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The Millennium — Now an Obsolete/Unimportant Doctrine? By Edgar Meneses Manila, Philippines Email: egayrapture@yahoo.com
The church I belonged to has made these statements: “Although [this church] has traditionally been premillennial, the church does not require its members to believe that Christ will set up a temporary kingdom after he returns . . . Millennialism is not a doctrinal point on which we must seek conformity . . . Raising premillennial dispensationalism to the level of primary doctrine causes division in the Body of Christ . . . Neither Jesus nor the apostles preached a millennial gospel . . . No other scriptures [other than the Revelation] speak of a temporary kingdom to be set up when Christ returns . . . The Millennium was not a part of Jesus’ gospel” (insets mine).
Those are pretty bold declarations. But are they really Bible-based statements of facts? Is it true that neither Jesus nor the apostles preached a millennial gospel? Is it true that only the book of the Revelation speaks of a kingdom to be set up when Christ returns? Is it true that the Millennium was not part of Jesus’ gospel?
In this day of the social/prosperity gospel, ecumenism, and Dominionism, it is not a wonder that the doctrine of the premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and His 1,000–year reign on Earth is set aside and almost ridiculed by a growing number of Christians. Such charisma coming from such evangelical leaders as Joel Osteen, C. Peter Wagner, Rick Warren, and Eddie Villanueva is more than enough to lure unsuspecting Christians to place their hope on a reformed world that those leaders are trying to project and which they believe is feasible in the not-too-distant future. Belief in the Millennium under the reign of the Messiah is therefore being abandoned or relegated to the optional or “peripheral items” of Bible truth. As the above source further says, “Since the New Testament books do not emphasize the nature of the millennium [or so they think], we conclude that it is not a central plank in the church’s commission. People can be saved without any particular belief about the millennium” (inset mine).
The task before me is to show, from the Word of God, that the Millennium is indeed a “central plank” in God’s revelation of His plan to mankind; that the Millennium is not to be trifled with; and that the knowledge of the Millennium doctrine is critical and vital to a Christian’s growth to maturity.
The Problem of Postmillennialism and Amillennialism
I will forgo documentation of early Christians’ belief in premillennialism or chiliasm. Suffice it to say that abandonment of it began in the fourth century with Augustine of Hippo as the foremost advocate of amillennialism, although it could be argued that Origen’s allegorical method of interpretation in the previous century was the origin of this departure from this Bible truth.
I would not say that lack of faith is the root cause of amillennialism and postmillennialism today. In fact, people who hold on to these erroneous teachings are full of faith. The problem is that the objects of their faith are wrong, as far as eschatology is concerned.
To put it another way, their faith is selective. They believe what they want to believe according to their preferred theology. They do not take the Bible at its face value. I say this because if they did, they would have to accept the premillennial view.
Biblical faith is simply believing what God has to say about a matter. On the matter of the Millennium, God says that it will come after — not before — the Lord’s Second Coming. Either we believe that or we don’t. Now, many will protest this literal approach to Bible interpretation, which leads to premillennialism. But like it or not, literal interpretation has been proven to be the best and primary way in understanding biblical truth. The rest of this article follows this rule.
The Millennium in Plain Bible Language
It is said that the Millennium is mentioned in the Bible only in Revelation 20:
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. (vv. 1-7)
The above scripture mentions the “thousand years” six times in seven verses. I believe the Holy Spirit would not have caused it to be written that way if the “thousand years” meant “an indefinitely long period” as amillennialists and postmillennialists say it does. Obviously, God means exactly what He says here. I think that if one would not take this passage for what it plainly says it is almost certain that he will also wrongly allegorize the many Messianic-Millennial scriptures that are scattered throughout the whole Bible.
If one does not accept the fact of the Millennium from Revelation 20, other passages of Scripture may also not convince him, because he has made the decision to not believe in it; otherwise, he will need a personal repentance or conversion over this matter. Such a person needs to realize that the Millennium is also referred to in the New Testament as
1) “the kingdom of heaven [or, the heavens]” (Matthew 5:10)
2) “the regeneration” (Matthew 19:28)
3) “the kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14)
4) “the last day” (John 6:40)
5) “the times of refreshing” (Acts 3:19)
6) “the times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21)
7) “the world [age] to come” (Hebrews 2:5)
The Certainty and Purposes of the Millennium
The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will by no means pass away.” How certain can we get? One of the things that He predicted was the establishment of His kingdom on earth (Matthew 4:17; 16:27, 28; 19:27, 28; 20:20–23; Luke 22:28–30; Acts 1:3, etc). Therefore, the millennial kingdom is sure to come. But what are some of the reasons/purposes for its coming?
1) To restore the ruined creation
We know from the book of Genesis that the Devil was quick to ruin man at the foundation of the world. Not only was man ruined, but the earth also was cursed because of the introduction of sin. The Millennium will be the time to restore that which was ruined (Matthew 19:28; Romans 8:19–23; Acts 3:19–21).
2) The septenary structure of Scripture
Genesis 1:1–2:3 has set the pattern for the 7,000–year history of man. The six days of creation/restoration of ruined earth correspond to the 6,000–year Age of Man to be followed by the 1,000–year Sabbath, the Age of the Messiah, which is the Millennium. Just as God rested on the Sabbath day after six days of labor, He will rest on the 7th one thousand year period after working on man’s restoration for six thousand years (2 Peter 3:8; Hebrews 4:9–11; Matthew 16:28–7:1).
An ancient document explains it this way:
“And 6,000 years must needs be accomplished, in order that the Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day ‘on which God rested from all His works.’ For the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future kingdom of the saints, when they ‘shall reign with Christ,’ when He comes from heaven, as John says in his Apocalypse: for ‘a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.’ Since, then, in six days God made all things, it follows that 6,000 years must be fulfilled” (Hippolytus, On the HexaMeron, Or Six Days’ Work, from Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture).
3) To fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant
“I will make you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2) is still waiting to be fulfilled. This particular promise from God to Abraham will come to pass in the Millennium when Israel will be the leading nation in the world (Isaiah 2:2–4).
4) To fulfill the Davidic Covenant
Second Samuel 7:16 was confirmed by God through the angel Gabriel saying to Mary:
. . . Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:3 –33)
5) To complete the New Covenant
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah —
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jeremiah 31:31–34)
In case the reader has the notion that God is finished with Israel (replacement theology) he is advised to continue reading verses 35 to 37, which dispels such an idea. Israel has yet a great future ahead — in the Millennium. Thus says the LORD.
6) The answer to the model prayer
Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:1–4 contain the Lord’s model prayer that He gave the disciples when they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” “Your kingdom come” will at last be answered when the Lord Jesus returns to establish His millennial rule on earth.
7) The gospel of the Glory of Christ
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4)
When will the Glory of Christ be revealed to all nations? At His return, of course, and during the Millennium. Who says Christ and the apostles did not preach a millennial gospel? If we take away the millennial reign of the Messiah from the Bible we throw away the whole purpose of God for His Son. I dare not think of it (see Revelation 22:18, 19).
For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
What kind of reward do you suppose are in store for those who religiously deny (disbelieve in) the Millennium?
The Millennium and the Kingdom of the Heavens
I am really amazed at how some ministers can have the audacity to declare that the Millennium is not a part of the Lord Jesus’ gospel. The fact is, proclaiming the millennial kingdom was the thrust of His message to the Jews. And He commissioned the apostles to give the same message to the Israelites first and then to the Gentiles as well. “The kingdom of heaven,” or more accurately, “the kingdom of the heavens,” is a prominent phrase in the book of Matthew. Let me quote C. I. Scofield as to the meaning of the phrase:
“The phrase, kingdom of heaven (literally: ‘of the heavens’), is peculiar to Matthew and signifies the Messianic earth rule of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. It is called the kingdom of the heavens because it is the rule of the heavens over the earth (Matthew 6:10). The phrase is derived from Daniel, where it is defined (Daniel 2:34-36, 44; 7:23-27) as the kingdom which ‘the God of heaven’ will set up after the destruction by ‘the stone cut out without hands’ of the Gentile world-system. It is the kingdom covenanted to David’s seed (2 Samuel 7:7-10, refs); described in the prophets (Zechariah 12:8, note); and confirmed to Jesus the Christ, the Son of Mary, through the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:32-33).”
It is by “spiritualizing’ the Lord’s statements about the kingdom that the meaning is changed. I wonder why it should be difficult for many to take literally the plain words of the Lord’s and His disciples’ such as the following:
1) In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [has drawn near]!” (Matthew 3:1, 2). “The kingdom of heaven” that the Baptist was talking about is not a kingdom in heaven. Rather, it is the same Messianic kingdom to be established on earth as prophesied by the prophets of Israel. John was Christ’s forerunner announcing or preaching the millennial kingdom.
2) From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Having proclaimed the millennial kingdom, the Lord Jesus proceeded to elucidate the laws of the kingdom. Hence, the Sermon on the Mount. It is to be noted that the offer of the heavenly rulership of the kingdom was conditioned on repentance and recognition of the Messiah. But the Jews rejected and crucified Him. Thus the kingdom was postponed and the heavenly rule offered to another “nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matthew 21:43, more on this later). There remains a program for Israel. Israel is not finished; or, God is not finished with Israel. At the Second Coming of the Messiah, the people will finally believe (Zechariah 12-14), and the millennial kingdom will be set up (Matthew 23:39).
3) Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:27, 28). The regeneration of the world will begin with the onset of the Millennium.
4) But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:28-30). The twelve tribes of Israel are on earth, not in heaven.
5) Matthew 20:20-28 relates the story of the mother of John and James asking the Lord for top positions for her sons in the coming kingdom. The Lord did not question the validity of the request. There was indeed a kingdom coming; only, He said that “to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father” (v. 23).
6) These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:5-7). The kingdom rulership (of the “heavens”) was offered to Israel until the time of Acts 28. Thereafter, it was given to the Church.
7) Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”(Acts 1:6). From the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry, no clarification was needed as to meaning of the “kingdom.” It was the Jews’ hope of a coming Messianic (millennial) kingdom foretold by their prophets. Again, the Lord did not censure the disciples’ question; it was a valid question. His answer: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (vv. 7, 8). Because of the Jews’ rejection of the offer of the kingdom rulership, judgment must first come, the kingdom being postponed (all the while the “New Man” being prepared) until the Second Coming when Israel at last will accept Him (Matthew 23:39; Romans 11:26).
The Millennium and the Word of the Kingdom
Recently I have begun to attend a small church in Manila composed of former Seventh-Day Adventists. Often a subject of conversation during and after lunch (conducive to digestion?) is the deteriorating morality in the Philippine government — big-time corruption, bribery, unabashed greed of government officials, orchestrated cheating, etc. And they would ask, “Where is it all leading to?”
Well, it might sound defeatist if I should say that the situation will only get worse, and we should just throw up our hands in resignation and hopelessness. That is, if we did not know better. We know that a change is coming, and we Christians had better prepare ourselves if we want to have a part in that soon-coming change in the Millennium. The “word of the kingdom” (Matthew 13:19) is the message for us.
Israel was God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22); therefore the nation should have received double portion of the Father’s inheritance. That is why the “kingdom of the heavens” was proffered to Israel when the Messiah first appeared. But the Jews (“Jews” and “Israelites” are synonymous, by the way) despised the offer, the people having been deceived by their spiritual leaders, the Pharisees.
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’S doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (Matthew 21:42, 43)
The “word of the kingdom” was still being preached to the Jews during the first few decades of the Church’s existence until shortly before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans (Acts 28:25-30). Israel then being set aside for a whole dispensation, the “word of the kingdom” has subsequently had relevance primarily to the Gentile members of the Body of Christ for the past almost 2,000 years. But, tragically, as things are, and as depicted in the parables in Matthew 13, the “word of the kingdom” is virtually forgotten in Christendom today. As the Lord Jesus said in Luke 18:8, He will come to a Christendom which has not “the faith.” And it is no wonder that Satan will do all in his power to block this message to Christians, because it has to do with a governmental change in the world. “The word” (Matthew 13:19-23) has to do with replacing Satan and his angels by the Lord Jesus Christ and His co-heirs in ruling over the nations (Ephesians 3:10; Hebrews 2:5).
But what should we do in order for us to be worthy of a position in the coming kingdom? The answer is also in the parable of the sower: “But he who received seed [lit. he that was sown] on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
Here we can see that the “word of the kingdom” has to do with . . .
The Millennium and the Salvation of The Soul
God is a Trinity. And man is also a “trinity” – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The unregenerate person cannot begin to appreciate the “word of the kingdom.” He is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). He must first be “born again” (John 3:3). It is his spirit that must be born again (v. 6). When that is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, he is “passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). He can now understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:11).
Salvation of the spirit is by grace through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8, 9). Our works have absolutely nothing to do with it; it is a gift from God. “Once saved always saved” is true. God cannot “unsave” us because He has given to us eternal life (1 John 5:11-13). There is such a thing called “assurance of salvation” (John 6:37; 10:27-29; Romans 8:1, 35-39, etc.).
But the salvation of the soul is another matter. Haven’t you wondered why there are warnings in the Word of God addressed to Christians concerning “death” (Romans 8:13; 1 John 5:16, 17; James 5:20), “loss” (1 Corinthians 3:15). “fall away” (Hebrews 6:6), “fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31), “the terror of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:11), “draw back unto perdition” (Hebrews 10:39), and many other such like warnings and admonitions to the Church (the saved)? It is because of the possibility of us not realizing the salvation of our souls!
Soul salvation has to do with our overcoming self, the world, and the Devil in relation to the promised inheritance in the kingdom (Romans 8). In Revelation 2 and 3, it is to him that “overcomes” that God will grant to have the reward of reigning with Christ in the Millennium. We work (overcome) for rewards and for the salvation of our souls:
Receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:9)
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39)
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Matthew 16:24-27)
Let’s dwell a bit on the last passage. The “soul” of a man is his “life”— the seat of his emotions, affections, desires, the flesh. His character is developed by control of his soul or lack of it. The tendency of the soul is to sin because of the “sin nature” in man. The born-again spirit must exercise the will to control the soul if the person is to avoid sinning. “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
The Lord Jesus is saying that if one is living it up in this world in a carnal way, or living after the flesh (Romans 8:13), enjoying his life of sin, then he will lose it in the age to come, resulting in the death of his soul — loss of soul-life — because “to be carnally minded is death” (Romans 8:6). Whereas if he “by the Spirit . . . put(s) to death the deeds of the body. . . [he] will live” (v. 13), thereby saving his soul for the future age, the Millennium. This will be determined at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10), which will take place immediately after the Rapture of the Church.
For . . . judgment must begin at the house of God [the saved] (1 Peter 4:17).
Having been saved from eternal death, the Christian should not rest on his laurel. Spirit-salvation is only the beginning of a journey to maturity. Salvation, all based on the blood sacrificed by Christ on Calvary, is in three tenses: “Past salvation,” which is secured by faith alone in Christ alone (i.e., spirit-salvation); “present (progressive) salvation,” which is secured by works from a position of faithfulness (i.e., soul-salvation); and “future salvation,” which will come when God gives us a redeemed body (i.e., body-salvation, Romans 8:23). Our part in “present salvation” is the subject of Paul’s injunction when he said, “. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
It is to be noted as well that the salvation of the soul is the emphasis in the New Testament, not the salvation of the spirit (the latter is the restoration of man to have a fellowship with God, to be spiritually alive first, the passing from death unto life. The former is the realization of the purpose of God in creating man). This is demonstrated in the book of Jude, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. 3).
Jude had thought first of writing about the common salvation, i.e., the salvation which is by grace through faith in Christ. But the Holy Spirit guided him to write about something else. He was led to write about the apostasy that would come in the last days. The apostasy has to do with perverting “the faith.” In the first century, Christians were universally taught about the “kingdom of the heavens” (Colossians 1:5, 6). This particular message — the word of the kingdom, the gospel of the Glory of Christ, the coming Reign of the Messiah on earth — would be corrupted or altogether forgotten, Jude warned. The doctrine of the Millennium and how the saints are to become co-heirs with Christ in ruling over the nations have been the subject of Satanic attack ever since. Co-heirship with Christ has to do with . . .
The Millennium and the Bride of Christ
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:7, 8)
The setting is just before the Second Coming (Advent). The Lord Jesus Christ has determined the composition of His Bride at the Judgment Seat. The Bride will be His consort queen in ruling over the earth from the heavenly realm. The twenty-four elders (angelic rulers) had previously relinquished their crowns (Revelation 4:10, 11), and the crowns of Satan and his angels are about to be forcibly taken from them.
I used to believe that the whole Church will compose the Bride of the Lamb. But further study has made me see that that is not biblically correct. Even from a practical point of view it should be obvious that not all saved people will be the Bride. Would it be just to have both the carnal and spiritual Christians in rulership positions in the Millennium? The Bible, stressing the principle of rewards, is not vague about this matter.
We have mentioned some scriptures that talk about the possibility of the saved “dying” and “losing.” The loss of soul means not qualifying to be included in the Bride. The parable of the sower is about fruit-bearing of the saved. Only one group among the four groups of Christians is seen as bearing fruits, some an hundred, some sixty, some thirty. Only they qualify for positions in the kingdom; the others do not. And there are other parables that teach the same lesson: the parable of the evil servant (Matthew 24:45-51); the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13); the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30); and the parable of the ten pounds (Luke 19:12-27).
Second Peter chapter one also presents fruit-bearing in connection with entering “abundantly” into the kingdom (v. 11) and with making the Christians’ calling and “election [out-calling]” sure. It is evident here that only the out-called among the called who will compose the Bride.
For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 20:16)
Why did the apostle Paul “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14)? The reason is found in verse 11: “if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” “Resurrection” here does not mean the first resurrection that all the dead saints are going to experience. The word translated “resurrection” in this verse is exanastasis in the Greek text, a word distinguished from the Greek word anastasis (the common word translated “resurrection”). Exanastasis actually should be translated “out-resurrection.” Exanastasis means “to stand up out of.” Therefore, Paul was talking about a selection from among the saved. Some Christians are to be elevated from the rest. The Bride of Christ is in view here. And this separation of the Bride from the Body of Christ has to do with the Millennial Age to come.
Taking only one from a number of types of the Bride of Christ in the Old Testament, let’s look at Adam and Eve. We know that Adam was a type of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45–47). And it is therefore logically conclusive that Eve was a type of the Bride of Christ. As Eve was taken from Adam’s body and was subsequently presented to him by God as his wife (bride), so is the Bride of Christ to be taken out of His Body, the Church. Not all of the Church will be the Bride. Just as Eve was taken out of Adam’s body, so will the Bride be taken out of the Body of Christ. During this present dispensation it is the work of the Holy Spirit to call out individuals from within the Church who will compose the Bride of the Son of God.
Being part of the Bride of Christ is the “so great salvation” referred to in Hebrews 2:3 and the “better things . . . that accompany salvation” in chapter 6 verse 9. How do we attain it? The answer is in Romans 8:16-18:
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us [in the Millennium].
Reigning with Christ in the Millennium is conditioned upon our patiently enduring now (Revelation 2 and 3). “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him . . .” (2 Timothy 2:12). Enduring with Christ means “patient continuance in doing good” (Romans 2:7); or, in other words, perseverance in doing good — spiritual perseverance.
The scriptures that discuss the Christian’s inheritance are messianic in contexts, meaning, they refer to the Millennium. To be glorified with Christ, as the Bride, is to be awarded a share in His glory in the coming age. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Christ is our Example:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2)
We should view present hardship, persecution, humiliation, and shame that accompany obedience to and worship of God after the same fashion the Lord Jesus viewed these things at Calvary: sufferings now; glory later. “But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 4:13).
I could go on talking about the Millennium. It is a huge biblical topic (e.g., the lengthy warnings in the book of Hebrews against ignoring the Millennium). In fact, the eschatological emphasis of the Bible is the Tribulation Period & Millennial Age, not the eternal ages. The Word of God reveals very little on the past ages and the ages past the Millennium.
Now, who says the Millennium is a peripheral doctrine? |