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| Sylvester Hassell On The 1000 Year Reign |
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| Written by Sylvester Hassell |
| Monday, 30 August 2010 10:21 |
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The following is from History Of The Church Of God, From The Creation To A.D. 1885, by Cushing Biggs and Sylvester Hassell, pages 258-261. Hassell presents three historic viewpoints of the 1000 year reign, as mentioned only in Revelation chapter 20. Primitive Baptists, as with most predestinarians and historic theologians, are basically a-millennialists. This writing examines the basic principles of each of the three main opinions, pre-millenialism, a-millenialisism, and post-millenialism. (Note: words in quotations are just that, quotations of other writers whom Hassell quotes)
"The destruction of Satan's representatives, the beast and the false-prophet, to whom he gave his power, throne and authority, is followed by the binding of Satan himself a thousand years. Re 20:1-7 The Jewish rabbis thought that, as the world was created in six days, and on the seventh God rested, so there would be six millenaries (or six thousand years), followed by a Sabbatical Millennium" (one thousand years). If there were exactly 4,000 years before the birth of Christ, this opinion, if true, would make the dawn of the Millennium about 2000 A.D.; but, as we have stated before, there are 200 different opinions of the exact interval between the creation of Adam and the birth of Christ, so that the matter is, as to its date, quite uncertain. Whether the thousand years of Satan's confinement in the bottomless pit, mentioned six times in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, are to be before or after the second advent of Christ, does not very plainly appear from the Scriptures, and is still a warmly contested point with the ablest Bible scholars. As the Old Testament Scriptures predicted the first coming of Christ -not only spiritually, in mercy or judgment, but also literally, personally and visibly; so, in the most unmistakable language, do the New Testament Scriptures foretell His second coming -not only spiritually, in mercy or judgment, but also literally, personally and visibly. Ac 1:11; 3:20-21; Mt 16:27; 25:31; 26:64; Mr 8:38; 1Co 4:5; 11:26; 15:23; Php 3:20; 1Th 4:14-18; Heb 9:28; Re 1:7 By many ancient Jewish Christians, and by the church generally from 150 to 250 A.D., during a period of great persecution, and by some learned individuals and some transient parties since, it was and has been believed that there would be two future personal advents of Christ, one before and another after the Millennium, or thousand years' confinement of Satan. John Gill (A.D. 1697-1771), perhaps the most learned, able, sound, upright and humble Baptist minister since the days of Paul, was thoroughly persuaded that Christ would come personally upon the earth again just before the Millennium, and destroy His enemies, and reign personally with His saints on earth a thousand years; and, in the second volume of his Body of Divinity, he advances a large number of powerful Scripture arguments in support of this position. And, in the present age, such distinguished Bible scholars as Alford, Ebrard, Auberlen, Birks, Elliot, Fausset, Lange and others, advocate the same opinion. This belief is based chiefly on "these two classes of passages: 1st, Those which seem to connect the future advent with the restoration of Israel, the destruction of Antichrist, or the establishment of a universal kingdom of righteousness on earth, such as Isa 11:1-16; 12:1-6; 59:1-21 (compared with Ro 11:25-27); Jer 23:5-8; Eze 43:1-27; Da 7:9-27; Joe 3:16-21; Zec 14:1-21; Ro 11:1-27; 2Th 2:1-17; Ac 3:19-21. 2d, Those passages which speak of the coming of the Lord as imminent (in connection with those which declare that there is to be a period of generally diffused peace and righteousness preceding the first consummation), such as Mt 24:42-44; Mr 13:32-37; Lu 12:35-40; 1Th 5:2-3; Tit 2:11-13; Jas 5:7-8." Mr. E. R. Craven, American Editor of Lange's Commentary on the Book of Revelation, believes that, as in the earlier Old Testament prophecies, only one advent of Christ seems to have been contemplated, but in the later (compare Da 9:25-26 with Da 7:13-14) there was a prediction of two such advents, separated, as we now know, by millennia; so, while in the earlier portions of the New Testament, only one future advent of Christ seems predicted, in the later portions (compare Re 19:11-16 with Re 20:11-15) there are indications of two -one to establish a universal kingdom of righteousness on earth, and the other to terminate the present order of things in a general judgment.
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| Last Updated on Monday, 30 August 2010 10:34 |





