Naomi25
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- Aug 10, 2016
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Oh yeah, totally get that! I try to answer these in the morning, but sometimes it just doesn't happen, then it all builds up! Life can be hectic, can't it?!
I think his point was; biblical structure and genre matter, and it helps us determine what the author was was thinking and hoping to portray with his words. It it definitely changes the way we read when we know the sort of genre it is. Poetry and history are very different, as are history and apocolyptic.
The reason why the use of poetry is important, is that in poetry it is not uncommon to use words to paint things. "it was like..." Not in those exact words, but that is often the intent. We use poetic phrases to to explain and describe things. And Isaiah is attempting to paint "the new heavens and the new earth"...a place where 'you would be accussed is you died at 100' or 'a child will never die an infant'. Death is an intergral part of this life, a gut wrenching part of this life. It's one thing to say, "death will be no more", but when we start painting pictures of the way death really impacts us: children dying, people withering with age (and sin) and their bodies failing until death, life literally draining from them, well then we start to really see and feel in an emotive way that we will be set free from these things in the new heaven and earth!!
I think I would beg to differ. I feel safe in saying that all scripture points to Jesus, either his coming, his work, his promise or his example. And isn't that the gospel? Isn't the gospel the news that despite mankinds fall, God entered into the world, first in direct covenant with Abraham and his people, then by sending his Son. But even the Covenants with Israel was pointing towards and for a purpose...to show a need for Jesus, and to facilitate his coming.
Forgive me, but if people can still rebel in the Millennium, how will there be no hatred there, or no strife or anxiety or stress?
I simply cannot see in scripture a time period where some will be in glorified bodies, some will not, but they will apparently live longer. Some will follow Jesus, but some will rebel against him and still die, even though there is the presence of those who are resurrected. It just jumbles everything, and makes no real sense of all the passages that talk of Christ's return, which tell us plainly that when he does return death will be no more and all people will recieve new bodies.
Actually, many theologians believe that this reference to 'long life' is actually talking about eternal life. They link it back to Ps 25:5-6 where it says, "and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
The 'forever' here is literally, “for length of days”; this may simply be another way of saying "all the days of my life", but is more likely to be meant as “for days without end” (forevermore).
I'm not sure we can difinitively take this to mean people will have their lives lengthened beyond 'normal'. It could just as easily be read 'that they may live in the land long'...as in, they will be in the land long. It could also mean that they will live out their days in the land, rather than being booted out before their retirement, so to speak.
If we look at the other times the Hebrew word אָרַךְ is used, it could easily mean either of those two options. So, I'm not sure we can hang our hat on the argument of longevity.
In the New Covenant, the promise of 'land' is not physical land on Earth, but of eternal life. It starts now when one becomes regenerated, but comes to full fruition in the age to come.
So...as Christians in the here and now, our children do not obey us and get amazing longevity. No, when they grow up in obedience, it is but one sign of them following Christ. And that is a sign of them receiving everlasting life, not the land of Israel and an extra 900 years. Christ, his cross and his new covenant changed things for us. Not in a bad way, but in a far more outreaching, amazing way. Land? 900 years? Try in Christ we are heirs of it all, and we live forever. That is what it is saying.
Again, this does not specifically say, "add several hundred years to a normal life span". It just says 'long life'. When we are blessing someone, say...at a wedding, what do we say? "May you live a long, happy life!" It's a way of saying, "your life (I hope) will be full, not cut off, not deprived, not cheated."
There is no way to insist that this text to saying anything else. Longevity is not there explicitly and the context doesn't give us leave to even really put it there implicitly.
I think, again, you are painting this picture of a story after only being given the title, which leaves you having to fill in all the details yourself.
The painting shows Christ in all his glory reigning over glorified bodies juxtaposed against fallen bodies. But that's okay, because they live much longer now. But how do they live longer when apparently sin, death, stress, rebellion still exist in this 'near perfect' world? For example, I believe the idea is that if any 'land' doesn't make the pilrimage to Israel, then they pay the price. What happens if you are a fallen body...following Jesus...who lives there. You know the person next door is rebellious, and that the curse of Christ is falling on your land because of the actions of a few. Stress much? There goes your bonus 800 years.
It doesn't fit. There is a disharmony in this picture that I cannot line up with how the bible paints the return of Christ. No death, all resurrected, new heavens and earth, all judged.
I hate to say it, but while I started to write out my reply, I realized I may have to just move on for now. Maybe we can start this up again in the future. For now I'm getting too backlogged on other stuff I need to take care of.
