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Revelation: Unveiling Reality “Making Sense of ” Kevin Haah August 14, 2016

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[Slide 1] We are at the home stretch of the series entitled, “Revelation: Unveiling Reality.” We are going to be looking at Revelation 20. Two more chapters to go after today! We will be finishing this series in two more weeks. [Slide 2] Today’s sermon is entitled, “Making Sense of Millennialism.” There is a lot of debate about end times, especially about Revelation 20. It’s actually just a few verses in this chapter that talk about this 1,000 years. That’s where we get the word millennial, which means 1,000 in Latin. My goal for this sermon is help us wade through the mess and the complexity of the debate and crystalize the essence of the debate for you. But, I don’t want you to just get more head knowledge about this. I want you to see that this has an impact on our call as followers of Jesus Christ. This sermon is not just about God’s plan for the future; it is about how that future affects the way we live out our present. Think about it. If you know that you are going to die next month, the way you live today is different. What we believe about our future has a strong impact on our present. That’s why this is important. If you are not a Christian, and you are just checking us out, I hope this gives you some insight as to the hope that we have as Christians. But, I want to be honest with you. This is an area where Christians are divided over. I heard this story about something that had happened on the Golden Gate Bridge. This man said: o I was standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, admiring the view, when another tourist walked up alongside of me to do the same. I heard him say quietly as he took in the beauty of the view: What an awesome God. o I turned to him and said “Are you a Christian?” o He said “Yes, I’m a Christian.” o I said “So am I” and we shook hands. o I said “Are you a Liberal or a Fundamental Christian?” o He said “I’m a Fundamental Christian.” o I said “So am I” and we smiled and nodded to each other.

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o I said “Are you a Covenant or Dispensational Fundamental Christian?” o He said “I’m a Dispensational Fundamental Christian.” o I said “So am I” and we slapped one another on the back. o I said “Are you an early Acts, mid Acts, or late Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian? o He said “I’m a mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian.” o I said “So am I” and we agreed to exchange Christmas cards each year. o I said “Are you an Acts 9 or 13 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?” o He said “I’m an Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian.” o I said “So am I!” And we hugged one another right there on the bridge. o I said “Are you a pre-Trib or post-Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?” o He said “I’m a pre-Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian.” o I said “So am I.” And we agreed to exchange our kids for the summer. o I said “Are you a 12 in or 12 out pre-Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?” o He said “I’m a 12 in pre-Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian.” o I said “You heretic!” And I pushed him off the bridge. I want to make this point before we read the passage. You can be a Christian and disagree on this. There is more that we agree on than what we disagree on. You can be a premillennialist, post-millennialist, or an amillennialist and love one another as brothers and sisters in . Now, I personally have a leaning on this issue but you don’t have to agree with me. I want to give you enough to understand, and you can make your own choice. But, I want to warn you. Today is one of those sermons in which you have really pay attention. Put your thinking cap on. Let’s go to Revelation 20:

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[Slide 3] 1 And I saw an angel coming down out of , having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or , and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. [Slide 4] 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

[Slide 4] 7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the ——and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

[Slide 6] 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the . The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

This passage mentions 1,000 years six times. One thousand in Latin is a millennium. This is the only place in the that speaks of this millennial kingdom. Yet, some people talk about this as if it is the main message of the Bible. I think it is important for us to figure this out but we have to be careful about building a whole approach to the Bible through it. [Slide 7] There are really four views on millennialism. They are all held by sincere believers. Remember that.

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They are known by when they believe Jesus will come back with respect to the millennial kingdom. Some believe that the of Jesus will happen before the millennial kingdom (they are called pre-millennialists); there are two different kind of pre-millennialists (one camp is called historical pre-millennialism and the other one is called dispensational pre-millennialism—don’t worry; I will explain this further); some believe that the Second Coming of Jesus will happen after the millennial kingdom (they are called post-millennialists); and some believe that millennial is happening now, and that this 1,000 year is a symbol of the time of the (they are called a-millennialists). Let me give you a summary of each position. [Slide 8] A. Historical Pre-Millennialism There is evidence that many of the church fathers from the first to fourth centuries were pre-millennialists. Church fathers like Papias (who was alive when John wrote Revelation), , , , Hippolytus, and others wrote about this. , who wrote about the history of the church in the early 300s indicated that was the dominant belief of the early church even though he himself had doubts and noted that Revelation was a disputed book in part because of this very matter. Their view was that Christ would come back and establish a millennial kingdom ruled by the saints. The first real commentary on Revelation was written by Victorinus, the biship of Pettau, in late 200s. He was martyred during the last great Roman persecution of the church in early 300s. Incidentally, he argued plainly that Babylon stood for Rome and 666 was Nero, and he believed that Revelation 20 was describing an earthly kingdom in which nations would be placed under the rule of believers. [Slide 9] So, to summarize, here is a picture that summarizes the historical pre- millennials’ view of the timing.

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[Slide 10] B. A-Milliennials Then, around 400s, the great African theologian Augustine argued for a viewpoint that became known as a-millennialism. He lived in the time when church was no longer persecuted and had tremendous influence in Roman Empire. Augustine is probably the most influential theologian in church history. He was initially a pre-millennialist, but he became convinced that this millennial kingdom refers to the present church age. Ben Witherington, a commentator on Revelation, noted that : “[Augustine’s] interpretation of Rev. 20 was in part the rationale used for the expansionist politics of the and of various popes. They sought to be kingdom builders and the spreaders of millennial blessings. It was also the that helped undergird the Crusades. So, a-millennialists believe that the present church age is the millennial, which is not literally 1,000 years, but just symbolically a long period of time. Then, Jesus will come back to judge and destroy Satan and fulfill his promise of the bringing heaven down to earth and restoring creation. [Slide 11] Here is a picture that shows you the timing of the for a- millennials.

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[Slide 12] C. Post-Millennials The in the 1700th Century were among the first to articulate Post- Millennial viewpoint. They were greatly affected by the Great Awakening around 1830s, and people like John Owens, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodges were proponents of this position. They are similar in their viewpoint as the a-milliennials. They believe that the gospel will gradually convince the world and change the world and we will end up in this millennial kingdom before the Second Coming of Jesus. They tend to be very optimistic about the future and the power of the gospel to change hearts, people, and nations. [Slide 13] Here is a picture of Post-Millennialism. We live in the church age now, but it will gradually become the millennial kingdom, then, Jesus will come back.

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[Slide 14] D. Dispensational pre-millennialism. Then, around 1830, a theologian names John Darby and later through a reference Bible that contained the notes of C.I. Scofield popularized a perspective that came to be known as dispensational premillennialism. This perspective became extremely popular through the writings of Hal Lindsey who wrote “The Late, Great Planet Earth” and Tim LaHaye who wrote The series of book which are fictional apocalyptic books about the end times. This is probably the most popular perspective now among people who talk about this issue a lot. This perspective is very different than the historical premillennialists of the early church. They believe that the millennial kingdom will happen after the Second Coming of Jesus. This view, they share with historical pre-millennials. Other than that, they have a very different set of beliefs. [Slide 15] Here are some uniquenesses: (1) They believe in the literal fulfillment of the prophecies of the regarding Israel. So, since the Old Testament promised that God would bring the Kingdom of God to Israel; so they believe that someday, Kingdom of God would come to Israel. So, they are very interested in Israel’s future separately from the Kingdom of God for Gentiles. People who don’t hold this view believe that the promises made to Israel are fulfilled in the

7 Revelation: Unveiling Reality “Making Sense of Millennialism” Revelation 20 Kevin Haah August 14, 2016 greater Kingdom of God that Jesus has inaugurated which includes both Jews and Gentiles. [Slide 16] (2) They believe in the in the sense that they believe that believers are going to get zap away while others are left behind. This is the only view that believes in rapture in this way. [Slide 17] (3) And most of them believe that believers will be raptured before the tribulations described in Revelation and that Jesus described. Some of them believe that the rapture will in the middle of the tribulation (they are called mid-trip dispensational premillennialists) [Slide 18] (4) They believe in the literal 1,000 year Kingdom where Christ rules over Israel (Jews) on earth before the judgment day. [Slide 19] And so, this picture illustrates what they believe: They believe that believers will be raptured and taken out of the world first, then the world will be left with Jews and unbelievers. That is when God is going to fulfill God’s promise to establish a Jewish Kingdom, bring back the law, the temple, sacrifices, and the whole system. And so, Jesus will be the King of this Jewish Kingdom for literally 1,000 years. After this 1,000 years, Jesus will bring the heaven down to earth and restore earth.

As you might tell, I don’t agree with dispensational premillennial perspective. [Slide 20] The first reason is that teaches us that the promises to Israel in the Old Testament are fulfilled in the Kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated for both Jews and Gentiles. I do not believe that the Bible tells us about establishing two

8 Revelation: Unveiling Reality “Making Sense of Millennialism” Revelation 20 Kevin Haah August 14, 2016 kingdoms—one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. God is establishing a single kingdom of both Jews and Gentiles together, breaking down the walls of hostilities between them. Jesus taught us that the promises of the Old Testament regarding coming of the Kingdom of Israel is fulfilled in his coming of Jesus, and issues of the Second Coming has to be interpreted according to the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles of the New Testament, not Old Testament. In many ways, dispensational premillennialists are essentially trying to make Old Testament fit into New Testament, and while doing so, ignore clear teachings about the Kingdom of God in the New Testament. [Slide 21] The second reason that I disagree with this perspective is because they misunderstand the teaching about rapture. I showed you in fair detail in my sermon entitled “Do Christians Escape the ?” that the word rapture does not mean that we are caught in air to be zapped away, to be taken away. It was a word used for greeting important dignitaries outside the city to welcome them into the city. So, the destination of the rapture is not heaven, it is back to earth. It is how we metaphorically welcome Jesus to earth when he comes. If you have any questions about this, listen to my sermon on the tribulation. If this is true, their whole system falters. [Slide 22] Third, as I mentioned in that sermon, it is not consistent with other biblical text that Christians would not escape tribulation. Jesus said that we would face tribulation, and Revelation confirms that. [Slide 23] Fourth, given Revelation’s symbolism with numbers (we saw this all over Revelation), 1,000 is can’t be literal. How can everything else be symbolic and this be literal. We should not be interpreting Revelation faithfully according to its Apocalyptic genre if we interpreted this literally. I know this is complicated but this is about all that I can share with the time allowed. Now, I think the only way to see whether historical premillennials or amillennialists or post-millennials are right can only be determined by digging into the passage more carefully. So, let’s look at the passage at hand and see what the text has to say.

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[Slide 24] 1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Premillennialists (remember, there are two types of premillennialists; if you take out the stuff about Israel, rapture and escape from tribulation theology, you have the historical premillennialists) argue that the context of this is chapter 19. This happens after the Second Coming described in Chapter 19. So, they say that the 1,000 years described here is after the Second Coming of Jesus in chapter 19. They also say that in chapter 19, the beast and the false prophets were thrown into the lake of fire. And correspondingly, in chapter 20, Satan, the one behind the beast and the false prophets, is finally thrown into the lake of fire. Therefore, this scene happens after the Second Coming of Jesus, witch would mean that millennial kingdom comes after the Second Coming. A-millennialists argue that Revelation is not meant to be read chronologically. It is not what happens next that is written; it is what John see next that it is written. In fact, it’s pretty clear that the whole book is not chronological. We saw the Second Coming, the Kingdom of God, comes after the were open, then we saw the trumpet and the Kingdom of God came after the seventh trumpet was sounded. Then, the same with bowl. These are not separate judgments. They are the same judgment described from a different perspective. Then, we saw that in chapter 12, the whole story goes back to the birth of Jesus. Remember the Dragon chasing after the mother of the baby? One commentator argued that there are seven stories repeating over and over again but getting more detailed and closer to the end. They call this “progressive parallelism.” [Slide 25] It is sort of like this picture--multiple circle going around and around in a cycle until it

10 Revelation: Unveiling Reality “Making Sense of Millennialism” Revelation 20 Kevin Haah August 14, 2016 gets there. So, they argue that chapter 20 is not the continuation of chapter 19. It is a new reset. It is starting the story again. And the story is that heaven came down and bound Satan for a thousand years. They say that this is the story of Jesus again. The defeat of Satan started when Jesus came down and took upon our sins at the cross. Remember when the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan? Jesus replied, “How can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?” (Matt 12:29). Jesus was implying that he was here to bind the strongman, Satan. It is interesting that in the original language, the word to bind the strong man is the same word used in Revelation 20 to describe the binding of Satan. [Slide 26] Colossians 2:15 tells us that, Jesus “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Jesus defeated and disarmed and bound up Satan through the power of the cross. That’s what this passage is talking about. Then, why is Satan still seem to be powerful? Why does he still continue to deceive people? The view is that Satan is bound but is not destroyed. He works through the beasts. And that because of the power of the and the power of the cross, the he can’t really stop the movement of the church. The best illustration I heard is this one. I’ve shared this with you. o The decisive moment of the WWII was D Day on June 6, 1944. o And theologians often make the point that the decisive moment in history is the cross; o but VE Day wasn’t until May 8, 1945, when the War was over. o So, there was a period when they were living between the times. o When victory was assured, but it wasn’t complete. o And that’s our position now. And the argument is that that is the millennial kingdom. The Kingdom between the first and second coming of Jesus. That’s the argument of the a-millennialists. So, they say that millennial kingdom started when Jesus came and died on the cross and defeated Satan.

Let’s go further in the passage to where this kingdom is. Listen to this carefully. Where does it say this Kingdom is?

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[Slide 27] 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Premillennials say that this is happening in earth. With Satan bound, they say that Jesus rules the earth for 1,000 years. For dispensationalist premillennialists, this is literal 1,000 years. For many historical premillennials, many of them believe that 1,000 is a symbol of a very long time. Amillennials say that the place most associated with the throne room is heaven, not earth. This scene is happening in heaven. The passage says that there are some people who are seated on the throne with the authority to judge. Who are they? The next phrase says souls of those who have beheaded. So, the martyrs who have died. And other Christians who remained faithful against the beast. They are all brought to life and reign with Christ for 1,000 years. John calls this the first resurrection. Amillennials argue that there is no other place in the Bible that teaches two resurrections; so they say that this first resurrection means that followers of Jesus who died now are in raised to life in heaven seated on the throne, with authority to judge, reign with Christ. They argue that this is the picture of heaven that we go to before the final coming of the Kingdom of God. That’s why Apostle Paul said Philippians 1:23: “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” Paul believed that upon his death, he would be with Christ immediately. He told the repentant thief on the cross next to him, you will be with me in . It is that place that this passage is talking about. This means that my mom, who died about 15 years ago, has been with Christ in fellowship with him even before Jesus comes back. The place in heaven in the presence of God for believers before Jesus come back is what amillennialist call the millennial kingdom.

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Then, the rest of the passage tells us that when this 1,000 years is over, Satan will be released one last time, and he marches with countless number of people to war against God (this is probably the same event as that we talked about last Sunday), but the power of God throws them into the lake of sulfur, which stands for a place of darkness separated from the presence of God. They are completely cut off from God and his grace and even his patience. Now, you might be wondering who right? Here is my short analysis. As I already indicated, dispensational premillennialists base their theory on a false concept of two kingdoms, rapture, and escapist theology. So, I don’t agree with them. With respect to historical premillennialists, I think they can be right. The only problem I have is that there is no other place in the Bible that teaches in essence two second comings and two resurrections. I think the first one must be indicating our union with God in heaven before the second coming. But, I could be wrong on this. Now that leaves us with and post-millennialism. I think the only difference between the two is that the post-millennials are more optimistic about the future and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to lead to uptopia, the millennial kingdom on earth before the second coming of Christ. So, they don’t believe that the millennial kingdom is in heaven as do amillennialists; they believe that it will be in earth before the second coming. The gospel will spread with so much power that the world will come to that place that is like the Kingdom of God. If I have to choose, I would choose amillennielism. I believe they are most consistent with other NT teachings about the second coming. Jesus has defeated Satan on the cross, and those who die in faith before the second coming enjoys the fellowship with God in heaven, which is the millennial kingdom, and when Jesus comes back, there is throwing Satan into the lake of fire, judgment, and there is new heaven and , establishing God’s kingdom in the forever. But, you don’t have to agree with me on this. We can agree to disagree, but with love and grace towards one another.

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At the end, whatever is right, we all believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and he is coming back to restore earth. All four perspectives agree with this. They just disagree on how that is going to happen. Now, what is the point of learning about all these things? So what? Let me give you two reasons why this is important. What we believe is important in the present is often influenced by our belief about the future. [Slide 28] 1. The focus on Israel by dispensational premillennialists potentially has a huge impact on the world that is not always positive. This group is probably the single largest political supporter of Israel. The reason that America has a pro-Israel policy and anti-Palestinian policy is because of the impact of the dispensational premillennialist lobby. As you can see, this has a huge impact on American relationship with Palestinians and Muslims. They often overlook the injustice of Israel and play its cheerleader regardless of what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. This is at the heart of the conflict between Jews and Muslims, and it has become the heart of the conflict between Christians and Muslims. They view our support of Israel as a movement of ; so, it justifies their belief that they are engaged in a religious war. I am not saying that they are right, or that we should support terrorists or that we should not support Israel. What I am saying is that we need to be looking at the facts and issues of justice, and not just cheerleading for Israel to establish this the Kingdom of God in Israel. When I went to Israel, I met some Christians there. Their forefather had been there since the time of Jesus. And they are Palestinians. They were flabbergasted as to why American Christians indiscriminately support Israel. They wanted us to understand that Christians in Palestine are Arabs. If we don’t carefully evaluate our theology regarding this, it might be the Christian belief in this misplaced theology that leads us into war in Middle East. [Slide 29] 2. Belief in rapture, especially pre-tribulation rapture, makes us escapist in our worldview. This escapist theology actually affects the way we think about our present life now. If we think that our destiny is somewhere up there and we are going to get raptured up to avoid the mess and the pain of this world, we have no reason to care

14 Revelation: Unveiling Reality “Making Sense of Millennialism” Revelation 20 Kevin Haah August 14, 2016 for this world. It’s going to go the in the hand-basket anyway. Why should I try to make this world a better place? The material world matters to God. It’s why He created it! Martin Luther was asked what he’d do today if he knew that Christ was going to return tomorrow. He said, “I’d plant a tree.” He had his theology right. Why? In the Kingdom, things will grow better and more beautiful than they are now. God is going to remove the curse upon creation and the things that are beautiful now will become stunning when sin and curse is removed from this world. The material world is important to a material Christ. Why do we fight against poverty, disease, oppression, hunger, environmental destruction? Because this world matters to God and therefore it matters to us. God is restoring this world, and we should line up to participate in what he is doing. Our job is to manifest the kingdom now! We are to be first fruit. We are to live in a way that we are a window to the future. We are to live now to reflect the way that the world will be in the future. God loves the world and creation and we are called to reflect that love. We are called to be environmentalists. We are called to care for animals. We are called to bring justice for everyone. We are called to reduce suffering. We are called to do common good. This is a kingdom agenda. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Let’s pray. Invite Prayer team.

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