Just a warning at the outset, this will be a fairly long post. A smarter person would break it in two, but you should know me by now. Also, I WILL post tomorrow, January 1st as my wrap-up, so if you're so inclined, be sure to check that out.
Of the three topics I'll discuss, the first is the most challenging and confusing to Christians, although there is absolutely no reason why it has to be. Of course, I refer to the Millennial Kingdom as described in Revelation 20:1-6. There are four primary views of when the Millennium will occur, but the most common are split between two competing schools of thought (go to the Wikipedia page if you want to read some more--it is very interesting if you enjoy this subject):
1. Dispensational Millennialism--there are two subsets to this (pre- and post-), but I won't get mired down in that. In essence, this describes a chain of events that has to occur (the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, Christ's Second Coming, the 1,000-year reign, followed by the Last Judgment). This views the Millennium as a literal 1,000-year time period, and that the Last Days will be a 7-year period as described in that excellent reading in Daniel 9:24-27. It also suggests that Christians will be raptured from the Earth prior to the Great Tribulation, and puts its emphasis on being prepared to be raptured and not have to suffer through the agonies of the final seven years of Earth's history.
2. Amillennialism--this view says that all the events described will occur, but not in a literal 1,000-year period. This views suggests that everything since Christ's resurrection has been part of the Last Days, and that when Christ returns, we'll reign with him forever. If you look at timelines of events for dispenstational millennialism and amillennialism, the amillennialism is much cleaner, since we view the Last Days as EVERY DAY since Christ left. This view also makes clear that Christians WILL be around for the Last Days.
With that thumbnail sketch, I'll add the most important point--it doesn't matter which course of events will occur. If we take the warnings that Christ gave to his followers over and over to be prepared at any time for his return, it won't matter how it will occur, because we'll be prepared either way. Just for fun, here are some of the places where Christ and others warned all believers to be prepared at any time for his return:
Matthew 24:36-50--the day and hour unknown
Matthew 25:1-13--parable of the ten virgins
In what sequence Christ chooses to return to this Earth is his business, and his alone. The time spent on debating the finer points of millennial thinking is effort that could be spent on making sure that we and our loved ones are prepared for when the Lord returns.
Because, when he does, it's going to be MAGNIFICENT, and completely beyond my abilities (or anyone else's, for that matter) to describe. As we read the last two chapters in the Bible, Revelation 21-22 give such a beautiful description of what heaven will be like that I find it impossible to not want to be there this very instant. Way back on January 1st, 2011, we read how God created a perfect world, and it stayed perfect for all of two chapters in the Bible, since Adam and Eve introduced sin to the world in Genesis 3. How anyone can read Revelation 21:4 and not get choked up is so beyond my comprehension that I won't even try:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
This is the hope we have as Christians, and why we endeavor to keep our families and friends strong in their faith, because this is what we long for. The perfect world that God introduced in the first two chapters of the Bible is returned in the last two, a symmetry that illustrates that all of our sin that has occurred in the meantime will be nothing compared to the eternity spent in the presence of the Lord.
Marge Kimmel gave me a book some time ago that gives a yearly day-by-day reading from various works of C.S. Lewis. The book is titled "The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C.S. Lewis," and this is the entry for December 31st:
"Then Aslan turned to them and said:'...you are--as you used to call it in the Shadowlands--dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning...'
And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only bee the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."
That is heaven, the place we yearn for with every fiber of our being, and it's ours not because of anything we ever did our could do, but because God's Only Begotten Son came down from heaven to be the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. It's ours for the taking simply by acknowledging that Jesus is Lord. Believe me, it'll be worth it.
Scott
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