Think Wink.

I haven’t written on eschatology in a fairly long time. Sure I have written a brief post linking to anonther post but I haven’t really blogged at length on the subject in some time. Recently I watched Ken Gentry’s presentation on preterism, more specifically partial/moderate preterism, The Beast of Revelation Identified, and I enjoyed the video. For a partial preterist like myself, it was really good. For a person (like my roommate–that’s right I moved over the Fourth of July and I now live in KC-KS) who either doesn’t know what he/she believes or isn’t a partial or even a full preterists this video gives a good overview to get some questions asked and answered. In that dvd Dr. Gentry talked about how since the martyrs who are in heaven are said to reign with Christ, we must rule out the notion of a literal 1000-year millennium. That has intrigued my thoughts so I think I am going to put down here in the next post or two.

For most people, one of the main sticking points in eschatology is how a person understands the millennium, specifically if it is a literal 1000-year period or is it more of a metaphor for the church-age. I have made it no secret that I favor the latter view of a metaphor for the church-age. One of the reasons why I lean this way is for how Revelation understands the church within its own pages. In this post I want to look at three, possibly four, texts from Revelation and see how they understand the church.

First is Revelation 5:9-10 ESV where John recoreds his vision as,

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”

There are three aorist verbs in this passage each indicating an achieved action by the Lamb: ἐσφάγης (”you were slain”), ἠγόρασας (”you purchased”), and ἐποίησας (”you made/appointed”). These aorist verbs are followed by and punctuated by a future tense verb (although there is a textual variant on this verb as being present tense and not future) βασιλεύσουσιν (”they will reign/rule;” “they” points back to the people purchased out from the nations). It is for these three verbs that the Lamb was worthy. But the second and third aorists (ἠγόρασας and ἐποίησας) point back to the first aorist verb (ἐσφάγης). They stem from the first verb. They death of the Lamb constitutes the purchasing and appointing (which then results in the future tense verb). The death purchases people and makes them a kingdom and reign over the earth/land. So those for whom Jesus died and ransomed are a kingdom that reigns over the earth.

This lines up very nicely with Revelation 1:4-6 ESV which says,

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom (ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς βασιλείαν) (cf. 5:10–ἐποίησας αὐτοὺς…βασιλείαν), priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Again, John, speaking from a first-person point of view and looking back, says that Jesus has made them a kingdom. The same aorist verb is used. The church is a kingdom for/of God and before God as priests. Christ freed us from our sins and made us the kingdom. This parallels Revelation 5:9-10 very closely. Again, as a result of Jesus’ action freeing us from our sin, or at the same time Jesus freed us from our sin, we (the church) became the kingdom of God and his Son (cf. Colossians 1:13-14).

This same theme appears again in Revelation 12:10-11 ESV where John records,

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

In the context of this vision, the dragon (a.k.a. Satan) waited for the male child to be born to the woman. When the male-child was born, the dragon tried to devour the child but was defeated by God who snatched the child to heaven. When Satan tried to invade heaven, he and his angels were defeated and cast down to earth. This verse is the announcement from heaven of Satan’s defeat by Christ. Note two things: 1.) “Now (ἄρτι)…the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come (ἐγένετο),” the kingdom of God has come at the defeat of Satan and him being cast down from heaven. 2.) “they have conquered (ἐνίκησαν) him by the blood of the Lamb…” those whom Satan accused day and night before the throne of God was defeated by them because of the blood of Jesus. By Jesus blood they defeated Satan. The kingdom of God has come with the defeat of Satan and the saints defeat Satan by the blood of Jesus. Their victory in the kingdom of God is because of the blood of Jesus. This theme fits with Revelation 1:5-6 and Revelation 5:9-10 like this:

Set free from sins (1:5)//slain and purchased men (5:9)//Overcome by the blood of the Lamb (12:11)

Made kings (1:6)//Made kings and will reign over the land (5:10)//The kingdom of God and authority of his Christ have come (12:10; cf. Matthew 28:18-20)

What we have seen in Revelation is that the church constitutes God’s kingdom. Christ, who mediates God’s authority and rulership, rules through the church. Or another way, through the church Christ rules the earth. This being constituted a kingdom through which Christ reigns over the world was purchased by Christ’s atoning death on the cross!

Now the final passage is Revelation 20:4 ESV where John says after Satan has been cast down into the abyss for 1000 years,

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.

Of this text let me restate a parallel from Revelation 6:9 which says, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” They were slain “for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” This fits with Revelation 20:4 as they were “beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.” This identifies that the meaning of ἔζησαν (”they came to life”) is not physical but spiritual and referring to being in the heavenly places with Christ. This parallel argues that this millennial period is the church-age and not a literal 1000 years.

There is another parallel that I want to make with Revelation 20:4 and that is 12:11 where John observes, “they have conquered [the dragon]…by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Here we see that by radical living for Christ to the point of death, these saints of the Most High God conquered/overcame Satan. The saints in Revelation 20:4 were “beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.” This puts these deceased saints as part of the kingdom of God, and thus talking about the church age again. Revelation 20:4 ties back to 12:10-11 remarkably in this way. There is a similar context, defeat of Satan, and similar language, martyrdom because of their witness for Christ and word of God.

But there is more to the language that ties Revelation 20:4 to Revelation 5:9-10. Note the aorist verb ἐβασίλευσαν (”they reigned”) is the same verb that appears as the future verb βασιλεύσουσιν in 5:10. In Revelation 5 the church was made a kingdom and will reign. In Revelation 20:4 the saints who are martyred reign on high with Christ over his kingdom for 1000 years.

Two concluding points that I have to make. 1.) The 1000-year period in Revelation 20:1-6 in my estimation cannot be a literal millennium but a metaphorical one. The language of the entire book of Revelation does not allow for that reading. Rather this must be a metaphor for the church over which and through which Christ reigns over the earth.

2.) I am amazed at how central one’s understanding of the atonement impacts one’ eschatology. It is the atonement constitutes the church as the kingdom that reigns over the earth. The work of Jesus Christ upon the cross is the hinge on which the wheel of theology spins on. If a person doesn’t get Jesus right, they cannot get anything else right! Just follow this theme of Matthew. In Matthew 4:17 where Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then in Matthew 28:18 Jesus says he has all authority in heaven and on earth. After his work on the cross and resurrection, Jesus was given all authority. Now compare that with Revelation 12. The king was born in Revelation 12:1-6. In Revelation 12:7-9, the adversary was defeated and cast down. In Revelation 12:10-12 a voice cries out that the kingdom of God and the authority of his Christ has come. Everything hinges upon the work of the Messiah.

So let us endeavor to know and understand this Lamb who was slain, who purchased people from the nations, who freed us from our sins, by whose blood we overcome the dragon, and who we love more than life itself. Let us now seek him and love him more than we love life.

Related posts:

The Nature of Prophecy

The Temple, the Trinity, and the Apocalypse

A Thunderous, Roaring, Crushing Voice?