First :- A historical glance : -
The idea of the millennium appeared as a result of the intensive oppression and the cruel slavery that the Jewish people had suffered under the yoke of the Roman empire which has begun at 332 BC . They began to interpret the prophecies of the Old Testament with what was agreeable with their temporary materialistic demands , so , some books has appeared by some writers who were involved in knowledge , but they were not moved by the leading of the Holy Spirit , such as Ezra II , Enoch , The Visions of Baruch , Moses and others who wrote during the second century B.C . They put all their visions and dreams of their minds in these writings , it was their style to escape from t5he intensive oppression escaping from facing their real present state and from their responsibilities . They proclaimed the earthly kingdom of Israel , that will be full of all the earthly pleasures , where Israel will be the bride of the world who will eat and drink all the fruits of the nations , whi8le the rest of the nations lick the dust under their feet , the spread of these ideas among the Jews during the prior ages before the advent of the Christ directly . For example , the Book of Baruch II which was a Jewish Book which appeared in the first century B.C . , in this book we read these words “ Then The Messiah comes , and all the things in the world subject to him , he will set on his throne and the joy and the comfort will be declared , the wild beasts of the bush will serve the people , the baby will play on the swarm of the cobra , the weaning child will put his hands on the hole of the snake , so the snakes will come out from their holes and give him the loyalty with a complete subordination , the earth will bear its fruits multiple thousands of its normal quantity , each vine will carry a thousand branches , each branch will carry a thousand clusters , each cluster will contain of a thousand grape fruits , each grape produces a thousand Cr of alcohol, then the hungry people will rejoice and see every day wonders. “
All these earthly wishes were not consistent with the spirit of the Christianity , but the intensive oppression produced these dreams . Thus we find the disciples before accepting the Holy Spirit were not understand when they asked Jesus Christ “ Lord wilt thou at this time restore again The Kingdom to Israel ? “ Acts 1 : 6
Another person came to Christ and asked him “ I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest….” Luke 9 : 57, He thought that Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom , that Israel will be able to be the Lady of the Kingdoms , also The Mother of The Sons of Zebedee , came and asked Jesus to make her two sons one on His right hand and the other on His left hand in His kingdom , also when the people took him by force to make Him a king . John 6 : 15.
The amazing thing is that : - some Fathers of the Church accepted these teachings without examination ,on the top of them was ( Papias ) who was the Bishop of Heirapolis in Asia Minor 130 AD. According to Eusebius of Cesarea , who was the Father of the ecclesiastical history , that Papias “ seems that he has a limited understanding , his researches included evidences that it will be a thousand years after the resurrection of the dead , and that the Christ’s Kingdom might be established on the same earthly land Eusebius comment that Papias has a lack of understanding about the Apostolic writings , he did not realize that their words has an allegorical , spiritual aspects , his view were the bases of the Church’s Father’s beliefs about the millennium which was based upon the seniority of the time during the period of Papias’s time , like Irenyius and the others who accepted these views “ . Eusebius called these vies of the earthly millennium “ A Myth “ *(21).
The Father Mathew Elmiskeen *(2 2 ) said that Ireneous has has come and proclaim that same teachings referring to Papias and so , Hippolytus and Tertullian followed him so, all the followers after them based their thoughts on their prior Fathers , while the original source of their knowledge was the misleading Jewish Apocrypha writings .
Second : - What is the attitude of the new testament towards the Millennium.
The bishop Gregory said “ What is included in the book of “The Revelation” about the thousand years is not more than one verse in Rev 20 : 16 , it has not repeated again both by using the same words , or by repeating the same meanings along the different parts of the Holy Bible , The Old and The New Testaments , that shows that there was a special meaning for this Holy Text and should be understood as a particular concept , because the book of “ The Revelation “ is filled with symbols “ . then he added “ Yes, The Glorified Christ’s teachings has not mentioned the “ Millennium “,so , all the teachings in the Gospels and the Epistles also the Johannine Epistles itself which are included in them.*(23)
I emphasize that the only verse or the orphan verse which states The term “Thousand Years “, came in “The Revelation “ that was the symbolic , prophetic book that was written by John about 98 AD .
During the reign of Domitian The Roman Emperor , who was violently persecuting the church , he ordered to make John a captive exiled him to Patmous . Rev. 1 : 4 . it was a place for exiling the criminals at that time , he was over ninety years of age at that time , but although he was working hard as a labor to break the stones , and suffers the severe cold weather at night , the hot heat during the day he was lacking for the essential daily bread ,in this circumstances he wrote his book , while the cruel guards watching him , so he used codes or symbols , he wrote about the stamped book ,the locust which looks like the horses that has hair like the hair of the women , and the woman that clothed with the sun while the is under her feet , and the beast which has ten horns ….etc., even the verses which he has recorded about “ The Thousand Years “ , all of these are symbols , he said in Rev. 20 : 1 – 3 “1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. “
Those who believe in the literal millennium suggest that “ The Key “ , “ The Chain” and “The Bound” has a symbolic meanings, but when they reach to the expression “ Thousand Years”they changed their mind and interpret it more literal than it may means , What a contradiction is their interpretation ? Is it possible to build a large doctrine on any single vague verse that was written in an symbolic book ?
Dr. R.A. Torry said that it is absurd to interpret the biblical clear texts by using a mysterious symbolic verse , it will be better for us to let the obviously apparent interpretation to interpret what it may be full of doubt and mystery not vice versa .
But this does not mean that we can ignore or forget these verses , we must explain and clarify them.
Third : - What is the attitrude of the first church about the “Millinium” ?
When some of the Church’s Fathers spoke about “ The Literal Millennium “ without a thorough examination for the scriptures , some other greatest Fathers of The Church , in the second hand , has another ideas ,” Origen” confronted them with his strong proofs , also “Dionysus” 248 -265 AD , “ Eusebius “ , the bishop of Caesarea 270 A D , “Basil The Great “ 229 – 279 AD , “Gregory the Great “ 321 – 289 AD , St., Jerome 331 – 420 AD , and “ St., Augustine “ 354 – 430 AD , who came with his strong arguments to resist their thoughts considering it as a public heretical thoughts , the Father Matthew Elmiskeen said about St., Augustine that he pulled out the Christian Faith from the madness of the Jewish apocrypha counterfeit , also from the trial of falling with the Christian Spiritual Elevated faith into the ground , by7 mixing it with the earthly hopes which were deviant inherent of the Jewish worship . *(24)
What confirms that the idea of “ The Literal Millennium “ was just illusions and dreams which resulted by the ignorance and the superficial understanding of the Fathers of the third and the forth centuries , because the oldest religious documents contains the doctrine , the worship , and the organization of the early church , we called it “ The Teachings of The Twelve Apostles” which dated back to 150 – 180 AD . It does not contain any single word about the Literal Millennium Kingdom . According to the article XVI of this document we read “ and then the sign of the truth will proclaim , firstly , when the sign of the open sky appeared , the sound of the trumpet followed by the resurrection of the dead , then the Christ will come with all of his saints , and there all the nations of the world will see the glory of the Lord who is coming on the clouds “ . There are not any sign about the reign of the Christ on earth for a thousand years , also no sign about the resurrection of the righteous thousand years before the wicked and the secret abduction.
When these views began to emerge on the church , the church held the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople 381 AD and issued a final rolling curse for those heresies which were prevailed during that era . generally the heresy of the literal millennium was the statement of “ Apolenarius “at that time , so the church added to the creed of the faith these words “ his reign will not be expired “ after the statement of “ He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead” .
Again , in the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus 431 AD , the church condemned this innovation describing it as illusions , dreams and fairy myths.
This idea remained dormant until it has re – emerged again in the sixteenth century by the “ Anabaptist s groups“ , it began to flourish again more and more until the beginning of the eighteenth century , it became the main conjunction of the Zionist Movement , also became the basic doctrine of Jehovah Witnesses , the Adventists and some other groups.
With the sovereignty of the Zionist propaganda on the media of the USA and the most western countries, the generous support for all those who promote these ideas using this sovereignty , with their generous support for the printed books, the magazines ,the videos and the CD's to offer and distribute their thoughts for free of charge or, at a little cost , also because they did not find answers by the enlightened writers before it had accepted in the minds of a large numbers of the simple ordinary people .
Bibliography:-
All the references are Arabic books :-
(21) - Tadrous Yaakoub Malati, Fr.,” The Revelation “ ., p 210
(22) - Methew Elmiskeen ., Fr “ The Millennium “ P 6 .
(23)Gregory , Anba ,” The second Advent of The Lord , The Christ “ pp 33 – 34 .
(24)Metthew Elmiskeen , Fr., “ The Millennium “ . p 8.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Second Advent and The End of The world
Chapter I
There are two scholars attitudes in Egypt , in concern of the second advent.
(1) The literal scholar view
A few quantity of the Christians , who called themselves The Play-moth(1*) brethren ( The opened and the Closed ),some of the Apostolic Churches(2*), Jehovah witnesses(3*) and the Adventist (4*)adopted the literal scholar views about the Millennium (5*), it means that they have accepted the idea of accounting the time of the Christ's reign on the earth to be one thousand years precisely , and that the coming of the Christ to do the abduction for his Church precedes these thousand years .So, the coming of the Christ and the end of the history, due to their theory , is according to a special program begins by the time of the abduction. Therefore Brother Barsoum Michael said " After the completion of the elected persons in number for the everlasting life , the age of the grace will be ended , so , the Christ will descend from the house of the Father accompanied by the Chef of angels at that time calls the spirits of all the faithfuls of both the old and the new testament to be with him on the earth all of them will dress a spiritual glorified body different than their last bodies to achieve a glorified everlasting position , the Christ will descend at that time to the air layer of our own world , at the same time all the bodies of the Christians will change to the same estate , the dead Christians will come out of their tombs and the living Christians out of their houses ascending to him on the clouds " . He added that "The descending of the Christ to the air layers aimed to caught up the faithfuls to be on the clouds , both of the dead and the live will transmit to him secretly invisible inaudible (6*),( In concern of the rest of the world's people ), the arisen faithfuls at the time of the abduction invited to that first resurrection ( according to their theory )
After the abduction the great tribulation begins for seven years according to Daniel 9:2 due to their point of view , God will pour out the vials of wrath upon the earth during that period some of the Jews and the Gentiles will join the faith and whose die among them will live in the Paradise in the same place where the dead faithful has departed and lifted it empty for those ( Romans 6 : 9 - 11 )when they have arisen from the death and were abducted with the live faithfuls to the house of the Father , but those faithfuls who live during the great tribulation will be the citizens of the millennium age .
At the end of the seven years , the faithfuls will appear before the judgment seat of the Christ, that every one may receive his reward ( II Corinthians 5 : 10 ) This scene is invisible before the inhabitants of the world , so Christ will appear with all his saints for the judgment and the kingdom , descend on the mountain of Olive where He will sit on his glorious seat ( Zachariah 4 : 14 , Acts 1 : 11 , He will condemn the beast and the4 false prophet and cast them alive into the lake fire burning and bound the Satan for one thousand years ( Revelation 20 : 1 - 6 ) .
When the Christ comes he will save Israel from their earthly enemies at first ( Jeremiah 30 : 7 , Zachariah 14 : 1 - 3 )(7*) but he will not save them only but he will return to collect them together also both the Israelites and the Judea citizens to be one connected nation ( Isiah 11 : 11 - 14 , 64 : 14 , Jeremiah 31 v: 35 - 37 ) and salivated them in order to establish a new covenant ( Isiah 66 : 8 , Jeremiah 31 : 31 - 34 , Zachariah 12 : 10 )(8*).
And he added :- The temple will return again with its ritual worship ( Ezra 37 : 26 - 28 , Zachariah 14 : 16 , 17 ) , Israel will establish their state in Palestine lands and they will divide the land to be owned by the twelve tribes ( Ezra 37: 48 )they will dwell in that land forever ( Ezra34 : 28 . 37 : 25 )(9*).
But in concern of the Millennium age's description , it consists of the little ones , the brothers of the king ( Matthew 24 : 22 ) , they have been described as the fled elected Guarded people from the false thoughts ( verse 24 ) , He will gather t6hem from every place ( verse 31 ) and the faithful Gentiles who welcomed them and accepted their message ( Matthew 25 : 31 - 40 ) added to those who will surround him in the air during the abduction ( Ezra 37 :27 , Revelation 7 :15 ).
The kingdom will be a kingdom of righteousness and peace , in spite of some of those inhabitants may commit some faults during the kingdom period , but they will not be punished because there will not be a punishment to those under the age of one hundred , the age of one hundred will be the age of responsibility ( Isiah 65 : 20 ) they live one thousand years , But w2ho commit a fault after the age of one hundred he will be sent to the hell to arise after the Millennium with the other evil persons judgment to be casted into the lake of fire burning Rev 20 : 11 - 15 . The rise of the moon will looks like the rise of the sun of nowadays but the rise of the sun will be increased seven times more than it is now ( Isiah 30 : 20 ) in those days the mountains and the hills will drop joece and milk ( Joel 3 : 18 ) no one will be ill ( Isiah 23 : 24 ). The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, the calf with tiger and a little child shall lead them , the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp , and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice ( Isiah 11 : 6 - 9 )(10*).
The end of the millennium the Satan will be loosed a little season ( Revelation 20 : 1 - 3 ) as a result of that a great falling away will happen and those who has deceived by the Satan will gather to compass the camp of the saints and the beloved City ( Revelation 20 : 7- 10 ) , but God will interfere , a fire will come down from God out of the heaven ,it will devour them , The Satan himself will be taken to the lake of fire burning where the beast and the false prophet , they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever .
After that the first resurrection for the evils when they will face the judgment before the glory white seat at the days wherein the heavens bing on fire so the earth shall be dissolved , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ( II Peter 3 : 7 - 12 ) , A New Heaven and A New Earth will be founded for the first heaven and the first earth will pass away ( Revelation 21 : 1 - 3 ) .
When did this doctrine begins ? Did Jesus Christ teaches us he will reign one thousand years ? What is the Biblical doctrine in concern op the second advent ?
These questions and more , we shall answer them in the following pages .
II - The spiritual scholar view
The spiritual scholar view are adopted by The Orthodox(11*),The Catholic(12*) , The presbyterian ,The Episcopals , The Methodist(13*) , The Church of God (14*), The Baptist Churches , added to some other Evangelical churches(15*) , their doctrine teaches that God loved all the nations without any discrimination between any nation and another , but they have failed in doing according to their message , they who betray his covenant and doing what he forbid them to do , and did not accept him when He came , their message as a nation ended , Christ said to them " your house is left unto you desolate ( Matthew 23 : 38 ) , all the promises and the blessings which were for Israel became a rights for the church ,The Church itself became Israel of God ( Galatians 6 : 16 ) The real descendants or seeds of Abraham spiritually " If ye be Christ's , then are ye Abraham's seed , and heirs according to the promise " ( Galatians 3 : 29 ) .
The kingdom of God has begun as a definite conception , from the transcending of Jesus Christ to heaven ( but It has another General conception , we will discuss it in the third chapter ). it is a stable and continuous effect until now , also it is increasing continuously all over the world day by day " which he wrought in Christ , when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, above all principality and power , and might , and dominion , and every name that is named , not only in this world ,but also in that which is to come . And has put all things under his feet , and gave him to be the head over all things to the church Ephesians 2 : 20 - 22 " , the kingdom of Christ is spiritual not literal , " For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness and peace , and joy in the Holy Ghost Romans 14 : 17 " , "The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17 : 21 " , " My kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were of this world , then would my servants fight,that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; but now my kingdom not from hence John 18 : 36 ".
There are no kingdom like his spiritual kingdom , where he reign and lead his people , also there are no peace greater than the peace that makes his followers who are justified with his blood has been enjoy ( Romans 5 : 1 )(16*) . Thus the kingdom of Christ has been revealed and it is still now , he reign on the hearts of his sons who has the second birth , he reign on his church , so , he says " when he delivered us from the power of darkness , and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son Colossians 1 : 13 " Christ does not wait until his second advent to bound the Satan because he won the victory over him actually and forever , he has conquered the authority of the death by his death ( Hebrew 2 :14 )(17*) , so, Paul the apostle says " And having spoiled principalities and powers , he made a shew of them openly , triumphing over them in it Colossians 2 : 15 " .
So, the millennium as an expression reflects an allegorical meaning to express the period of a time when the Christ reign on the hearts of the faithfuls , this period begins from his first coming to his second coming( 18*) at the end of this period the Satan will be loosed for a short time to try if it were possible , they shall sto deceive the very elect Matthew 24 : 21 - 24 " .
Then a fire from t5he heaven will come down from God out of heaven , and devour him and his followers and casting them into the lake of fire burning , the common resurrection and the common condemnation will begin.
But in concern of the events of the second advent of the Christ , there are one common resurrection " And shall come forth ; they that have done good , unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil , unto the resurrection of damnation . John 5 : 29 ". also Daniel said " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake , some to everlasting life , and some to shame and everlasting contempt . Daniel 12 : 2 " .But the expression " The first resurrection " means , the resurrection from the death of the sin , it is an spiritual resurrection " And has raised us up together , and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus . Ephesians 2 : 6 "so , Paul says " Wherefore he says , Awake thou that sleep and arise from the dead , and Christ shall give you light . Ephesians 5 : 14 "
When the dead arisen from their sin's tombs " who has delivered us from the power of darkness , and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son Colossians . 1 : 13 " . " He that has part in the first resurrection ; on such the second death has no power ,Revelation 20 :6 " but they will condemn " shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone : which is the second death . Revelation 21 : 8 " .
When the common resurrection of the second resurrection comes, it will be the end of the time for both the evils and the righteous .
As we have said there are only one resurrection for both the evils and the faithfuls, also we say that there are only one condemnation after the resurrection, it is the condemnation before the great white seat or throne so, there are one everlasting end , it does not accompanied by those dramatic events that the literal have imagined(19*) . after the condemnation the faithfuls will celebrate being with there bridegroom Our Lord Jesus Christ "(20*) for I have espoused you to one husband , that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ . II Corinthians 11 : 2 " where the new heaven and the new earth .
----------------------------------------
Bibliography
All the Bibliography contains Arabic Authorized books
(i*)refer to their books : Haleem Arsenawi " The Echo of the Prophecy", Nashed Hanna " The Comment on Revelation" , Anwar Georgy " Everlasting Steps " , Barsoom Michael "Biblical Facts " , The Church of Brethren "Are we become in the Last Days ", Rashad Fikri " Lectures " .
(2*) Sabry Waseely , Rev. " The Countdown to the second Coming of The Christ and The rapture and the End of The World "
(3*) refer to their books :- "God is being right " , " After Armageddon a new World " , " You Can Live Forever in the Paradise at the earth " " The watching Tower , magazine. "
(4*)refer to their books : “Moshtaha Elagial “ , the pamphlet of the Millenium No 4 “ the Adventists series of the truth , the pamphlet of “ The condemnation” pub.,The Adventist church , “ the sound of the prophicy” the Adventists series.
(5*)- Nashed Hanna ,” The Book of the Revelation verse by verse in details “ . p 21 .
(6*)- Barsoum Michael , “ Biblical Facts “ VOL , VI , p 377 – 378 also Jehovah Wittnesses “ God might be faithful “ , p 228 – 241 .
(7*) – Henry Theson “ Lectures in the Systematic Theology “ trans., Farid Abd Elmalik , p 590 – 604 .
(8*)- The Last reference p 607 – 615 .
(9*)- The Last reference p 676 -677 .
(10*)- Barsoum Michael ,Biblical Facts VOL VI , p 436 – 424 .
(11*)- refer to their books :
Metthew Elmiskeen ,Fr.,” The Millenium “.
Yoannes,Anba , “ The heaven “.
Gregory , Anba .,” The Second Advent “ .
Tadrous Malati ,Fr.,” The Book of Revelation “.
Abd Elmessih Thaofilus Elnechaely,Fr., “ The Clearness of the Heavenly Vision “ .
Mousa , Anba, “ The Revelation of John the Theologian “.
(12*)- refer to their books : -
“ The Biblical Theological Dictionary “ .
“ The Catholic Theological Dictionary “ .
Saleem Bestras , Fr., “The Christian Theology And The Modern Man “ .
(13*) – The Prespyter of Elmethal Elmasihee Church “ The Faith That is handed once for The Faithfuls “ .1998 .
(14*)- Daoud Yousef , Rev.,” The Millenium “ .
(15*)- Yousef Aouda , Rev., “ The Second Advent of The Christ “, p 21 .
(16*)- Faiz Faris , Dr.,Rev.,” A Basic Facts in the Christian thoughts “. P 281.
(17*)- Makram Naguib ,Dr., Rev, “ The Second Advent of The Christ and The Final History “ p 181.
(18*)- The Last reference p 195 .
(19*)- Nasr Allah Zakaria “ A Modern Attitude Twards The Second Advent “ . p 80 .
(20*)- Youanis, Anba., “ The Heaven “ . p 222 .
There are two scholars attitudes in Egypt , in concern of the second advent.
(1) The literal scholar view
A few quantity of the Christians , who called themselves The Play-moth(1*) brethren ( The opened and the Closed ),some of the Apostolic Churches(2*), Jehovah witnesses(3*) and the Adventist (4*)adopted the literal scholar views about the Millennium (5*), it means that they have accepted the idea of accounting the time of the Christ's reign on the earth to be one thousand years precisely , and that the coming of the Christ to do the abduction for his Church precedes these thousand years .So, the coming of the Christ and the end of the history, due to their theory , is according to a special program begins by the time of the abduction. Therefore Brother Barsoum Michael said " After the completion of the elected persons in number for the everlasting life , the age of the grace will be ended , so , the Christ will descend from the house of the Father accompanied by the Chef of angels at that time calls the spirits of all the faithfuls of both the old and the new testament to be with him on the earth all of them will dress a spiritual glorified body different than their last bodies to achieve a glorified everlasting position , the Christ will descend at that time to the air layer of our own world , at the same time all the bodies of the Christians will change to the same estate , the dead Christians will come out of their tombs and the living Christians out of their houses ascending to him on the clouds " . He added that "The descending of the Christ to the air layers aimed to caught up the faithfuls to be on the clouds , both of the dead and the live will transmit to him secretly invisible inaudible (6*),( In concern of the rest of the world's people ), the arisen faithfuls at the time of the abduction invited to that first resurrection ( according to their theory )
After the abduction the great tribulation begins for seven years according to Daniel 9:2 due to their point of view , God will pour out the vials of wrath upon the earth during that period some of the Jews and the Gentiles will join the faith and whose die among them will live in the Paradise in the same place where the dead faithful has departed and lifted it empty for those ( Romans 6 : 9 - 11 )when they have arisen from the death and were abducted with the live faithfuls to the house of the Father , but those faithfuls who live during the great tribulation will be the citizens of the millennium age .
At the end of the seven years , the faithfuls will appear before the judgment seat of the Christ, that every one may receive his reward ( II Corinthians 5 : 10 ) This scene is invisible before the inhabitants of the world , so Christ will appear with all his saints for the judgment and the kingdom , descend on the mountain of Olive where He will sit on his glorious seat ( Zachariah 4 : 14 , Acts 1 : 11 , He will condemn the beast and the4 false prophet and cast them alive into the lake fire burning and bound the Satan for one thousand years ( Revelation 20 : 1 - 6 ) .
When the Christ comes he will save Israel from their earthly enemies at first ( Jeremiah 30 : 7 , Zachariah 14 : 1 - 3 )(7*) but he will not save them only but he will return to collect them together also both the Israelites and the Judea citizens to be one connected nation ( Isiah 11 : 11 - 14 , 64 : 14 , Jeremiah 31 v: 35 - 37 ) and salivated them in order to establish a new covenant ( Isiah 66 : 8 , Jeremiah 31 : 31 - 34 , Zachariah 12 : 10 )(8*).
And he added :- The temple will return again with its ritual worship ( Ezra 37 : 26 - 28 , Zachariah 14 : 16 , 17 ) , Israel will establish their state in Palestine lands and they will divide the land to be owned by the twelve tribes ( Ezra 37: 48 )they will dwell in that land forever ( Ezra34 : 28 . 37 : 25 )(9*).
But in concern of the Millennium age's description , it consists of the little ones , the brothers of the king ( Matthew 24 : 22 ) , they have been described as the fled elected Guarded people from the false thoughts ( verse 24 ) , He will gather t6hem from every place ( verse 31 ) and the faithful Gentiles who welcomed them and accepted their message ( Matthew 25 : 31 - 40 ) added to those who will surround him in the air during the abduction ( Ezra 37 :27 , Revelation 7 :15 ).
The kingdom will be a kingdom of righteousness and peace , in spite of some of those inhabitants may commit some faults during the kingdom period , but they will not be punished because there will not be a punishment to those under the age of one hundred , the age of one hundred will be the age of responsibility ( Isiah 65 : 20 ) they live one thousand years , But w2ho commit a fault after the age of one hundred he will be sent to the hell to arise after the Millennium with the other evil persons judgment to be casted into the lake of fire burning Rev 20 : 11 - 15 . The rise of the moon will looks like the rise of the sun of nowadays but the rise of the sun will be increased seven times more than it is now ( Isiah 30 : 20 ) in those days the mountains and the hills will drop joece and milk ( Joel 3 : 18 ) no one will be ill ( Isiah 23 : 24 ). The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, the calf with tiger and a little child shall lead them , the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp , and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice ( Isiah 11 : 6 - 9 )(10*).
The end of the millennium the Satan will be loosed a little season ( Revelation 20 : 1 - 3 ) as a result of that a great falling away will happen and those who has deceived by the Satan will gather to compass the camp of the saints and the beloved City ( Revelation 20 : 7- 10 ) , but God will interfere , a fire will come down from God out of the heaven ,it will devour them , The Satan himself will be taken to the lake of fire burning where the beast and the false prophet , they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever .
After that the first resurrection for the evils when they will face the judgment before the glory white seat at the days wherein the heavens bing on fire so the earth shall be dissolved , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ( II Peter 3 : 7 - 12 ) , A New Heaven and A New Earth will be founded for the first heaven and the first earth will pass away ( Revelation 21 : 1 - 3 ) .
When did this doctrine begins ? Did Jesus Christ teaches us he will reign one thousand years ? What is the Biblical doctrine in concern op the second advent ?
These questions and more , we shall answer them in the following pages .
II - The spiritual scholar view
The spiritual scholar view are adopted by The Orthodox(11*),The Catholic(12*) , The presbyterian ,The Episcopals , The Methodist(13*) , The Church of God (14*), The Baptist Churches , added to some other Evangelical churches(15*) , their doctrine teaches that God loved all the nations without any discrimination between any nation and another , but they have failed in doing according to their message , they who betray his covenant and doing what he forbid them to do , and did not accept him when He came , their message as a nation ended , Christ said to them " your house is left unto you desolate ( Matthew 23 : 38 ) , all the promises and the blessings which were for Israel became a rights for the church ,The Church itself became Israel of God ( Galatians 6 : 16 ) The real descendants or seeds of Abraham spiritually " If ye be Christ's , then are ye Abraham's seed , and heirs according to the promise " ( Galatians 3 : 29 ) .
The kingdom of God has begun as a definite conception , from the transcending of Jesus Christ to heaven ( but It has another General conception , we will discuss it in the third chapter ). it is a stable and continuous effect until now , also it is increasing continuously all over the world day by day " which he wrought in Christ , when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, above all principality and power , and might , and dominion , and every name that is named , not only in this world ,but also in that which is to come . And has put all things under his feet , and gave him to be the head over all things to the church Ephesians 2 : 20 - 22 " , the kingdom of Christ is spiritual not literal , " For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness and peace , and joy in the Holy Ghost Romans 14 : 17 " , "The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17 : 21 " , " My kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were of this world , then would my servants fight,that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; but now my kingdom not from hence John 18 : 36 ".
There are no kingdom like his spiritual kingdom , where he reign and lead his people , also there are no peace greater than the peace that makes his followers who are justified with his blood has been enjoy ( Romans 5 : 1 )(16*) . Thus the kingdom of Christ has been revealed and it is still now , he reign on the hearts of his sons who has the second birth , he reign on his church , so , he says " when he delivered us from the power of darkness , and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son Colossians 1 : 13 " Christ does not wait until his second advent to bound the Satan because he won the victory over him actually and forever , he has conquered the authority of the death by his death ( Hebrew 2 :14 )(17*) , so, Paul the apostle says " And having spoiled principalities and powers , he made a shew of them openly , triumphing over them in it Colossians 2 : 15 " .
So, the millennium as an expression reflects an allegorical meaning to express the period of a time when the Christ reign on the hearts of the faithfuls , this period begins from his first coming to his second coming( 18*) at the end of this period the Satan will be loosed for a short time to try if it were possible , they shall sto deceive the very elect Matthew 24 : 21 - 24 " .
Then a fire from t5he heaven will come down from God out of heaven , and devour him and his followers and casting them into the lake of fire burning , the common resurrection and the common condemnation will begin.
But in concern of the events of the second advent of the Christ , there are one common resurrection " And shall come forth ; they that have done good , unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil , unto the resurrection of damnation . John 5 : 29 ". also Daniel said " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake , some to everlasting life , and some to shame and everlasting contempt . Daniel 12 : 2 " .But the expression " The first resurrection " means , the resurrection from the death of the sin , it is an spiritual resurrection " And has raised us up together , and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus . Ephesians 2 : 6 "so , Paul says " Wherefore he says , Awake thou that sleep and arise from the dead , and Christ shall give you light . Ephesians 5 : 14 "
When the dead arisen from their sin's tombs " who has delivered us from the power of darkness , and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son Colossians . 1 : 13 " . " He that has part in the first resurrection ; on such the second death has no power ,Revelation 20 :6 " but they will condemn " shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone : which is the second death . Revelation 21 : 8 " .
When the common resurrection of the second resurrection comes, it will be the end of the time for both the evils and the righteous .
As we have said there are only one resurrection for both the evils and the faithfuls, also we say that there are only one condemnation after the resurrection, it is the condemnation before the great white seat or throne so, there are one everlasting end , it does not accompanied by those dramatic events that the literal have imagined(19*) . after the condemnation the faithfuls will celebrate being with there bridegroom Our Lord Jesus Christ "(20*) for I have espoused you to one husband , that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ . II Corinthians 11 : 2 " where the new heaven and the new earth .
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Bibliography
All the Bibliography contains Arabic Authorized books
(i*)refer to their books : Haleem Arsenawi " The Echo of the Prophecy", Nashed Hanna " The Comment on Revelation" , Anwar Georgy " Everlasting Steps " , Barsoom Michael "Biblical Facts " , The Church of Brethren "Are we become in the Last Days ", Rashad Fikri " Lectures " .
(2*) Sabry Waseely , Rev. " The Countdown to the second Coming of The Christ and The rapture and the End of The World "
(3*) refer to their books :- "God is being right " , " After Armageddon a new World " , " You Can Live Forever in the Paradise at the earth " " The watching Tower , magazine. "
(4*)refer to their books : “Moshtaha Elagial “ , the pamphlet of the Millenium No 4 “ the Adventists series of the truth , the pamphlet of “ The condemnation” pub.,The Adventist church , “ the sound of the prophicy” the Adventists series.
(5*)- Nashed Hanna ,” The Book of the Revelation verse by verse in details “ . p 21 .
(6*)- Barsoum Michael , “ Biblical Facts “ VOL , VI , p 377 – 378 also Jehovah Wittnesses “ God might be faithful “ , p 228 – 241 .
(7*) – Henry Theson “ Lectures in the Systematic Theology “ trans., Farid Abd Elmalik , p 590 – 604 .
(8*)- The Last reference p 607 – 615 .
(9*)- The Last reference p 676 -677 .
(10*)- Barsoum Michael ,Biblical Facts VOL VI , p 436 – 424 .
(11*)- refer to their books :
Metthew Elmiskeen ,Fr.,” The Millenium “.
Yoannes,Anba , “ The heaven “.
Gregory , Anba .,” The Second Advent “ .
Tadrous Malati ,Fr.,” The Book of Revelation “.
Abd Elmessih Thaofilus Elnechaely,Fr., “ The Clearness of the Heavenly Vision “ .
Mousa , Anba, “ The Revelation of John the Theologian “.
(12*)- refer to their books : -
“ The Biblical Theological Dictionary “ .
“ The Catholic Theological Dictionary “ .
Saleem Bestras , Fr., “The Christian Theology And The Modern Man “ .
(13*) – The Prespyter of Elmethal Elmasihee Church “ The Faith That is handed once for The Faithfuls “ .1998 .
(14*)- Daoud Yousef , Rev.,” The Millenium “ .
(15*)- Yousef Aouda , Rev., “ The Second Advent of The Christ “, p 21 .
(16*)- Faiz Faris , Dr.,Rev.,” A Basic Facts in the Christian thoughts “. P 281.
(17*)- Makram Naguib ,Dr., Rev, “ The Second Advent of The Christ and The Final History “ p 181.
(18*)- The Last reference p 195 .
(19*)- Nasr Allah Zakaria “ A Modern Attitude Twards The Second Advent “ . p 80 .
(20*)- Youanis, Anba., “ The Heaven “ . p 222 .
Monday, June 7, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Welcome
Welcome my dear to read and discuss the Academic opinions and views for a serious
discussion of this research about "The Millennium "
It is a serious theological study about this conception , it was primary published at 2002 but now it converts to a study under the Academic view.
It's contents as follows : The Coming of The Christ and the End of the World - When did the doctrine of the Millennium begins ? -A Biblical view about the Millennium -Israel and the Church -The Temple Historically and Prophetically - A comment on the difficult prophecies -The Second Advent and the Accompanied events - Important Questions.
The research included its biography resources .
One of The Council of Elders Members of Cambridge Theological Seminary Ohio - USA is helping in directing the discussion .
Welcome again.
Rev. Ezzat Shaker.
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