Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Oct 1963

That the Lord is coming again to reign on earth at Jerusalem is taught in many places in Scripture, but the duration of His reign with His saints is revealed in one place only, in Revelation 20.4, 6. This period is one of 1,000 years, commonly called the Millennium, which word is derived from the Latin, mille, a thousand, and annus, a year. Two groups, it seems to me, are included in verse 4.

"(1) I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them: (2) and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power: but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years"

(Revelation 20.4-6).

It has been held for long by those well-taught in the Word, that the dispensation of grace ends with the end of Revelation 3, and that what is related in the book of Revelation as to events which will transpire from chapter 4, which begins with "After these things," are events which happen after the saints in Christ, who are of the Church which is His Body, have been caught up to be for ever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4.18-18). Thus the saints of the Church do not form a part of those of Revelation 20 who are of the first resurrection. All of the first resurrection are both "blessed and holy." Amongst these will be "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets" (Luke 13. 28) for the time will have come "to give their reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great" (Revelation 11.18). This is the time of the third Woe, when the seventh angel sounds (11.14, 15), at which time "is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which He declared to His servants the prophets" (10.7), which good tidings signify the Lord being present on earth reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is quite clear from Revelation 11.17, from which chapter we have already quoted. This verse says, "Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign." For though God has ever been the King of the nations and does according to His own will among them that dwell upon the earth, yet this will become manifestly so when "the kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11.15). That will be the finish of the mystery of God when the Lord shall reign on earth for 1,000 years.

The Lord spoke of those who should be in the millennial age when Re answered the Sadducees' question about the resurrection. He said,

"The sons of this world (age) marry, and are given in marriage: but they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world (age), and the resurrection from (Ek, out of) the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage" (Luke 20.84, 85).

The age to which some are accounted worthy to attain is the millennial age of the reign of Christ. It is important to distinguish between the resurrection from (Ek, out of) the dead, and the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of all the dead when all the dead shall be raised (John 5.28, 29) at the time of the judgement of the Great White Throne (Revelation 20.11). It greatly offended the Sadducees when the apostles proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from (Ek) the dead, for well they knew the import of the apostles' teaching, that unless they believed in Him whom they had crucified and who had been raised from the dead they would never know the glory of Messiah's reign.

All believers of this dispensation of grace will be with the Lord when Re comes to earth to reign, as 2 Thessalonians 1.10 clearly shows, "When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed." Though all believers will be with Him, not all will share in the honour of reigning with Him. To be with Him is one thing, but to reign with Him quite another, as 2 Timothy 2.12, shows: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him: if we shall deny Him, He also will deny us." It may be that many will find that they have failed to endure.

The fact that there will yet be new heavens and a new earth is told us several times in the Scriptures : the eternal order of things is finally revealed in Revelation 2i and 22. In that beautiful order it is said,

"And He (God) shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more ; neither shalt there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first thing" are passed away" (Revelation 2i 4).

This is not a millennial order, for during that period there will be death, "for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed" (Isaiah 65.20). With death there are such accompaniments as tears, mourning, crying and pain, so that whilst the Millennium (the period of the 1000 years' reign of Christ and His saints on earth (Revelation 20.0) will see earth's inhabitants blessed with peace, prosperity and plenty as never has been since Adam and Eve threw away wantonly their innocence through sin. Earth will not be free entirely from the effects of the fall in Adam, nor will all men as the time of the Millennium progresses be happy under the righteous reign of the Lord. The flesh in some will be irritated in that they will not be allowed to do as the flesh in every age dictates, even the course of self-pleasing. Outwardly they will feign obedience, but inwardly rebellion will burn as a fire and at the end we have the rebellion of Gog and Magog (Revelation 20.7-9), when the devil works upon the flesh in them, and in covetousness they will go up against the peaceful, secure, unwalled villages, besides going against the (military) camp of the saints and the beloved city Jerusalem, to take the spoil and the prey (Ezekiel 38.11, 12 ; Revelation 20.9). This rebellion will be dealt with in a signal and terrible manner by God, as Ezekiel 38.22, and Revelation 20.9 describe.

But when we reach the eternal state beyond the Millennium, the devil will be gone to know the punishment his revolt and rebellious works have called for, in the Lake of Fire, where will be his confederates who have been cast thereinto 1,000 years earlier (Revelation i9. 20). There too will be all that shall yet worship the beast and his image, and all whose names are not found in the Book of Life (Revelation 20.15). The character of the last-mentioned is given in Revelation 21. 8.

We would have been amongst them but for the grace of God, His saving grace in Christ Jesus.

"Oh to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be

Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee."

"Of grace, then, let us sing,

A joyful wondrous theme!

Who grace has brought, shall glory bring,

And we shall reign with Him."

"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind (Isaiah 65.17).

Could it be possible, that just as when God caused Nebuchadnezzar to take many of Judah and Benjamin captive to Babylon to sit betimes by the rivers of Babylon and weep as they remembered Zion, so a similar experience will be the portion of saints in the new earth? Shall we carry into the glory of that future state the memory of the sadness of the days of our earthly pilgrimage and shall we sit by the river of the waters of life (Revelation 22.1) nourishing and cherishing the sorrows of our earthly life? This verse in Isaiah 65.17 helps us. God will act upon our minds and we, in redeemed bodies and in the experience of eternal youth, shall not remember the former things; they will be forgotten. The old order must go on the arrival of the new order. The dead leaves of past memories must disappear before the upsurge of resurrection life. The old is not to be patched with new cloth. The old must go entirely with all its trials, sorrows and woes, and the dawn of the new and eternal day will be ushered in. Peter says,

"According to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein

dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3.18).

J. Miller | Oct 1963
Jottings