had an impact. Not only talking about there might be literal fulfillment, but there is even a growing consensus among at least American amillennialists. that there could be a very definite reality of the future salvation of the nation of Israel. Again, this is why this debate is important, is because I think it helps both positions, omnil and primil, take Aspects of biblical truth we both tend to sublimate because of our positions, and in our discussions we are reminded of some important things that we do have to wrestle with as far as the Bible is concerned. And the great discussion during the last generation over Israel, and Israel and not least of which, and I see Joseph is here now, is the fact that Israel as a nation has become obviously a player in international affairs and how do we understand that as Christians. So a literal people in a literal land by the literal name of Israel is certainly something that we can ignore as Bible believers. And I talked about Holcombe and Goldsworthy. Now, they're not there, but a very famous, again, Scottish Amillennialist who went to America named John Murray. And his great commentary on Romans posits the fact that Paul was talking about ethnic national Israel. And in the end, the only way you can understand what he's saying, you've got to realize this is an Amillennialist. speaking, saying the only way you can understand it is that there is some kind of national salvation at the end of the age. Now, as an Amolehist, he sees this as in some way just before Christ returns there will be a national turning of Israel to Messiah incorporated within the church and that will be Israel's national salvation and Christ will come. But what you have to realize is, he doesn't fall into the trap of verse 7, verse 7, point 7, of failing to recognize certain aspect of Israel's centrality in God's future plan. Now, he doesn't see everything as a pre-Milwood, but he certainly sees more than the traditional Amil has. And so Israel, and I guess those of us who are free mills would still say that Romans chapter 11, even more than Revelation chapter 20, is the most important passage in the New Testament to our position. Because it does speak about a national salvation of Israel that Paul believe was going to take place in the future. I have a book by Frank Thielman. Again, he's an outstanding New Testament scholar. He's all mill. And he brings out the conundrum very well. He says, because he holds a little different exegesis than I do, and we'll talk about it again at the rapture question. Because he holds to the traditional Amillennial position that the church is the new Israel, the true Israel, the spiritual Israel. And yet, Romans 11 exegetically, as he says, makes no sense other than there's going to be a national conversion of Israel. And then he makes, and I'll paraphrase, I don't have these quoted right before me, but the paraphrase basically is this. How Paul could hold that the church being the new Israel, and yet physical, Israel is going to be saved in the future. It is hard for us to understand, but obviously in Paul's mind it made sense. I can't explain it, but for Paul it made sense. And you know what? I appreciate his honesty. That he's worn the face, you know, Scripture would say, just like John Murray, really, you can't take it at face value without saying God has a future plan for the salvation of national Israel. I don't understand it, Because I believe that in many ways everything promised to Israel in the Old Testament is now fulfilled spiritually in the church as the new Israel. I don't know how it all fits, but somehow it does. I guess in the end we all have some aspects of pan-millennialism. It's obviously gonna pan out as Paul understood it. Now, my problem, of course, is going to be on the church being the new Israel. There's a lot, and it goes back to what we talked about in Doctrine of the Church, a lot of similarities with the church in Israel, but I don't think the New Testament ever makes them one and the same. And that is, even as Gruden brings up the crux of the discussion, and even more so when it comes to the timing of the rapture. So, and I would have you underline, first sentence of page 10, naturally these are general statements in nature and there are exceptions to them all, and I brought up some exceptions. You know, there really is no one walking around being the average all mill or the average pre-mill. There's a continuum and you kind of fall off more on one side or the other. And our problem would be, going back to hermeneutics, the primary weakness that we see in our millennialism is its inconsistency in the interpretation of prophetic passages. It picks and chooses what is literal and what isn't. If it fits into its system, it's literal. If it doesn't, it must be spiritual. Now, postmillennialism has somewhat of a resurgent in our own day. But it's still a newer and more minority position. There we go. Thank you. So I can erase. This is all mill. Let me just do this because there are some similarities. All right. Now, here is the difference. All right. The church age begins. We have the cross, the church age. Let me just. OK, this is the church age. And the church age at some point. Is going to be transformed into the millennium. Now depending on which postmill you read, whether it's happened yet or not, is a point of debate. Evangelical postmills will still say this is in the future. So we have the church age which morphs at some point into the millennium and their key verse as you can see in the notice is Matthew 24 14 and this gospel the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come and their point is the church as the agency that is taking the gospel to the world today that in time the gospel is going to be victorious and the world will find itself in the millennium. Now they come under, as it were, the rule of Christ spiritually. In other words, they believe the gospel. Now, no post-millenniumist believes every last person will be saved. But they believe the gospel has such an impact that the majority of the world's population I don't know, 1 over 50% I guess, comes to Christ and now has a dominant place as far as Christianity has a dominant place as far as the world is concerned and so we enter into the millennium and sometime after the millennium Christ will return and then again we have the eternal state. That's post-millennialism. Now, postmillennialism has been most popular when the church has been most successful. Postmillennialism, as I said, was espoused in the 17th century. And particularly during the 19th century, during the great missionary thrust of Protestantism, Paulus Williams became very popular. And in the 19th century, both evangelical and liberal positions of post-millennialism started to, you know, really gain quite a credibility within the church. In fact, many of you probably have sung the great missionary hymn that is post-millennial, and the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday light, and Christ's great kingdom will come to earth, the kingdom of love and light. This is the whole idea, that as the gospel is going forth, that spiritual darkness is being broken down, light is penetrating, people are turning to the gospel, coming under Christ, starting to live. In fact, the whole what would Jesus do in his steps, that whole movement is out of post-millennialism. All right, what would Jesus do? We can bring in the kingdom. All right, and so the church will bring in the kingdom. through the gospel for evangelicals. Now what happened by the end of the 19th century is liberals picked this up and said the church is going to bring in the kingdom through social action, you know, by bringing governments under the authority of the gospel. So the Christianization of the social order. And you had that in UK, just as we had it in the US. So, as I said, by the end of the 19th century, post-millennialism had split into its evangelical and liberal wings. But what united them is, we're on the way, and post-millennialism was almost gaining majority position in Western Christendom, and then World War I happened. And what happened to the advance? Two Christian nations. Well, a bunch of them, but I mean, Germany versus UK France. Christian nations and, you know, now have the war to end all wars and, you know, millions of men dying. And what happened to progress? And slowly but surely, post-millenniumism didn't have quite the, you know, quite the strength anymore. So, as the notes say, most post-millenniums today are liberal. non-evangelicals who do not take the Word of God seriously. Now, having said that, there is a new movement of phenomenon that is evangelical, that is post-millennial. Again, the cultural mandate of the church is to impact the world and will impact the world and bring in the kingdom. And their difference is the fact that, okay, these are You know, the church is the beginning aspect of the kingdom, but through the church, ultimately, the rule of Christ is going to come upon the governments and upon nations, upon society. The problem, of course, is it suggests the world is getting better. But it doesn't seem to be, and in fact, the New Testament points to the fact that just before Christ comes, in fact, Christ's own words, Matthew, they want to go back to Matthew 24, 14 about the gospel going to all the nations. Well, look what happens after that, Matthew chapter 24. Right after the gospel is going to go to all the nations, then the end will come so that when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet, Daniel, standing in the holy place. Let the reader understand. Let those who are in Judea flee the mountains. Four, verse 21, for them there will be great tribulations such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. So Christ's own words. are not that the gospel's going to go to all the nations and there's peace. So when you see the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation. So biblically, Pope William has a hard time saying How is the gospel going to make things better, and then just before Christ comes, things are going to be worse than they've ever been before? Because that's Christ's own teaching. And secondly, grossly misunderstands the purpose for the return of Christ. That is, both Old and New Testament, Christ is going to come to put down His enemies. Postmortem says that when Christ comes, it's to It's at the culmination of his rule of peace over the nations. How can you have him coming to put down his enemies when there are no enemies biblically? So these problems kept all but a few of the most committed away from post-millennialism. And then of course we have pre-millennialism. And we, you know, give what we would refer to as what has been known now as the dispensational premillennial approach. Now, as Gruden brings out, there is both what is known as a covenantal historic and a dispensational, which is the distinction between the church and Israel. At this point, we're just going to talk about premillennialism as such. Its greatest single strength is a consistent literal interpretation of Scripture, which understands both the Old and New Testaments as the original audiences would have understood them. There's your hermeneutic again. Now, the four prominent arguments used against premillennialism Number one, Revelation 20 is the only passage in the Bible that specifically mentions a 1,000-year reign. By the way, that is absolutely true. Second, primalism is too literal. It does not recognize the symbolic nature of prophetic and apocalyptic literature. And yes, we agree, apocalyptic literature can use symbols, but symbols that are explained. There's not a single symbol that is not explained in the book of Revelation, either within the book itself or by one who is knowledgeable as far as the Old Testament is concerned. Turn to Revelation chapter 1. John sees here Christ walking among the lampstands with seven stars in his right hand. Now notice in verse 20, are these symbolic? But as for the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Now, do you have any problem figuring out what is meant? And so as you go through the revelation, either John says what the symbol represents Or he is using some aspect of something introduced as a symbol that has been noted in previous revelation. Even introducing in chapter 5. Weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll of his seven seals. The lion of the tribe of Judah, Genesis chapter 49. Root of David, Isaiah chapter 11. In other words, okay, yes, symbols are being used, but if you know your Bible, you know exactly, and of course I use, that's a simple one, everybody knows that. Well, yeah, but that's the whole point. You're seeing words being used that are symbolic of Messiah based upon the Old Testament. He can open the scroll in seven seals. Daniel chapter 7, he's the one who can take the dominion, the scroll in the right hand, and take dominion from heaven and exercise it over the earth. Again, if you know the Old Testament, the symbols are interpreted. It proposes a millennial reign just prior to the eternal state. Isn't that a superfluous thousand years? Well, not in the mind of God. And the millennium does have an important role to play, that is, what was required of man in Genesis chapter 1 finally comes to pass. Through Christ, man does exercise authority over the earth to the glory of God. And premillennialism is a new invention, requires that all ages before the 1800s had everything wrong. Premillennialism is not. It is as ancient as amillennialism. So then you go through in the notes as far as the answers that are given, of which I have basically just given you the thrust of those anyway. So the conclusion on page 13, last paragraph. Though Amalism has several strengths from which we do well to learn from, And I would say that, don't shy away from our Amillennial brothers. And I would say if I was in an Amillennial church, the same thing about premillennialism. Don't be afraid to read them. They're brothers in Christ. They have things that are beneficial. Today I would say that most of our exegetical commentaries are written by Amillennial scholars. And you don't get rid of Murray on Romans just because he was an amillennialist. So don't, you know, learn from them. Even though we believe it suffers from a weak method of interpretation that allows spiritualization of texts unintended by the author. So by the way, show discernment with whoever you read. And so while premillennialism and certainly premillennialists have issues and problems that need to be addressed, in the end we believe it offers the most consistent method of interpretation for both the Old and the New Testaments. And ultimately, and you can regroup them on this. that it is so difficult to take Revelation 20 seriously without being a premillennialist. That if there is a sequence taking place, and there seems to be, 1911, then I saw, 1917, then I saw. 20 verse 1, then I saw. Verse 4, then I saw. Verse 11, then I saw. 21-1, then I saw. Now you can interpret that as being, okay, this is the sequence of divisions. Then I saw, then I saw, then I saw. But the question arises, why did God give John the visions in this sequence? And it seems best that they were given in this sequence because this is how historically they will take place. Then I saw, then I saw, then I saw. And there is no hint. Now, we all believe that there is recapitulation. There's places where Revelation will go back and fill in details. But here, it doesn't seem as though there's any going back and filling in details. It's one event after the next. Then I saw, then I saw, then I saw. If that is true, then definitely Revelation 20, the Millennium, follows Revelation 19. I know that's a great insight, isn't it? But Revelation 19 has just spoken about what? It has spoken about the return of Christ. 1911, I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. The one on it is called Faithful and True. By the way, who is Faithful and True? Revelation chapter 1. Jesus Christ. By the way, even my Amil friends agree on that. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire. On his head are many diadems. He has a name written that no one knows but himself. He's clothed in a robe, dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed him fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which he will smite down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of a God Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has names written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. By the way, all the images there are either previously in Revelation or again in previous Scripture, all pointing to the Messiah and the army that comes with Him of righteous ones. And then we have the great Supper of God. Where the flesh of all men, both great and small, the beasts, the kings, they're all gathered for war. And Messiah is victorious. The beast is captured and the prophet thrown into the lake of fire. And then Satan is captured. And then the thousand years. Where there is the resurrection of saints to rule and reign with Christ. And when the thousand years are ended. That's very clear. Thousand years are ended. So obviously this seems to be in chronological sequence. That's the way we're to understand it. And then the argument of chapter 20, verse 4 and 5, they came to life and reigned with Christ The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years are ended. Now here's the point. They came to life and the rest did not come to life. Most Amillennialists get around this by saying coming to life in verse 4 is spiritual. Coming to life in verse 5 is physical. The problem, same Greek word used in both verses. stated, and you can read the arguments, and so many men say, okay, you convinced me on a lot of things, but you can't convince me on this is a literal resurrection, a coming to life, to rule and reign with Christ. Because if the second one is literal, and you say that it is, it's physical, a resurrection, then This has to be resurrection, coming to life and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. So those are the two points, and of course Gruden gives you a few others, but that's the basic premillennial argument. So having said that, if we're premills, when is the kingdom established? The kingdom of Christ is established after the return of Christ and the end of the tribulation. In summary, and you can take a look at all of the verse notations, all right, before the millennium begins, all right, back up here. I didn't put ours up here because this is the pre-mill scheme right here. But all the armies of the world will be gathered together to fight against the Jews in Jerusalem, and Christ will return in glory with His angels and saints, fight against these armies and utterly destroy them." That's the essence of Revelation 11 to 21 that we have just read. After His enemies are defeated, He will establish His kingdom over all the earth. From the time of His appearance to the final establishment of the kingdom, as much as two and a half months will go by. That's Daniel chapter 12, 11 and 12. Blessed is the man who makes it to the 1335th day. During this time, Satan will be bound and cast into prison. Tribulation martyrs and Old Testament saints will be resurrected and all the ungodly will be judged. Now I know that Grudem says Matthew 25, 32 to 46 is the final judgments. In fact, let's go ahead and look at that because this is another debated passage. Matthew chapter 24, I'm sorry, chapter 25. Chapter 25, verse 32. Before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And so the nations, and it's not so much the nations but people who make up the nations. And some will enter the kingdom, and some will not. Very clearly, verse 34, Come you blessed, who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And as they minister to the king's people, so they minister to him. Now the others are cursed. And depart from me, you cursed, verse 41, into the eternal fire. Prepare for the devil and his angels. The unrighteous will go, verse 46, into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. That's the distinction. Now, when is this taking place? It's all culminating the Olivet Discourse and this is the distinction of who goes into the kingdom and who doesn't. Now, everyone's got a problem with this passage because those who are told to depart immediately are talked about going into out of darkness, lake of fire, which is trying to, the millennial scheme doesn't take place until after the millennium has come to an end. And even at the end, it talks about the righteous going into not the kingdom, but eternal life. But previously he just said, this is to go into the kingdom. It's both. There's a kingdom and eternal life. By the way, we have eternal life now. According to the Gospel of John, once we believe, we have eternal everlasting life. John 3.16, already. That doesn't mean we're in the kingdom. It doesn't mean that we're into the eternal state. And so it seems at this point that there is a telescoping, all right, at that point, yes, they don't go into the kingdom and their ultimate destination is the lake of fire. This is a judgment before the millennium is established after the return of Christ on who will go into the kingdom. And so that gets back to your notes on page 14. The ungodly will be judged. They will not go into the kingdom and ultimately they'll be raised, great rights thrown in judgment and go into the lake of fire. Christ will establish His throne in Jerusalem and will give authority to His saints throughout the planets. Now what about the characteristics of the millennium? By the way, let me answer a question here as I pose because during the millennium there will be those who are living in resurrected bodies and those who don't. How can that be? Someone is calling. How can that be? After Christ was raised from the dead for 40 days, He was in a resurrected body speaking and interacting with those disciples in natural bodies. Can I explain it? No. Can it happen? Yes. And so the Millennium Kingdom, let me just read it, will be unlike Ephesians 15, will be like anything we've ever experienced before, but at the same time be exactly what we've always longed for. And Grudem gets into this as far as particularly the eternal state, that there is a deep-seated desire in us for righteousness, and righteousness to reign, and righteousness to rule, and things be done fairly and rightly. Now that is deep within our being. as God has created us and recreated us, regenerated us in Jesus Christ. And during the millennium, that is going to take place. We will see all things subjected to Christ, the supreme ruler of the earth. You can turn TV on and not have to worry about a filter because everything will promote righteousness. You can even jog with your earphones on because everything will be sanctifying. Hey, everyone will drive the speed limit. I don't know, there might even be, you know, cars will drive themselves and never get in an accident. And so, It's going to be amazing. But the most amazing thing is, is that Jesus will be present. Now, even though wherever He is, we will be, we're not necessarily going to be in Jerusalem. He's going to place us throughout the earth. But, hey, look. You got your smartphone, it's going to be really smart. You can just punch in, hi Jesus, need to talk to you. Wherever He is, there you're going to be also. And so He will rule. There's going to be a tremendous geographic transformations. We saw that in Zechariah 14. Saints will rule with Him. It's unclear if all saints or only some will rule during this time, but we'll have a place of service in some capacity in the kingdom. Basically, that's part of the reward. Faithful in little, you'll be given much. So really, the extent in which you're going to be able to rule for Christ is determined by present faithfulness. Twelve apostles will be rulers over the 12 tribes of Israel, and David himself will be part of the government at that time, ruling over Israel in a ... Well, I'm not sure he's going to rule in a special way, but he will be resurrected and will have a role to play. Jerusalem will be the spiritual capital of the world, where all the nations will come to worship the Lord. We saw that in Zechariah 14. During this time, Ezekiel's temple will be built and will be in full operation. And that has exegetical issues too. In addition, the entire world will be dominated by righteousness. Christ will execute justice, which will lead to worldwide peace, the end of disease and sickness, the rejuvenation of the earth, and even peace within the animal kingdom. Lion and lamb laying down together. Chapter 11 of Isaiah, verse 16. I've been asked many, many times, is that literal? Why not? Just because they don't like each other now, doesn't mean your cat and dog can't get along during the millennium. Hey, you can even have a cat with a bird that doesn't have to be caged, because the bird and the cat will get along. The millennium came will be a perfect life in a still imperfect world. Now this gets to... Where'd you go? There you are. Yeah. That's Isaiah 65, 66. That in the new heavens and new earth, which I believe there is the messianic kingdom. And the reason is, is because there's still going to be death. There's still going to be rebellion. But there's going to be rebellion instantaneously taken care of. And if you die at 100, it's going to be like you died in your infancy. So there will be death, but long life. And it seems as though as long as one is righteous, well, if you're in resurrected bodies, you're eternal anyway. But if you're in resurrected bodies, you will live the whole thousand years because remember before the flood, Methuselah made it 969 years, and that's in a world where sin was still dominant. Genesis chapter 6 verses 1 to 8. So if he could live 969 years in a less than perfect world, what happens when we're into the environment being conducive to life? So I think for those who are righteous, that are born during the millennium or go in their natural bodies into the millennium from the tribulation, they will live the whole time. In fact, death will be so uncommon, it'll be amazing. He died, boy. What was wrong with it? Well, there will be something. If you died during the millennium, there's something wrong with it. You have inward rebellion against Christ. In fact, more than that, you probably have some outward rebellion. Im would just wait around until Satan comes along at the very end. The Mayim Kingdom will be the perfect life in a still imperfect world. Not everyone will be saved and sin will not yet be abolished, just very suppressed. This has been called by our opponents the dark side of the millennium. But I think it's biblically realistic. It's not the eternal state. The notes are right. Righteousness, well sin is suppressed. Righteousness is dominant. But sin is still present. Now right now, sin is dominant in righteousness. is present, then righteous will be dominant and sin will be suppressed, but it will still be there. Now, I don't know why in God's plan and purpose He wanted to have the millennium, but if we are right, I think there is an answer. We live in a world that says, The problem is not internal. If we just had the right environment, everything would be right. Well, what happens with a thousand years of the proper environment where righteousness is predominant? even at the end of the millennial kingdom, Satan will be released and immediately go forth to deceive the nations, lead a rebellion against Christ, even in a perfect world, with perfect education, with a perfect environment, with animals that get along, with nations that do not war against each other. If environment can save, then the millennium should be a time when everyone would come to salvation. The millennium shows the problem is not with our environment, the problem is with our heart. And so from Revelation at the very end of chapter 20, goes into detail the final judgments in the eternal state, which we'll look at at the very last session this afternoon. It shows again that despite perfect government surrounded by glorified saints, having justice executed swiftly and properly, man will still be sinful and rebellious at heart. And so God will bring his final judgments. And God shows that he is ultimately righteous. Again, the fact that mankind still rebels against God even after a thousand years of having Christ as king indicates the abiding corruption of creation. This demonstrates that creation is not redeemable and requires recreation. that God has to wipe clean completely. Unrighteousness has to be located in one specific spot in God's created universe. The lake of fire that was first brought about, created by God for Satan and his angels, but is the place where sin is localized We're actually very interesting that, and certainly during the tribulation that the people will know that this is the wrath, Revelation 6, and still curse God. So he might be right, although the Bible doesn't explicitly say so, but even the lake of fire that there is still continued rebellion against God. The people there still. And so why eternal punishment? Because there's eternal rebellion. It could be possible because certainly in the Tribulation, in the Millennium, that is still seen. So now God just has to completely localize in one part of His creation unrighteousness so the rest of creation can live in a sinless, totally sinless environment. That's the eternal state. And so the millennial kingdom comes to an end with the release and final defeat of Satan. It seems to be after the thousand years, which is followed by the great white throne judgment, and then the new heavens and the new earth. That's to be continued this afternoon. But before we get there, we got to talk first about the tribulation, the rapture, et cetera, which will come after lunch. So that's the millennium. That's the debate. How does the Old Testament tie in when we believe that the promises of the rule and reign of Messiah will be fulfilled during the millennium? And so all that the Old Testament speaks about that age of Messiah's reign is part of the characteristics of that thousand years based upon Revelation 19 and 20, the thousand years follows the return of Christ. And so we believe pre-millennial, that is, Christ returns before the millennium rules and reigns and before the final judgments, final rebellion, judgment, great white throne that ends in the new heavens and new earth. But again, pre-tied in with the return of Christ. Not the millennium is now or the church will bring in the millennium. But Christ will bring the millennium to pass when he returns after his second coming. All right, we have about eight minutes for questions. Now Kojo has passed the pre-question. Is this the post-question? It's the mid-question. The mid-question. All right, the mid-question. So I think you kind of answered it, but just regarding Isaiah 65, what would be the sort of destiny of those who do die within the millennium? Then I have a sort of follow-up question after that, if that's okay. You mean those who rebelled during the millennium? Yes, so obviously according to Isaiah 65, there will be those who die, like the young man will die like a hundred, you know. That's what's going to take place, that those who overtly rebel will die. All right, so you talk about immediate punishments, there's going to be immediate disciplinary punishment. And actually at the end of chapter 66 it seems as though beginning with the fact that there's the fire and their worm does not die, which is then picked up as far as the lake of fire is concerned, but they'll eat, we'll even be conscious during the millennium it seems based upon Isaiah 66. of those rebels who are suffering as a testimony to the fact that, okay, they rebelled and so therefore they were judged in this way. And that, of course, will be a deterrent, implicitly a deterrent, you know, that those will not rebel either. My next question is just, I once heard an AMO pastor say that the primal position sort of gives unbelievers a chance to sort of just wait it out as long as they want. So sort of, oh, the rapture's come. Okay, so I have time to believe now. Okay, the tribulation's come. I now have time to believe now. Oh, I can just wait until the millennium. So he sort of says it's a deterrent for evangelism. I don't know how viable it is, but he is. He is well known in some parts. But I just wanted to know, what would you say to that? I've never heard that objection before until I heard it from this one person. But what would you say to someone who says our position sort of helps unbelievers, or it gives them a chance to sort of just wait it out because they've got all these stages to repent anyway? My answer biblically is simple. This is the day of salvation. And no man has a guarantee on tomorrow. Who knows that you're going to be around after the rapture to be able to make that decision. You could walk out, you could walk on the street, you know, walk, you know, go across, you know, St. John's to get lunch and the guy doesn't stop at the crosswalk and we might be having your funeral week from now. I mean, there's just, you know, I mean, full, you know, tonight your life is required of you. You know, said, you know, Christ in the story of the rich man and the grain, take your ease. You're full tonight. Your soul is required of you. No man knows the day or the hour. not only of Christ's coming, but of your own death. So, to say this gives license, I think that's a false assumption. If you go back to the 19th, even to the 20th century, I mean, on mills, pre-mills, post-mills were all actively involved, and still are. Well, not so much post-mills, because there are not many left, but just as actively involved in evangelism. Evangelism, I don't think, is determined by one's eschatological position. I think evangelism is determined by one's desire to follow Christ as Lord and obey what He said, and the fact we've got to be sharing the good news with those who've never heard. It could be working on passages, of course, that the gospel has to be preached to all. And I didn't get into Grudem on this, you know, because that really has to do with the rapture, the imminency of Christ's return for believers, and yet the signs still remain. And one of those signs is, you know, the gospel is going to be preached to every nation in the earth, which is fast approaching. There are not that many languages left that have not had the gospel translated into their language and the preaching available to every nation. So that's close. But my understanding of, and we haven't got to the Tribulation yet, but my understanding of Matthew 24 is that's the whole, is dealing with the Tribulation period and that ultimate The ultimate outworking of the gospel going to all the people could be during the tribulation period. All right, Will. My question is, in the Millennium Age, would there be unbelievers entering the Millennium Age? No. And also, would there be... Matthew 25, impossible. Okay. So, would there... And Ezekiel 20 for Israel. Ezekiel 20 deals with Israel. that all of nature will pass under the rod and the rebels will be purged out. So anyone going into the kingdom from Israel has to be regenerate, has to be righteous. Same thing, Matthew 25, with the people from the nations. Only the sheep from the nations, that is the righteous, they're the ones who will enter the kingdom. So everyone going into the kingdom, they're either resurrected which means they're not only regenerate, but they are in their eternal bodies. That will be you and I as church-age saints, as well as Old Testament and the tribulation saints. All together, we will be in already our glorified bodies, and then we'll interact with those in natural bodies, but those who all enter will all be righteous. So where do all these sinners come from? Because again, Isaiah chapter 65, 66 is going to be birth during the millennium. Will there be birth, then, and children? Not those of us in our glorified bodies, but those in natural bodies. In natural bodies, so that children would have the choice to choose Christ or not. Yeah, but in a much different environment. I mean, they're hearing about Jesus and seeing Jesus. Going to worship Jesus. I mean, it's a totally different environment during the millennium than we have today. So just to get it right, so those with the natural bodies, they would come from the tribulation? Yes. They'll come through the tribulation and enter the millennium in the natural bodies. And those who've accepted Christ in tribulation? Yes. So they will be the people who accepted Christ? Those in Israel who've turned and those in the Gentiles who have relayed and responded to the righteous in Israel, yes. So tying Matthew on what is the basis, how does a Gentile show his righteousness during the kingdom? And it's showing it, one is righteous because of faith in Messiah, but then they will help and identify with Israel during the tribulation period when Israel goes through its great time of persecution and suffering. They'll help, they'll identify with them. That's the way they show that they are believing Gentiles. The problem is in one eight-hour session, we can't get into every last verse and every last detail. And again, this is one of the things our mill friends will throw at us, and Grudem has to do it, even more as a post-trib than a pre-trib. And that is, you know, where do all these people in the natural bodies come from in the millennium? Our mill friends will state, well, you know, if there is a judgment of both Israel and the Gentile nations, and you're saying that very clearly from the Bible, then where do these naturally born people enter into the Millennium? And the answer is, is because, you know, Ezekiel 20 for Israel, those who are not, you know, brought out, the rebels, the rest will enter, and the Matthew 25, the sheep from the Gentile nations will enter into the kingdom. That's where the natural born, non-glorified bodies, individuals come from who enter the millennium. In my understanding. Oh, okay. It's not really a question as such, but I think given what you set out from the premier position, I can't help but think your typical kind of church service or your typical presentation of the gospel, it usually comes to the crux of, okay, if you believe, you're a believer, you're going to heaven. If you die, you're going to hell. And from the believer's perspective, taking the premium position to be the correct one for this question or this observation. I just feel that a lot of the intricacies that you set out here are kind of typically glossed over when you're talking about a believer going to heaven, being absolute in the body, present in the Lord, then you get into all of the intricacies here. I just feel that kind of looking back at my church background or experience, granted that the aim or position may be the majority these days, but I just feel that you don't really hear the intricacies presented from the believer's perspective in terms of dying, going to heaven if you die before the rapture, coming back, reigning in the Millennium Kingdom, so on and so forth, so it's more of an observation really than a question as such. That's a good observation, and I would just say, again, we're telescoping a lot of things. that ultimately, I mean, you're going to die and go to heaven, but that's not going to be your final place. You've got to come back this afternoon to find out where you're going to end up for all eternity. But heaven will come to earth. And I think that's the point that's kind of worried, that it's glossed over. And then ultimately, the unbeliever will, after the resurrections, second resurrection, first, after the resurrection he's going to get the second death which is the lake of fire. So all we're basically doing is, you know, is telescoping. It's true that for the believer they, at death they immediately go to heaven, but for the unbeliever he doesn't immediately go to hell. Hell is, Gehenna is the lake of fire, right? Now there is torment. Luke 16 infers that from what Jesus said about the rich man was tormented. But he was in Hades, he was in Sheol, he was in the grave, he was dead but tormented, but even that is only a preliminary to his ultimate resurrection to be in a body fit for eternity which will be cast in the lake of fire. I guess we have to say this that No matter whose position you hold, and it is true that a lot go with Amil because it's a simpler presentation, but even there, there is a lot that is brought together as we talk about what's going to happen in the future. I mean, even the Amillennial position has significant points that, yeah, Christ returns and some go to heaven, some go to hell, but even the Amillennial position is heaven is only upon the earth, not floating around somewhere in the clouds. In fact, our Amil friends, because they concentrate much more upon the eternal state, I think have done some good research into what the Bible says about the eternal state, which is not a whole lot. frankly, just Revelation 21 and 22, but they've come up with what is known as the new creation model, which views, you know, the eternal state as being on either a renewed or, you know, completely recreated earth. And so it's called the new creation model.