You've already been told. Israel is repenting in those passages, at a time when they've been long forsaken by God. So when Israel mourns at the coming of the Messiah, they *repent,* as these passages indicate.
These prophecies are not going to correlate with mention of the Millennium in Rev 20, because they were written long, long before John wrote down his Revelation. What we need is for the Millennium of Rev 20 to correlate with previous prophecies and promises.
I've already pointed out to you what these things were that the Millennium is associating with. They are the promises God made to Abraham concerning Israel and the nations that share the faith of Abraham. For that to happen Israel must repent at the coming of Christ, just as Jesus said their national punishment will only end at that time.
Luke 21.22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
So we know that Israel still has to repent, after a long period of falling away. And we know it will happen when Jesus comes again. They are said to see Jesus at his return, and will mourn, indicating that they are about to repent.
In the OT it was not necessary to give the length of time for this restoration of Israel and of the nations who have the faith of Abraham. We now know it will be a thousand years.
Acts 1.6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
This then is when Israel will be restored as a nation, at the Coming of Christ. But Antichrist, along with Satan, will have to be defeated for that to happen. So Christ is coming back to accomplish exactly that, in order for the promises God made to Abraham will be fulfilled.
This is classic Dispensationalism. What is more: none of these teach or describe a future millennium in any way. You know it.
Where does Luke 21.22 teach that "Israel still has to repent, after a long period of falling away, and that it will happen when Jesus comes again" ... "they ... will mourn, indicating that they are about to repent"?
Mourning
Christ speaks of the last day in Matthew 24:29-31, saying,
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then (or tote or at that time) shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn (or
kopsontai),
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Here, in our reading, Christ identifies His one final future post-tribulation Coming as the time when He rescues His elect and immediately pours out His vengeance upon the elements and the wicked. Christ’s appearing and the resulting catching away of the saints is the final procedure in the process of redemption, and closes forever man’s opportunity of salvation. This account shows the awful terror of the wicked when they realize their hopeless state – doomed and damned for all eternity.
The word interpreted “mourn” in the AV in this account is the Greek word
kopsontai which refers to the most extreme form of agony and sorrow. It means
to wail, to cut down, to mourn and lament. It means
‘to beat the breast in grief’. This anguish significantly occurs at the end of the tribulation – a time that sees the end of this current universe. We are looking at a people that lament and bewail in the most excessive way because they have missed the rapture. Like those in Noah's day, the ark door has closed and the wrath of God faces all left behind. The awareness of this causes the wicked to lament and bewail.
As we see throughout in Scripture, tHis coming has a massive effect on the elements, immediately proceeding, during and following this Advent. It is also important to note at this juncture that the sun is completely darkened at the time just prior to the second coming and that Christ associates the destruction of the elements with the actual time of His coming. The Greek word
kopsontai, which describes the absolute horror that the wicked experience on this awful day is also found in Revelation 1:7. Speaking of this climactic last day, John says,
“Behold, he (Christ)
cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him (the Jews)
: and all kindreds of the earth (the Gentile nations)
shall wail (or
kopsontai)
because of him”
Some Premils try to place a meaning on the word
kopsontai in these passages which don’t remotely exist. This is for the sole purpose of facilitate the populating of their supposed future millennium. In their reasoning, they render the Greek word translated “wail” or “mourn” in the King James Version as somehow repentance, and then ascribe salvation to these Christ-rejecters that have evidently missed the catching away. The word
kopsontai is only found eight times in the New Testament, two of which actually refer to the cutting down of branches (Matthew 21:8, Mark 11:12). This gives us some insight into the intense type of the mourning in view. It is a mourning that cuts the individual down. There are two other Greek words used in the Bible for mourning –
pentheo and
threneo. They carry the usual sense of mourning or grieving. Not only does the word
kopsontai not mean repentance but it is never translated as such in Scripture. Moreover, there is nothing in the reading that would suggest that this bewailing company that is left behind convert. It must be imported into the text. It describes the terror many will experience when they realise they have missed the catching away.
Anyway, the two words used for repentance in the Greek New Testament are
metanoeo (equally
metanoia) and
metamellomai.
The mourning is not repentance. They are mourning because of what they did and consequently what they missed. They have finally been caught on. They missed the boat. Their stubbornness, rebellion and pride has caused them to miss the boat. They are damned and doomed for all eternity.
Rev 6:12-17: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
This is the time of God's final wrath upon the earth. The wicked are so afraid of their impending doom that they want the mountains and rocks to fall on them. Think about this: being crushed by mountains and rocks appeals more to them than facing God's wrath. No wicked will survive this.
Once again, this text finishes with a rhetorical question. The obvious answer (to those who do not have their own theological agenda) is that no one will survive this climatic event.
Revelation 6:12-17 depicts the conflagration that accompanies the return of Christ. It sees the regeneration of this earth and the destruction of all the wicked. This agrees with multiple Scripture.
· The sun became black
· The moon became as blood
· The stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
· The heaven departs like a scroll
· Every mountain and island are moved out of their places
This is talking about the topography of the physical earth and starry host being totally transformed. This occurs at the climactic return of Christ.
Scripture shows Jesus one and only coming to be totally climactic. When Jesus comes that is it - caught up or caught on, saved or lost, eternal bliss or eternal torment. It is the end. No one survives (see above).
