I recently read what I assume is the last book in the Left
Behind series. Theologically I've been right with the authors through the
whole series … until now.
It always surprises me how many commentators still hold to
the traditional treatment of the last three chapters of The Revelation. By
doing so, they miss the fact that there's a 1000 year gap between Rev. 20:6
and Rev. 20:7. The reason for this gap is that beginning with Rev.
20:7 and continuing through the end of the chapter, John carried his
thoughts about the disposition of Satan and the final judgment of unbelievers
to their ultimate conclusions, both of which take place at the end of the
Millennium. Then he went back to the beginning to finish his description of
the Kingdom Age. Rev. 21 deals with the New Jerusalem, home of the
redeemed, and Rev. 22 begins with a brief look at things on Earth
following the restoration of Israel. There's nothing in the book about Eternity
because the Bible is written for the Age of Man, which began with Adam and ends
with the Millennium.
We know this is so partly because John's description in Rev.
22:1-5 is almost identical to Ezekiel's more detailed view of the same
scene, (Ezekiel 47:1-12) which then continues with the dimensions and
workings of the Millennial Temple and the division of the land at the outset of
the Kingdom Age. Simply stated then, Rev. 21 & 22 need to be
inserted into the gap between Rev. 20:6 and Rev. 20:7 in order
for the end of the book to make sense.
What's The Alternative?
If we don't view Rev. 20-22 in the way I've
described, we're required to push the arrival of the New Jerusalem back 1000
years to a time after the Millennium ends, and disconnect John's view of the
restored Israel from Ezekiel's nearly identical one. And that causes lots of
problems, one of which is having to place the Church in their perfected state,
among believing Jewish and Gentile Tribulation survivors who are not.
This means that for the first 1,000 years of our eternal
state of bliss, we'd be required to live shoulder-to-shoulder with a growing
population of unrepentant sinners, and watch helplessly as what began as a near
utopian society once again sinks steadily into the cesspool of its own sin,
just like every one that has preceded it. After waiting so long to enter the
Kingdom, we'd find that soon it would be little more than a repeat of our
earthly lives, only a lot longer. And that's the best reason that Rev.
20-22 can't unfold the way scholars have traditionally seen it.
On the other hand, viewed the way I've suggested, the Church
will return with the Lord to occupy the New Jerusalem at the beginning of the
Millennium after enjoying our 7-year heavenly honeymoon. On the way, we'll
watch excitedly as our Bridegroom defeats His enemies with nothing more than
the word of His mouth. We'll see Satan brought cringing before Him, chained
and led by a single angel, to receive and begin his 1,000-year prison sentence.
We'll see the anti-Christ and the False Prophet cast into the lake of fire.
We'll observe the Sheep and Goat judgment where Tribulation survivors are
separated, believer from unbeliever, to either be ushered into the Kingdom
where they'll rebuild Earth's society and re-populate the nations, or swept
away into the outer darkness, gone forever. (Rev. 19:11-20:6 and Matt.
25:31-45)
We'll see the Temple cleansed and the Shekinah Glory return
after 2600 years to once again take up residence among God's people. We'll
watch the triumphant procession of Tribulation Martyrs as they begin their
duties as His servants in the Temple. We'll stand in awe as the Earth is
restored to its pre-Adamic state with its year-round sub-tropical climate where
no storms ever blow and no harmful rays ever shorten life again. We'll see the
water of the River of Life bubbling from beneath the south side of the Temple in Shiloh to flow southward into the giant east-west valley created by the
earthquake that the Lord's return triggered. This earthquake will have split
the Mount of Olives in half and forever changed the topography of Jerusalem. As it fills the valley with torrents of bubbling living water it becomes a
mighty river that buries forever the remnants of the polluted Jerusalem Temple mount with its pagan houses of worship lying in ruins at its bottom. It will
flow both directions along the valley, half to the Mediterranean in the West
and half to the Dead Sea in the East, bringing it to life again. Fish from the
Mediterranean will swim and jump in the Dead Sea in such abundance that
fishermen will line both banks, their catch never exhausting the supply.
Along both banks of the river we'll see the fruit trees that
will grow in abundance there. Before our eyes they'll sprout from seed to
maturity with fresh fruit weighing down their branches. They'll grow a new and
different crop each month for the refreshment of God's people, and the touch of
their leaves will prompt immediate healing. (Ezek. 43:1-9 & 47:1-12, Zech.
14:4-8, Rev. 7:14-17 & 22:1-5)
Welcome To Your New Home
And then we'll take up residence in our New Jerusalem homes
where there'll be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. We'll walk
along streets of gold so pure as to be almost transparent in an atmosphere of
total peace and tranquility. Our eternal home will be a spacious paradise,
one-sixth the size of Earth, and will orbit in its proximity. There'll never be
anything to fear so its gates will always be open. We won't need a temple, because
the Lord Himself will dwell among us and be our Temple. We'll no longer need
the sun or moon because He'll be the source of our light, and from us this
light will shine forth to illuminate the Earth. Finally, the Church will truly
be the light of the world, just as He promised us. (Rev. 21)
From our mansions in the sky we'll venture forth with newly
acquired abilities that are beyond imagining. All we know now about the extent
of these abilities is that they surpass the limits of our current understanding
and that they'll approximate those of our Lord from whom they come. If so,
we'll not be confined by either time or space and will be able to plumb the
depths of a universe designed specifically for our exploration and endless
enjoyment. We'll have boundless energy, limitless power, and an unquenchable
thirst for knowledge. Having been released from the bonds of our sin nature,
we'll finally achieve our destiny as beings created in the very image of God
with all that entails. We'll be more creative than Da Vinci, more brilliant
than Einstein, with skills surpassing all of history's greatest athletes,
engineers, artists and musicians combined. We'll begin at our peak and never
lose our edge. There'll be no end to our potential and no one to hold us
back. We'll love with out reservation, worship without hesitation and live
without limits forever. (1 Cor. 2:9 & 1 John 3:2)
Meanwhile, Back On Earth
On Earth things will start out almost as good. The curse
will be gone so the earth will become a lush garden giving forth its bounty
joyfully. The mountains and hills will fairly sing with relief at being freed
from the curse. There'll be peace among the animals and between animals and
man. The notion of a food chain will be forgotten. No longer will one have to
die for another to live. The people of Earth will return to the agrarian
society that brought such peace and satisfaction in times past, only this time
there won't be any weeds and thistles to contend with. Everyone will have
fertile land to call their own without anyone conniving to take it from them,
and a home free from mortgage. Children will play in the streets without fear,
and will find no environment in which they aren't safe. There'll be no war, no
need for armies or even police departments. The relationship between effort
and reward will be clear and proportional, and no one will labor solely for the
benefit of others. It will be as near to a utopian society as is humanly
possible. Everyone will be healthy, happy, and hearty and will live a long,
productive and fulfilling life, free to follow his or her own unique dream
under the benevolent care of the Almighty. (Isaiah 2:2-5, 35, 55:12-13 &
65:17-25, Micah 4:1-4)
Natural man will still be contaminated by the sin nature and
although at the beginning everyone will be an enthusiastic believer, by the end
of the first century the children they bear will reach a time when they'll have
to decide whether or not to accept the Lord's death as payment for their sins
just as you and I have. They'll have this utopian society as an example of the
benefits of belief, the experiences of their Tribulation surviving parents to
learn from, and regular Temple observances to remind them of the deadly effects
of sin and the life giving remedy that the Lord's shed blood has made
possible.
At the beginning most will choose life, but even in these
enviable circumstances a few will reject the Lord and die the death of the
accursed. In each generation there'll be a few more who reject the Lord, and little
by little the number of unbelievers will grow. As this happens the society of
Earth will begin to show the effects of this increasing contingent of
rebellious ones among them. As it does, the Earth of the future will look more
and more like the one of the present.
As the 1,000th year comes to a close, Satan will
be freed and once again a great multitude of unbelievers will join him in his
final effort to defeat the Lord. But this time there'll be no more chances,
and the Lord will show no patience. Those who've sided with Satan will be
immediately swallowed up by the fire the Lord sends and Satan will be thrown
into the Lake of Fire to be tormented day and night forever. (Isaiah 65:20,
Ezek. 45:19-46:24 & Rev. 20:7-10)
The contrast couldn't be more vivid. On one hand, the
perfected Church shining forth in the New Jerusalem, and on the other the
unbelievers of Earth, reduced to a smoldering pile of ashes. What a difference
the Lord makes.
Why Even Have A Millennium?
If you hold to a dispensational view, you know that the
Millennium will be the seventh time that God has tried to bring sinful man into
a working relationship with Him, and each one has ended in failure, just like
He knew it would. So why will He allow it again? Why not just go straight
into Eternity after the 2nd Coming? No one knows for sure, but I
think it will be done to eliminate the three main excuses that man has thrown
at God in a pathetic effort to justify his failures.
The first one is as old as the human race. It's all Satan's
fault that we can't behave. This one started with Eve in the Garden.
Through out the Millennium God has Satan bound, removing his
bad influence from Earth.
Man's second excuse has been the unhealthy example of
unbelievers. This one originated among the Israelites after they gained the
Promised Land. Having failed to drive out all the pagans, they soon succumbed
to their influence and adopted their ways, just like the Lord warned them would
happen, and within one generation their miraculous escape from the bondage of Egypt had been all but forgotten. (Judges 2:1-3, 10-15)
When the Millennium begins, God has all living unbelievers
removed from the planet. No more bad influence from them either.
And the third one actually began with the Church.
"Lord, you went away and left us to fend for ourselves. How could you
expect us to live up to your standards on our own?"
In the Millennium The Lord will dwell among them, and rule
over them.
So then, here's Man's challenge for the Millennium. Can
natural man live a life pleasing to God with the devil bound, all the bad
influence of an unbelieving world wiped away, and the Lord Himself living in
their midst?
And the answer is? A resounding NO. As soon as Satan is
freed, there's a multitude waiting to follow him. And so in seven different
attempts, God has made it completely clear. There's no circumstance in which
natural man can live a life pleasing to Him. Only when you put a Redeemer into
the mix is it possible. And that Redeemer has to be God Himself. (Mark
10:26-27) Aren't you glad He agreed to do it?
I've tried not to embellish the Bible's references to the
Millennium in describing it to you. With a little study, you'll find that the
verses I've cited confirm everything I've written. Imagine if you can the
amazing account that two talented fiction writers could have built upon this
foundation. This is the story Tim and Jerry should have written. Had they
done so we all would have learned that where the Lord is concerned, fact is often
more exciting than fiction and their incredible series could have ended on the
high note it deserves. 07-14-07
