Well, maybe what you apparently think the millennium to be, but that's a good thing. :) But as Jesus says in John 5:28-29, "Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." And we see this play out graphically in a couple of different places, Matthew 25:31-46 and Revelation 20:11-21:4. This will all happen in short order after the close of the millennium.PinSeeker: He will sit in judgment of all, and after the judgment, those who were raised to the resurrection of judgment will depart, and never be heard from or remembered again.
This is the finality that goes against the clear point of the thousand years.
Well, to finally set right again the state of creation... But yes, Jesus, the second (final) Adam succeeds where Adam failed.The point of the Second Coming is not to end creation, but to complete the task in current creation that Adam failed to do.
See above.The Second Coming is not to fill up the earth with the church.
The number of the redeemed will be an innumerable multitude. As the stars of the heavens, as the grains of sand on the seashore.There are not enough redeemed to fill up the earth. 8 billion people do not fill up the earth. The earth is not overcrowded and overpopulated.
Sure. But when Jesus returns, and after the final Judgment, this will no longer be the case. I think we agree on that...The earth is just overrun with sin, decay, death, and corruption.
Absolutely!When sin and transgression are removed, all of creation will experience the change, not just in a spiritual connotation.
Hm... interesting. Do you mean you think "Amil" somehow make deception of the nations (and Satan's inability to do so at present) out to be a meaningless or pointless term/concept in understanding the millennium to be the present age? Because, my goodness, no... :)Deceiving the nations is a pointless term though, if that is all Amil go by.
Hmm, interesting. I would submit to you, Timtofly, that in most instances in Scripture, "nation" does not refer to a specific country or state. God told Abraham that He would make him a great nation, remember? I do very much agree that a nation is not a distinct ethnicity. Israel ~ God's Israel ~ is not made up of ethnic Jews only, but includes Gentiles; it is made up of all those who are in Christ.Do Amil just limit Satan's deception to the corporate level, but Satan is not bound to deceive individuals? How does that make sense? A nation cannot be deceived unless individuals within that nation are deceived. A nation does not think on a corporate level. In this usage nation just means people from several different countries all on the edge of society... Jesus is judging individuals that make up those nations, not the whole nation on a corporate level. That may have had a different understanding in the first century, but today people are constantly moving from nation to nation. A nation is not a distinct ethnicity. It just means all the individuals are for the most part in agreement with each other.
That's quite contrary to Revelation 20:2-3 ~ "And He seized... Satan, and bound him... so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended... So now you're equating "the nations" with individuals? Isn't that what you've been arguing against? I mean, as if I have been doing that, because I haven't, but you seem to be contradicting yourself, here Timtofly.Satan is bound to not be able to deceive any individual.
Agree. Except for the "instant death for the individual" thing... :) We who are in Christ still sin, but as John also says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Even those who are not in Christ ~ unbelievers ~ are not instantly killed for sin, but they will eventually suffer the second death (which is not annihilation or non-existence)... if they are not at some point born again of the Spirit and placed in Christ.During the Millennium, it is still up to each individual to obey. But disobedience does not effect the whole nation, it is just instant death for the individual.
No, but again, you're thinking of nations in the wrong sense.When Satan is loosed it does not even say every individual in a nation will be deceived.
I don't think Satan really pays any attention to our maps, Timtofly. :)We just know Satan targets individuals that are farther away from Jerusalem, as those nations are the latest generations, the youngest of those living on the earth.
But it seems Amil cannot grasp what it means to have no sin nor death and corruption on earth. They agree that Adam's dead corruptible flesh all gets cast into the LOF never to be heard from again, as far as we know.
Right, because such is ridiculous. :) When Jesus comes back ~ after the millennium ~ all things will be made new ~ after the final Judgment, of course ~ and the Kingdom will be ushered in in its fullness... consummated, as it were... and eternity will begin. But Jesus is reigning now, Timtofly. We are not waiting for some literal 1000-year period in the future for Him to reign as King over God's Israel. He is your (and my) King, now. And more and more people are coming into His Kingdom every day; these are God's elect... this is what is happening over the course of the Millennium.They just don't accept Jesus is reigning on earth for a thousand years while perfect humans are making babies.
This is interesting... So you're post-mill, correct? Regardless, what you seem to be saying is that Jesus will reign as King in a future, literal 1000-year period. If so, then what happens after that 1000 years in which Jesus reigns? Like, then He... continues to reign as King? :) I'm being facetious with this, really... :) What I'm saying, and what any "Amill" worth his or her salt would say, is that Jesus is reigning now, not yet here on earth, but from heaven, during this "thousand years," God's millennium, which is symbolic ~ not a woodenly literal 1000-year period ~ symbolic of the fullness of God's time in bringing His Israel to completion. Then shall come Jesus's return, the final Judgment, and His eternal reign in the new heaven and new earth. This is what we read from Revelation 20:1 to Revelation 21:8.The concept eludes even most pre-mill as they expect sin and death to persevere throughout the Millennium. That is what happens now. Certainly not after Jesus removes all the wickedness from His kingdom. That is what the baptism of fire is for, when Peter points out that everything will be burnt up. All of Adam's dead corruptible flesh will either be redeemed or cast into the LOF. Sin will not enter the Millennium. Sin does not enter after Satan is loosed. Death is the last enemy destroyed, right after those heading to Jerusalem are consumed by fire, the last humans to choose Satan and death, with the excuse that Satan deceived them. Jesus returns creation to God, perfect, without sin, Satan, deceived people, death, and decay. Also subdued full of people despite those who were deceived no longer among them.
Um... no... LOL! I mean, yes, no sacrifice is needed now, since Jesus's sacrifice on the cross; that much is true for sure. The rest... I would just point out that God, in the first part of Revelation 21, says, "Behold, I am making all things new!" He does not say, "Behold, I am making all new things." :)Many Amil agree that burnt sacrifices ended at the Cross, yet expect Jesus to hand back creation as a burnt offering, with literally nothing on the earth, but death and destruction.
Well, it's the time allotted for all of God's elect to be brought into Israel. It's the Gospel age. And we are somewhere in the midst of it, perhaps very near ~ even in our terms, because the time is always near to God ~ to the end, to Jesus's return.The Millennium is not for the spread of the Gospel.
See I agree with this... but in a little different context than how you mean it, I think...It is to fill the earth under the rule of Jesus...
Well, to restore it to how it was before Adam did what he did....to do what Adam did not do...
Well, since Jesus's birth, really. He was born King. Right? :)Since the Cross, the door is not just through one nation where ethnicity was key, but the door to salvation is through every nation, the mountain that filled the whole earth.
Grace and peace to you, Timtofly.