A FEW QUESTIONS FOR millianialists

[Guestman]

At Revelation 1:1, it says: "A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.And he sent his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John." Thus, Revelation is ' presented in signs ("signs", Greek esemanen, meaning "to give a sign, to signify, indicate", Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, pg 573) and has elements that symbolize something, as well as literal things.


Jesus used the Greek word syniemi that means "to mentally put the pieces together" some 6 times at Matthew 13.(Matt 13:13, 14, 15, 19, 23, 51) So, the Bible book of Revelation, as with the rest of the Bible, must be properly 'pieced together ' in order to know what is accurate and what is false, what is literal and what is figurative.

Righteous ones or "babes" (Matt 11:25), those who display a humble, teachable disposition, are the ones who are able to discern ("mentally put the pieces together") regarding the Bible. All others, including those "wise and intellectual", are blocked from being able to do so, it being "hidden" from them.(Matt 11:25)


In regard to "the thousand years", these are literal. How can this be discerned ? Simply, because John used the definite Greek article te, meaning "the" in English. So John wrote that those who are selected as "kings and priests" (Rev 1:6) "will rule with him (the Christ) for the thousand years"(Rev 20:6), as at John 1:1, whereby it says that "in the beginning was the Word," distinguishing Jesus as "the Word" or God's literal chief spokesman.


Why only in Revelation is "the thousand years" revealed ? Because, this brings to completion "the sacred secret of God", being "brought to a finish."(Rev 10:7) It is then fitting that the Bible book of Revelation should be the one that unveils what is to occur from the beginning of "the Lord's day" (Rev 1:10, also a specific period of time, that began in 1914 with Jesus being crowned king of God's kingdom, with the Greek word te) down to the end of "the thousand years" of Jesus reign, culminating in human perfection for earth's inhabitants, these now equal to Adam before his rebellion in the Garden of Eden) This also brings to an end "the seventh (creative) day"(Gen 2:2, 3), that is a definite period of time.


On the other hand, no dragon is real, but is used as a symbol of Satan's vile and wicked characteristics. The Greek word dra´kon, depicts a terrifying monster, a serpentlike devourer. It occurs 13 times in the Bible but only in the highly symbolic book of Revelation, and it represents Satan the Devil, “a great fiery-colored dragon, with seven heads and ten horns" (Rev 12:3) having a tail that draws “a third of the stars of heaven” after him (Rev 12:4), these first being induced to materialize as humans before the Flood and then becoming demons. (Jude 6)


Satan, being a spirit, cannot be contained or imprisoned with literal chains, but Jehovah God uses this as a symbol of his being unable to escape from his "prison" or bondage so as to cause great "woes" (Rev 12:12) during the millennial reign of Jesus, a thousand years of peace for the purpose of transforming the earth into a paradise and resurrecting all those in the grave.(Rev 20:13)


The "evil-doer" that asked Jesus to remember him when he ' got into his kingdom ' (Luke 23:42), will then be resurrected from the grave (or Hades) to have an opportunity to please God and live forever on the paradise earth that Jesus promised.(Luke 23:43)

 

[Wormwood]

Guestman,

I don't have much time, but I disagree with your Greek grammar. A definite article in Greek certainly does not indicate something is literal. This is absolutely not true. The Greek uses the definite article for a host of reasons. Sometimes it is as simple as helping the reader identify elements of the sentence. Word order is unimportant in Koine Greek and so, unlike English, the subject of the sentence can come at the end of the sentence rather than the beginning. Sometimes the definite article simply helps with identifying whether something in a subject, predicate nominative or object. Or, like in English, it can be used to refer to something specific rather than something general. A car is general while the car is specific. Moreover, there are tons of places where a definite article is used when referring to something that is NOT literal. In Revelation 12, a woman is pictured who is clothed with "the sun" and "the moon" is under her feet. Both have definite articles but obviously this is not literal as no woman can wear the sun and I doubt John is speaking of a woman actually walking on the moon. Greek grammar does not tell us what is figurative or literal. If it did, there would be a whole lot less debates among scholars on Bible interpretation.

Finally, the "thousand years" does not always have a definite article. There is no definite article in verse 2 or verse 4 when the thousand years is referenced. The evidence is split between early manuscripts about whether or not the definite article should be included in verse six. The reason the definite article is there in 5 and 7 is because it is referring to the specific thousand year period already referenced in verse 2 and 4. This has nothing to do with John saying the thousand years is a literal time period.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

I know I am coming late to this thread and the original topic seems to have changed but I just wanted to say that I am glad someone else has wondered why in a book written by an author known to use numbers symbolically, is 1000 taken so literally.

I can't back up my belief at present with specific tests, but it seems like Satan is shut away after the first resurrection (of believers) so that he cannot accuse while the just are judged not for sin but for rewards. In this case 1000 years would mean the full amount of time necessary to finish the work. Then the rest are resurrected for the Great White Throne judgement and Satan is released because he is also to be judged.

Fair enough if you do not wish to take 1000 years literally

But in order to have any merit you must then be able to tell us exactly what the 1000 years is

Can you ??

 

[daq]

Fair enough if you do not wish to take 1000 years literally

But in order to have any merit you must then be able to tell us exactly what the 1000 years is

Can you ??

What has been shall be and that story is already a twice told episode right here in this very forum.
Likewise the reaction this last time around was again nothing new under the sun. :lol: