Background:
It is with my pleasure and modesty to clarify my millennial view. I was trained to believe that any sound theological position is to be rooted in a solid biblical exegesis. Thus I hope that a brief but careful word studies of the phrase “χιλια ετη” (a thousand years) from Revelations 20:2-7 will help with the understanding of the four major views on the millennial. From there I will draw a conclusion with a synthesized millennial view drawing from the strengths of different views taught by my pastors, both from C&MA and independent church, my professors and recent scholarship. This explanation is by no mean intended to be exclusive because different millennial views have been debated since the early church fathers, so it is an integrated theory rather than a doctrinal statement. The synthesized view is built upon John R. Noē’s Ph.D. Dissertation[1] defended at Trinity Theological Seminary, and a watershed idea suggested from Wayne Grudem,
“it would not be impossible[2] for someone to be a postmillennialist and a premillennialist at the same time (emphasis added), with two different senses of the term millennium. Someone could conceivably be a postmillennialistand think that the gospel will grow in influence until the world is largely Christians, and that then Christ will return and set up a literal earthly reign, raising believers from the dead to reign with him in glorified bodies. Or, on the other hand, a very optimistic premillennialist could conceivably adopt many of the postmillennialist teachings about the increasingly Christian nature of this present age.”[3]
1. My personal exegetical observation- the term “χιλια ετη”, a thousand years, occurred 8 times in Greek NT (2 Pet 3:8; Rev 20:2–7), and 2 times in Hebrew OT (Psa 90:4; Eccl 6:6), three out of the four contexts are clearly used as figuratively or symbolic language (not literal) in a poetical genre[4].
a. The critical hermeneutical question remains, “should Rev 20:2–7 be taken as literal or symbolical?”
b. Based on the other usages of the thousand years elsewhere in the bible, my answer is symbolical.
c. The concept of the “a thousand years”, as it is the ONLY time used by the apostle John in Revelations, is symbolical and it is dangerous to build a doctrine on it.
2. My teachers and modern scholars observation- when it comes to the interpretation of Rev. 20 and the “millennium”:
a. my former senior pastor Rev. Johnny Chan (Historical Premillennial) who was my first teacher on the book of Revelations surprisingly shared the hermeneutical framework with my NT professor Dr. Sean McDonough, and recent scholarship from Dr. Vern Poythress (Postmillennial), Dr. G.K. Beale, (Amillennial), and Dr. John Noē (Preterist Premillennial) that they all tend to weight on the symbolical significances when it comes to Rev 20.
b. Another pastor and colleague of mine, Rev. Peter Wu, who graduated with a Ph. D from Westminster Seminary with a focus on Revelations, interprets the symbolic meaning of the “millennium” with four distinct hermeneutic levels:[5]
Statement of my synthesized view of millennial:
The following definitions and framework is adopted from John R. Noē’s Ph.D. Dissertation[6] and my systematic theology professor John J. Davis’s handbook[7].
Premillennialism – the eschatological view that Christ’s return is future and comes before a literal or symbolic thousand-years period and temporary earthly reign. Before that, the Church will go through a time of tribulation and Christ’s return will be a single event.
Postmillennial – the eschatological view that Christ’s return is future and comes at the end of a present millennial period (also longer than a literal thousand years). He is now Lord over all spheres of human life, and his people have been called and empowered to extend his present kingdom for the purpose of transforming all, or most of, culture and society into the will of Christ.
Amillennial – the eschatological view that Christ’s return is future but can come at any time during Christ’s present millennial reign. This millennium is an unspecified period of time but longer than a literal thousand years. It symbolizes a spiritual reign in the souls of individuals, in the life of the Church, and/or of saints currently in heaven. No future, thousand-years, golden age on the earth is foreseen prior to the setting up of an eternal state at Christ’s return.
Synthesized-millennial[8]- the eschatological view that Christ’s promised coming is continuously being fulfilled and will be consummated with his ultimate coming. The millennial can be a literal thousand-years or a symbolic long period, during this already-but-not-yet period before Christ’s final coming.
1. discarding the weakness
a. Each of the three major views employed the words concerning Christ’s “return” or “second coming” which are not properly speaking or poorly exegeting from the texts that do not represent the authorial intend.
b. They are to be replace with the facts that Christ’s continuous “comings” to his disciples as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:5–6[9] and as a already-but-not-yet fulfillment of his promise that “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20) and as he spiritually comes in to his followers’ lives, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Rev. 3:20)
c. Thus any view with the presumption that built on the “return of Christ” as the central, pivotal, and controlling end-time event factor is not sufficient in and of itself with the following weaknesses.
2. synthesizing the strengths into one meaningful, coherent, and consistent view that is Christ-honoring, Scripture-authenticating, and faith- validating than any one view in and of itself
a. According to John Noe, the following is the strengths of the “preterist view” incorporated with the strengths of other three views.
i. Preterist View
Fully accepts the natural reading and understanding of eschatological timeframes and NT time and imminency statements, including those bracketing the entire prophecy of Revelation.
Supports the 1st-century Holy-Spirit-guided expectations as the correct ones.
Balances literal and figurative language for nature of fulfillment.
Uses biblical precedent to explain the nature of fulfillment.
Answers the liberal/skeptic attack on the Bible and on Christ, effectively.
ii. From the amillennial view, was kept the idealist interpretation of the book of Revelation with its ongoing, timeless, and countless applications in human history. But these now follow, rather than precede, Christ’s historic and literal coming in judgment and consummation in A.D. 70.
iii. From the postmillennial view, was incorporated but reapplied its strong kingdom- society orientation, positive worldview, long-term outlook, and many comings of Christ—past, present, and future.
iv. From the premillennial view, was retained its strong interest in prophecy and the current dynamic role of Christ in the present and future affairs of humankind.
Conclusion:
I agree with John Noe that each millennium view has grasped a portion of the biblical truth regarding the end times. It is worth considering his careful approach toward a synthesis treatment that met all hermeneutical and exegetical demands and not contradict itself. This was significant in terms of the development of millennium view in recent scholarship because no one had ever written with the degree and scope to synthesize the four views before. Nevertheless, this synthesis is still a view concerning the millennial because no one can tell the unfolding part of history except God.
Besides that, as I was reviewing this topic on the Alliance official website at the section of the Coming King, an alliance pastor, Rev. John F. Soper, wrote this about the coming of Christ,
“most were devoted to predicting when this cataclysmic event will occur (something the Bible explicitly tells us NOT to do), to debating the order of events connected to His return... All of this speculation entirely misses the point of what the Bible says about the matter… first, because Christ is coming, we need to be ready—living lives that are pure, steadfast, prayerful, holy and reverent; and, second, because Christ is coming, we need to finish the task He has given us—the preaching of the gospel.”[10]
This practical advice from the pastor is not to diminish the value of understanding the different views of millennial but to gravitate the value to the meaning rather than the timing. As Jesus orientated his disciples to this matter by saying, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7–8) Thus I affirmed with the Alliance Stand, “The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent[11] and will be personal, visible, and premillennial[12]. This is the believer’s blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service.[13]
[1] John R. Noē, “Synthesizing Four Views of the Return of Christ”, presented and read as a theological paper at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 2001, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Internet, available fromhttps://www.preteristarchive.com/Books/pdf/2001_noe_synthesizing.pdf, accessed August 3, 2018. Noe is president of the Prophecy Reformation Institute, a conservative, evangelical scholar, and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. He holds an earned Ph.D. in Theology from Trinity Theological Seminary and the University of Liverpool ("With Distinction").
[2] noticed the double-negative reasoning here, not “either-or” but “both-and”, i.e. in the understanding of the nature of Jesus as both fully man and fully God.
[3] Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester, England : Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 1994, 1123.
[4] Psa. 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
Eccl. 6:6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?
2Pet. 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Rev. 20:2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
Rev. 20:3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand yearswere ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Rev. 20:4 ¶ Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Rev. 20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
Rev. 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Rev. 20:7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison
[5] Vern Poythress, Genre and Hermeneutics in Revelation 20:1-6, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 36, 1993, 41-54, https://frame-poythress.org/genre-and-hermeneutics-in-revelation-201-6/, accessed on August 2, 2018.
a. The linguistic level consists in the text of 20:1-6.
b. The visionary level consists in John’s actual visions of a descending angel, a dragon, a pit, the seizing of the dragon, the sealing of the pit, the thrones, and so on.
c. The referential level consists in the historical referents of the dragon, the pit, the thousand years, and the first resurrection.
d. The symbolical level consists in the symbolical significances of the various figures and events depicted.
[6] John R. Noē, “Synthesizing Four Views of the Return of Christ”, presented and read as a theological paper at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 2001, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Internet, available fromhttps://www.preteristarchive.com/Books/pdf/2001_noe_synthesizing.pdf, accessed August 3, 2018.
[7] Davis, John Jefferson. Handbook of Basic Bible Texts: Every Key Passage for the Study of Doctrine and Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1984.
[8] John R. Noē is the first modern scholar to hold this view by defending that it applies exegetical hermeneutic to integrate the three major millennial views by discarding the weakness, keeping the strengths, and synthesizing the strengths into one meaningful, coherent, and consistent view that is more Christ-honoring, Scripture-authenticating, and faith- validating than any one view in and of itself
[9] 1 Corinthians 15:5–6 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep
[10] John F. Soper, “Coming King”, The Alliance, Internet, available from https://www.cmalliance.org/about/beliefs/coming-king, accessed 3 August, 2018.
[11] Heb. 10:37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay…”
[12] Luke 21:27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory
[13] Titus 2:11–14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
No comments:
Post a Comment