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FREE Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.
GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---
NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION
--- THE GOSPELS
If so please EMail us with your question to jonpartin@tiscali.co.uk and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer. EMailus.
There is no more difficult book for modern man to understand than the Book of Revelation. It follows to some extent the pattern utilised in what is termed ‘apocalyptic literature’, which itself is patterned on aspects of the book of Daniel. It uses visions of beasts and heavenly figures, with the aim of conveying ideas by vivid imagery, and propounding mysteries hidden from the majority for the benefit of the few. The difference is that while the authors of most apocalyptic literature portrayed it as produced by ancient figures of the past with heavenly connections, such for example as Enoch, with the author hiding his own identity, the Book of Revelation is written by John, an identifiable man on earth, to a specific group of people.
Combined with these vivid portrayals is the idea of numerals as containing specific significance, which may not always mean what we take them to mean. To the ancients numbers were adjectives which conveyed meanings, not just dull arithmetic. They were not necessarily to be taken literally. We must therefore approach the book cautiously, and, as far as possible, without dogmatism.
Some argue that because it is a difficult book the safest way is to treat it as literal as far as possible, (although that is the last thing apocalyptic literature attempted to be) and to assume it is chronological. They have related the majority of the book to ‘the end times’, failing to recognise that ‘the end times’ began at the resurrection. Others have seen in it specific events of history. But the methods have been very selective of history, and there have been wide divergences of interpretation. But these are ‘modern’ approaches, taken without considering fully enough the nature of apocalyptic literature, and failing to recognise why John wrote as he did. The fact is that John was writing to Christians in the midst of a Roman Empire that spasmodically persecuted Christians bitterly, and was sensitive to any suggestions that it might be overthrown. To have written openly would have courted persecution, so instead he adopted the method of using apocalyptic imagery to get over his message to Christians who were undergoing something of what he wrote. It was this aim that led on to his visions. To fail to recognise this is to fail to understand the book.
The book contains a number of visions. Except where it is clear that one part must follow another, why should we assume they are chronological, except in relation to the order in which the visions are received? What surely we must first do, if we want a chronology (and the ancients were not as bothered about chronology as we are), is to find points of contact so that we can fit the visions together as far as this is possible, while asking ourselves, what is the main message the writer is trying to get across?
Of course it is true that some things contained in it happen in sequence. But this does not necessarily mean that that sequence should be everywhere applied, especially when the visions take us into non-earthly activity. Important with regard to this is the distinction between the words ‘after these things’, which clearly connects in some way with what is gone before, although not necessarily chronologically, and ‘I saw’ or “I looked”, which means ‘new vision coming up’. The Revelation comprises a series of visions, not one whole vision.
Ascertaining the main message is probably more simple than determining a chronology. We think that all will agree that the real purpose of the book is to make sense, from a Christian point of view, of what at first sight appears inexplicable, the domination of the world by the most evil of forces, and to encourage Christians, in the face of the most terrible persecutions, with the thought that their affairs are watched over in Heaven. It seeks to reveal that however bad the situation might appear, God’s purposes are moving forward according to His time-scale and under His control. This has been its assurance to the church throughout the ages.
But those of us who live in countries where persecution has been relatively minor (with a few exceptions) find it natural to assume that the terrible things portrayed are mainly yet to come. It is possibly not without significance that the main exponents of certain Second Coming teachings have lived in these countries. Not that we are suggesting that that has been the only issue to sway them, for many great Bible teachers have spent considerable time earnestly wrestling with the Scriptures in order to establish their views. But one may hopefully be forgiven for suggesting that had they lived through centuries of bitter, intensive continual persecution, as others have, they might have looked at things differently and applied things more generally. We may be wrong on this, but we do know that, with all their efforts, they have not produced a consensus of opinion which enables us to say, ‘see how they all agree together’.
What is even more significant is the way in which, through the last two thousand years, different generations have been able to apply the visions directly to their own age, seeing fulfilment in what was happening around them, for this demonstrates clearly the usefulness of the method of portraying truth through vision. By this means they can be applied specifically to a thousand situations. This fact itself shows that the underlying events portrayed have happened again and again through history.
It is clear, of course, where the book begins and ends. It begins with the position of the seven churches, continues with the activity of the Heavenly influencing the earthly, and the rebellion of the earthly against the Heavenly, and ends with the triumph of God through Christ. But at that point the unanimity ends, and this has caused many to say, ‘well, very good, let us leave it there’, which usually means, ‘let’s not bother with the book at all’, which is certainly not satisfactory.
Crucial to an understanding of events relating to the after-life in the book is chapter 20. In view of the different ideas that have arisen we have to ask , ‘Does this chapter refer to events which take place after the first nineteen chapters, or is it a vision which summarises the previous nineteen chapters as a kind of final summary of the whole?’ In one sense this is not of crucial importance. What matters is that, whether the events are in the present or the future, they achieve the aim of the revelation, to fix our eyes on Christ’s sovereignty and on His coming. If they achieve that, falling out about them is foolish, as none of us can ever be proved ‘right’ this side of their final fulfilment, and godly people disagree. However, they are part of God’s revelation to man and as such they do deserve that we give them some attention, with the aim of learning more about God’s love for and concern over the people of God.
Pre-Millennialists teach that chapter 20 deals (very briefly) with events which follow the previous nineteen chapters, and with a period in which the teachings of the Old Testament on the coming age will find their fulfilment. It covers a period of a thousand years of peace and plenty, they say, under the direct rule of Christ and His Apostles, the brevity being explained by the fact that the events have already been outlined in the Old Testament and do not really concern the Christian church as they apply to that future era. Those who disagree with this view are unhappy with the idea that God’s basic approach to people is different in different eras, especially when it involves what they see as a deterioration. They are also unhappy with the thought that the Old Testament passages are to be seen as not really applying to us, except secondarily.
Amillennialists (those who deny a future millennium of this or any kind) teach that chapter 20 is a summary of chapters 1 -19, prior to the vision of the Great White Throne of Judgment and the vision of Heaven, to explain in microcosm the whole of the Christian age.
As this at first sight appears to hold difficulties from a ‘literal’ point of view, let us consider the Amillennial position in more detail.
1) Revelation 20.1-3. The angel is given the key to the ‘bottomless pit’ and a great chain and he binds Satan (the Devil, the dragon, the old serpent) for a thousand years, shuts him up in the bottomless pit, and sets a seal on him so that he can deceive the nations no more until the thousand years is past, after which he will be released for a little time (Revelation 20.1-3).
To understand this we have to ask whether we have any reference in Scripture to similar events? The answer is yes. In Revelation 9.1-11 we learn of creatures, who had a king over them called ‘Abaddon’ (Hebrew) and ‘Apollyon’ (Greek), both meaning ‘the destroyer’, who are released from the bottomless pit by an angel. This sounds remarkably like the ‘letting loose for a little season’. If we accept this then it shows that chapter 20 is going over what has been described before, and occurs before the second coming of Christ, and that the same applies to ‘the thousand years’.
Again in Revelation 11.7 we learn of the ‘beast who ascends from the bottomless pit’ who attacks God’s two witnesses. In 17.8 it is described as the beast who ‘will ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition’. Thus he comes out from the bottomless pit where he has been held and does not return there again. His destiny is perdition or ‘destruction’. Why then should Satan be returned there again ‘in chains’? Both the Beast and Satan share the same destiny (Revelation 19.20; 20.10). The beast is the beast who ‘was, and is not and yet is’. It is suggested that the ‘is not’ refers to the period of his ‘binding’. He was previously active in the past, he was bound for a period in the bottomless pit, and now he comes out to deceive the nations. These references very strongly suggest that his final activities happen after the release from the bottomless pit described in Revelation 20.1-3, and thus that Revelation 20 is a summary of what has gone before.
Again we learn in Jude that “the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6). This is used as an example for false teachers, who misuse the truth to their own condemnation, showing that those who turn from the truth face severe judgment. We do not know when this happened, but it is clear that the chaining of angels who did not keep ‘their first estate’, among whom was Satan, in everlasting chains is in the past for Jude.
Again in 2 Peter 2.4 we read, “God spared not the angels who sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus (a place of torment), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment”. We cannot doubt that Satan was one of ‘the angels that sinned’, for Job 1 and 2 show that he was numbered among ‘the sons of the elohim’ i.e. the angels.
All this suggests that the opening of the bottomless pit to receive Satan and his angels is to be seen as a past event.
The objection raised to this is that it fails to explain how Satan can be so active on earth if he is bound in the bottomless pit (for Satan’s activity see 1 Chronicles 21.1; Job 1.6 - 2.7; Psalm 109.6; Zechariah 3.1-2; Matthew 4.1-10 and parallels; Matthew 12.25-29 and parallels; Mark 4.15; Luke 13.16; Luke 22.3; Luke 22.31; Acts 5.3; Acts 26.18; Romans 16.20; 1 Corinthians 5.5; 1 Corinthians 7.5; 2 Corinthians 2.11; 1 Thessalonians 2.18; 2 Thessalonians 2.9; 1 Timothy 1.20; 1 Timothy 5.15; Revelation 2.13; Revelation 2.24). We have deliberately included the main apposite passages at the risk of overemphasis so as not to weaken the case being argued against.
Here we learn that Satan leads men astray, accuses them before God, tests them out, is allowed limited powers against them, holds sway over unbelievers, hinders Christian activities and performs ‘lying wonders’. Can he then have been bound? As one of their number put it, ‘if he was bound, it was with a remarkably long chain’.
Against this we must ask:
Taking the second first. Satan comes before God to accuse both Job (Job 1.6-2.8) and Joshua the High Priest (Zechariah 3.1-2). Are we really to accept that Satan has physical ready access to God in a physical Heavenly court? Is this not simply a picture in earthly terms, picturing spiritual truth in terms of the way that great kings called men before them for judgment or praise? Its aim is to express God’s overall sovereignty and His awareness of all that happens, and especially of Satanic claims. In the same way it can be suggested that the picture of Satan as being bound in a long chain in the bottomless pit is a picture of a doomed and controlled Satan. A picture of him as a defeated and reined-in foe. The homely pictures are conveying an idea, not describing actual physical events. God is not physical, neither is Satan. Satan therefore could not be bound with a physical chain, nor could he survive in the presence of God’s awesome holiness.
The fact is that Satan’s power is such that if he were not restrained Christians would stand no chance against him, and the world even less. If even Michael the archangel hesitates in his dealings with him (Jude 1.9), where would we stand? That is why Jesus Himself claimed that He would ‘bind the strong man’ and despoil his kingdom (Mark 3.27). A greater than Satan was now here. Indeed when His disciples returned from their ministry in which they had cast out evil spirits and joyously told Him of their triumph, He claimed, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10.18). This was a response to the disciples joyous claim that devils were subject to them through Jesus’ name. Surely His statement indicated that Satan was now disempowered, as the disciples had discovered. The heaven from which he ‘fell’ was not the Heaven of Heavens, but the sphere in which he was active. Later He can declare, “now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12.31). In other words the whole life and work of Jesus resulted in a continual binding and casting out of Satan. As Paul says in Colossians 2.15, “having spoiled principalities and powers (in the cross), he led them in a show of triumph”. His work has resulted in the spoiling of Satan.
The result of his being bound is that the good news goes out into the whole world. As Revelation 20 puts it, he ‘deceives the nations no more’ (Revelation 20.3). Light has come to the Gentiles.
Thus if Satan has been ‘bound’ by Jesus, and subjected to disciples in Jesus’ name, he is clearly under restraint - and doomed. This is what Revelation 20.1-3 is really saying. The fact is that no chain could restrain Satan, and no place hold him. These are pictures in earthly terms. It is God Who restrains him. The fact that God allows him limited activity does not cancel out this fact. He is still tightly controlled under God’s ‘seal’. The further point of Revelation 20.1-3 is that for a short period in the future that restraint will be lifted, as revealed earlier in the book.
Satan’s fate is depicted somewhat differently in Revelation 12.7-9, where we have the picture of Michael and the angels fighting against the Devil and his angels and casting them out of Heaven (as Jesus described in Luke 10.18). These must surely be the angels depicted elsewhere as being held ‘in the bottomless pit’. This is connected with the travails of the woman (Israel) as she seeks to produce the man child (Jesus) (12.3-4), although timing in these visions is not to be over pressed. Once again Satan is shown as being a defeated foe. But, while his power is restricted by defeat and ‘binding’, he will continue to use it to the fullest extent, for he knows he has limited time. The important point is that it is all under the control of God.
But at last he will have his hour (Revelation 17.12), the little season (Revelation 20.3). And this will lead to the final conflict, and the victory of the One Who is the Word of God (compare John 1.1). Thus Revelation 20.1-3 is a brief summary of Satan’s defeat and ‘binding’ under God’s control.
2) Revelation 20. 4-6 goes on to speak of “thrones, and they who sat on them to whom judgment was given, and the souls of those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God --- and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years --- this is the First Resurrection”.
What is the event spoken of here? What is the First Resurrection? Literally the first resurrection was, of course, that of Jesus. And interestingly enough that is a resurrection of which Christians are said to have already partaken. “Having been buried with Him in baptism,” says Paul, “wherein you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God Who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2.12). Indeed we have been “raised together with Christ” and should therefore “seek those things which are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God”, a position which Christians share with Him (Colossians 3.1).
More emphatically, in Ephesians 1.20 - 2.6 Paul describes Christ’s effective work when He was ‘raised from the dead and made to sit in Heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, dominion and power, with all things in subjection under His feet’. Then he adds, “And you --- ” (no verb in the Greek), which means - ‘and you also were, in Him, raised from the dead and made to sit in heavenly places, far above all rule, authority dominion and power, with all things in subjection under your feet’. If this seems too much it is confirmed in 2.4-6, “But God Who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved) and has raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. So we live and reign with Him.
Thus in Paul’s eyes we have already partaken of the First Resurrection. This is continually stressed. As he says in 2 Corinthians 5.5, because of this we have been given the foretaste and guarantee (an earnest) of the Spirit, until the day we experience it in bodily form. It is through His resurrection life that, having been reconciled to God, we are saved (Romans 5.10), so that “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6.4). We should be “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Corinthians 4.10). Thus we should be “giving thanks to the Father Who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1.12-13), which means we are seated above with Him (Colossians 3.1).
So the Bible constantly describes Christians as already ‘raised’ with Him, and as reigning with Him, and it further tells us that, in Jesus, we will also partake in the judgment (1 Corinthians 6.2). It tells us that as He took His place in Heaven, and judgment was given to Him, so it was also given to us, a judgment we exercise ‘in Him’ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2.6) and will exercise in the future at the final resurrection. This is the First Resurrection. But what of those who have died. Have they lost this privilege? As an encouragement to those who asked, ‘what of those who have been martyred?’ we learn that they also reign with us. Death has not robbed them of this glorious privilege. The ‘souls’ of the martyrs (which clearly suggests there has been no literal resurrection) are seen as sharing our reign (Revelation 20.4). And this is in contrast with ‘the rest of the dead’. So the passage is agreeing with what has been suggested earlier, that in their ‘sleep’ before the resurrection, the people of God are conscious and enjoying the presence of God.
The period of ‘a thousand years’ is a round number and indicates an ‘ideal’ time. Adam, because of his sin, died ‘seventy’ years short of a thousand years (see The use of Numbers in the Ancient near East and Genesis). He failed to achieve the ideal. It is not to be taken literally but it should be taken to mean ‘the perfect time that God has planned’.
“And they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev.20.6). The Bible tells us that we already are a royal priesthood ( 1 Peter 2. 5, 9), and that through His blood we have been made kings and priests unto God and His Father (Revelation 1.6; 5.10). Note that this is in the past tense. It is already true. Thus we are priests of God and reign with Him. “We shall reign on the earth” (5.10) stresses that, in spite of appearances, because we are such kings and priests we will triumph over all obstacles, however powerful they may seem, and demonstrate Christ’s sovereignty. Nothing can in the end thwart us.
So we can see that the vision described in Revelation 20.4-6 reveals the present state of Christian believers ‘in Christ’.
3) Revelation 20. 7 - 10. Once God’s perfect time, however long it is, has past Satan will, at the end of the age, be let loose from his constraint for one last final fling. God will allow him his final hour (Revelation 17.12). The end result will be that he will be flung into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet will also be flung (19.20). They are flung in ‘alive’ (in contrast with those who are flung in dead) and are tormented day and night for ever and ever. (It should be noted that as the Devil is a spirit being he could not be tormented in literal fire).
This is in distinct and vivid contrast with what is said of their followers. Of them we learn that it is ‘the smoke of their torment’ that arises for ever and ever (14.11; compare 18.9-10; 18.18; 19.3). In their case, having suffered their deserved punishment, their suffering itself has ceased, but the means of their punishment burns on for ever as an everlasting witness. This is as depicted in Isaiah 66.24 where they are described in terms of dead bodies tossed on to an eternally burning rubbish dump, and Isaiah 34.10 where a similar idea of smoke arising for ever and ever from God’s judgment is depicted. Compare how the judgment of Babylon the Great is depicted also in terms of similar rising smoke (Revelation 18.18). Its punishment and destruction leaves behind a more permanent reminder, symbolised by rising smoke. .
But what of the words, “they have no rest day or night’? Do these not indicate that they are ever conscious? In fact these are exactly the same words in Greek as those translated “they (the living creatures before the throne) rest not day or night” in Revelation 4.8. The thought is not of unceasing restlessness, but of the contrast between those who worship God without ceasing, and those who worship the beast in the same way. The contrast is deliberate. Just as the living creatures take no rest day or night in their worship of God, so the worshippers of the beast take no rest day or night in their worship of the beast. This is their folly. Thus we should be consistent and translate “yet they cease not day or night those worshippers of the beast”. It is probable therefore that their punishment ends in final destruction. They are thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20.15). In contrast with Satan and the beast and the false prophet (20.10 compare 19.20) it is not said that they are cast in alive or tormented day and night for ever and ever. (The idea that the holy angels and the Lamb of God can watch the carrying out of judgment on the wicked (14.10) is what we would expect. That they could go on watching the permanent, unending torture of living beings is somewhat grotesque). We note also that death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, which is thus on the whole the symbol of final destruction (20.14), the second and final death.
4) Revelation 20.11-15. All this is followed by the Great White Judgment Throne where the dead are raised up to answer to God, and all must answer ‘according to their works’. This does not contradict the Gospel. We are saved because Christ’s good works are put to our account through faith, so that we stand as perfect before the Throne (Romans 3.22; Hebrews 10.14). And this is confirmed by the change it makes in our lives. Our lives can therefore be examined and demonstrate that in Him we pass the test. But those whose names are not in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire, along with death and Hell. As mentioned above this last shows that the picture is symbolic. How can death be dealt with as a physical entity? It is simply a way of saying that the ‘last enemy’ has been destroyed (1 Corinthians 15.26).
It makes sense that the beast and the false prophet (19.20), Satan (20.10), death and hell and the wicked dead (20.14-15) are all thrown in around the same time. It should again be noted that a clear distinction is drawn when someone is thrown in ‘alive’ (19.20 - the beast and false prophet in contrast with the slain) or to be ‘tormented day and night for ever and ever’ (20.10 - the Devil). Death and Hell are clearly destroyed, and, it would seem, so are the wicked dead.
This interpretation of Revelation 20 fits in with what the rest of Scripture appears to suggest, and that is that there will be one final resurrection of both just and unjust (Daniel 12.2; John 5.29).
It also fits in with the fact that the end of the age is depicted more than once in Revelation, even without this. In Revelation 14.1-12 we have the picture of the 144,000 (twelve times twelve times a thousand) clearly representing the whole people of God as the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles multiplied by the perfect thousand. Compare how in Heaven the gates are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel and the foundations are the twelve Apostles (21.12-14). The 144,000 are gathered with the Lamb (Jesus) on Mount Zion, while judgment is visited on mankind (vv.8-11 compare vv.19-20), a picture of rapture and resurrection. Again in Revelation 14.14-20 we have the parallel description of the Son of Man coming in judgment (v.14), and the gathering of the just, the ‘harvest of the earth’ (vv.15-16) and the unjust, the ‘vine of the earth’ to be cast into ‘the winepress of the wrath of God’ (vv.18-20), which parallel Matthew’s descriptions of the end of the age (see The After-life in the Gospels).
Then we have a third picture of the end of the age in chapter 19 in which the Word of God comes with His angels on a white horse of victory and purity, judging the nations with His mouth and showing His rule over them with a rod of iron, treading the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God.
So the end of the age occurs in chapter 14, chapter 19 and chapter 20, each in a different passage beginning ‘I saw’ or ‘I looked’ - same word in Greek (14.1; 14.14; 15.1; 20.1), showing that they are different visions culminating in the end of the age, and the final judgment.
Finally in chapters 21-22 we have the pictorial representation of Heaven. There is a ‘new heaven and a new earth’, where God’s dwelling place will be with men as in the Tabernacle of old (v.3). God will wipe away all tears from men’s eyes. There will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain, for the former things will have passed away. All will be made new.
There will be a new Jerusalem patterned foursquare, 12000 by 12000 by 12000. And the wall 144 (12 x 12) cubits. The twelve gates of the city represent the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve foundations represent the twelve Apostles. This juxtaposition justifies our earlier suggestions that 12 + 12, or 12 x 12, represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. The city is the place of the people of God.
The city is made up of gold, jewels and pearls, a depiction of its splendour, and needs neither Temple, Sun nor Moon, for the glory of God and the Lamb provide both light and Temple. It is the place of ‘the saved’ and of the pure in heart.
Pure water of life proceeds from the throne forming a great river, and fruit trees line its banks, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations (taken from Ezekiel 47.12 where it is for ‘bruising’). The city is a perfect restorative. The ‘bruises’ of the people of God will be remedied. There is no more curse, nor night, nor light of the sun, for God provides its light, and His people will reign for ever and ever.
It need hardly be said that the descriptions are not all to be taken literally. The idea is to depict the place as glorious, rich in beauty, life-fulfilling and perfect, with all that has been mankind’s bain removed for ever. We have again the right to the tree of life. The fall has been put behind us for ever.
Excursus. The Coming Age.
When the prophets looked forward to the day when God would deliver His people they did so in terms of a coming age of peace and plenty (e.g. Isaiah 11.6-9). Men in those days thought very much in physical terms. As we have seen (see the After-life ), the idea of an after-life was almost unknown, rarely being thought of except by the few, and never spelt out in detail. The future of Israel was firmly linked to this earth. Even the resurrection in Isaiah 26.19 gives the impression of rising in order to enjoy the future life of blessing on earth. We might think that any other concept would have been so revolutionary as to be meaningless to the people, and that these were therefore ‘pictures’ speaking of what is to come in earthly terms. (Note how above Ezekiel 47 is seen as fulfilled in the vision of Heaven). However, some godly people do think otherwise. What really matters is their guarantee of final blessing for the people of God.
Certainly the prophets wanted to offer hope and certainty of God’s future mercy, and they did it in vivid pictures in a way that could speak to the people at the time. But so many and vivid are the Old Testament pictures of this glorious future life on earth that some are unwilling to accept that they were just pictures of what would later be revealed as an after-life with God in Heaven, pictures of future happiness and joy, of peace, prosperity and plenty. They therefore argue that there must yet be such a kingdom on earth. The problem is that a careful study of the different pictures makes it difficult to reconcile them, (consider the differing futures of the nations), which does not matter if they are physical descriptions of a heavenly reality, but is vital if they are to be taken literally. Certainly they do all contain the idea of peace and plenty, and benefit for other nations as well as for Israel.
Those who take the literal view seek to read it into the passage in Revelation 20.1-6 discussed above, but if they are not careful they offer only a second best. And it is a second best that most of them do not want for themselves, for they either tend to exempt themselves from it, or make provision for the ‘best’ of them to avoid it. God’s mercy does not offer second best. What is bought with the life-blood of God’s Son can surely only be the best. After that there can be nothing better. The truth is that the passages we have looked at in the Gospels and Paul’s letters (see The After-life in the Gospels and The After-life in Paul) give the strict impression that once the judgment is given it is final and forever. The future blessing is with the Father. Surely nothing less than that can be acceptable.
The idea of a ‘kingdom age’ is often presented as ‘another chance’ for the half-believer. But any application of it can only result in inconsistency and a dilution of the Gospel. The ‘ideal’ conditions of a ‘kingdom age’ will not result in those who are made strong through being tried in the fire, but could only result in a false apathy and life of pretence - such is human nature! And, interestingly enough, to this most would agree. It is suggested that the millennium has partly this purpose in mind. But a kingdom age is not required to demonstrate this fact. Our lives of ease in some Western countries are sufficient to demonstrate it fully. Jesus makes clear to His listeners, as to us, that the chance is now. If we refuse it, He says, we must take the consequences we have brought on ourselves. There will be no second chance.
But one thing is certain. Differences on such questions are only of secondary importance. Whatever our view it will not affect the course of God’s timetable. What is of primary importance is that we all work together in love and fellowship, looking for His glorious appearing, and seeking to be faithful servants ready for Him when He comes.
If so please EMail us with your question to jonpartin@tiscali.co.uk and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer. EMailus.
Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.
GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---
NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION
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