Thanks David.
I do not agree with Amillennialism, as you know
- but what I always find annoying (truly annoying) about commentaries is that the doctrinal biases of the commentators are almost
always exposed when they say things like this below,
even while they conveniently ignore the scriptures that negate what they have just said - showing what they have just asserted, to be a false claim:
Both statements are false. Revelation 20:11-15 can just as well be included at the start of Revelation 21 - which would make Revelation 20:1-10
parenthetic - the chapter divisions in the Revelation were only added in AD 1227 - and the verse numbers in AD 1555.
What the commentator said in point #2 above is
also false:
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Revelation 11:17-18 (seventh trumpet)
"We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged"
Daniel, Jesus and Paul
ALL spoke of the Day of Christ
in such a way as to imply that ALL the dead will be raised and judged on the same day - at the time of the return of Christ:
JESUS:
Matthew 25:31-33, 41 & 46
31 "When the Son of man
shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit
upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and
he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
41 "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
46 "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal [aionios zoe]."
20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf - signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
21
The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh. -- Revelation 19
Matthew 25:31
31 "When the Son of man
shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Revelation 20
11 Then
I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw
the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened - the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.
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 one was judged according to his deeds.
14 Then
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death - the lake of fire.
15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.
"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor 15:54
John 5:26-29
"For as the Father hath life [zoe] in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life [zoe] in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming
- in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
(Jesus did not say "SOME" who are in the graves - He said ALL).
THE APOSTLE PAUL:
Acts 24:15
"And I have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust."
Daniel 12:2
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
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The bulk of the evidence - both in the gospels and in the Revelation -
and in passages such as Isaiah 65:17 and 2 Peter 3:13 - negates everything the commentators concluded while they conveniently ignored the biblical evidence that show their assertions up to be false:
Both the above assertions are manifestly false and what remains is the fact that regarding the words
"and the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished", manuscript discrepancy exists as to whether or not it was originally penned by the person who penned the Revelation
- in
some of the manuscripts that have been found, the words were only included by scribes
as a note made by themselves, in earlier manuscripts
, the words are simply not there. In later manuscripts, the words appear
in the text.
Therefore IMO the words are not enough evidence
by themselves to have
two days of judgment when
the dead are raised and judged - separated by a thousand years, following the return of Christ.
- and I say that
even though I believe the thousand years commences immediately after the return of Christ and the judgment of the dead:
Revelation 11:17-18 (seventh trumpet)
"We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged"
