Many of us live our Christian faith inside what is known as an “echo chamber.” We only listen to those inside our specific Christian “camp” believing that our group has the upper hand on truth while those other Christians just don’t understand.
I have spent more than thirty years praying and seeking. I wanted the truth no matter what it cost. And what I mean by “the truth” is I wanted to be in line with what Jesus and His own followers believed and taught according to, and that’s important here, “according to” their worldview, meaning understanding how they themselves understood their Old Testament, the mission of Jesus, and the future.
With that, here are two posts I wrote recently on Facebook, but which belong together.
First post:
Last night I discovered this…
I discovered that the 144,000 of the 12 Tribes of Israel mentioned in the book of Revelation did not originate with John, the author of Revelation.
For too many years now I have known things that I didn’t want to know. I read the Bible and at times I recognized things that seemed odd. Meaning, I could tell they had a history outside of the Bible.
I first realized this when I learned of the various Jewish writings that were out there that we don’t have in our Bible’s but which were familiar to the authors of scripture.
Therefore, I intuitively knew immediately that we didn’t have the whole story. We were missing background information at times.
30 years ago I was stuck alone in my head with this information that it seemed no one else knew about. But of course scholars knew, but I had no one who understood what I was talking about. Since that time, more has come to light due to social media and the advances in sharing information.
With that, I have hated the book of Revelation because deep inside I knew that it had a history lost in time and it terrified me because I feared it was not an inspired book after all.
The history to the book of Revelation is found in extra biblical writings found along side the Dead Sea Scrolls.
So what? Does it mean it isn’t true? No. It means we are misunderstanding it. God prepared a group of individuals for Christ’s coming. There were those looking for the Messiah and writing things. They got some things right. This group was in the Wilderness with John the Baptist and John the Apostle of Jesus, who was a disciple of John the Baptist as the gospel of John tells us.
Just because God spoke “outside of” our Bible doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Just because we lack information in our own Bible’s doesn’t mean it isn’t inspired. The book of Revelation was understood by those John was writing to. We don’t understand it because it is written in code.
This “code” style of writing was a way of writing done by some Jewish groups before Jesus even came along.
With that, 1, 7, 666, 10, 12, 1000, 144,000, are all codes. They are hidden codes known to Jews. In other words, Jesus’ reign on earth being “1,000” yrs, doesn’t mean that. And 144,000 being sealed of the 12 Tribes of Israel, doesn’t mean that. And the 7 seals, doesn’t mean that. And so much more!
Basically, the book of Revelation should be viewed as a symbolic book that is meant to encourage the Church in times of persecution and in the expectation of the LORD’S return.
Second post:
Jesus must reign until all His enemies are under His feet…
I would like to use the verse above, found in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, as a foundation for understanding complicated passages found elsewhere that speak of the end.
Paul tells us specifically that Christ must reign at the right hand of the Father in heaven UNTIL all His enemies are under His feet. And then He says that the last enemy to be destroyed is DEATH.
Paul, unlike the gospel of Matthew or the book of Revelation which are written to Jews, is speaking to us Gentiles. Therefore Paul is using “normal” language to explain the end.
But Matthew chapter 24 and John (in Revelation) is taking Old Testament imagery and “moving it forward” into the future and using the past to speak of the future. Get it?
If you were to read 1 Corinthians chapter 15 together with the book of Revelation or with Matthew chapter 24 which is about the end times, you wouldn’t be able to match them together.
Anyway, my point is this: the 1000 year reign of Christ “on earth,” the way it is described in Revelation chapter 20, is impossible if 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is true.
Why? Well let’s go to the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets are the foundation for every New Testament discussion about the end. For instance, both the idea of a 1000 year reign and a New Heaven and New Earth come from there. However, there were developments of these themes before Christ arrived, from Jewish authors, who were looking for the Messiah.
The interesting thing is that in the Old Testament, the reign of Christ on earth is the SAME as the New Heavens and New Earth.
The idea of them being “separate” is only found in the book of Revelation.
Here’s what I’m saying: there is no litteral reign of Christ on earth according to the Apostle Paul. However, I am NOT saying that Christ is not returning to judge the world.
We must understand this important change that took place between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the prophets of the Old Testament, the Promised Land and Jerusalem and Mt Zion were located on earth. In the New Testament, these are all in Heaven now.
Why?
Because the Jews came to understand that Satan was the god of the ENTIRE WORLD including the Promised Land. Because Satan brought death, sickness, and sin into the world. And all those things were on planet earth.
Get it?
So, Christ is reigning currently in the Promised Land above, on Mt Zion, in the heavenly Jerusalem, UNTIL death is destroyed once and for all.
Therefore, Revelation chapter 20 where Christ is supposedly reigning on earth for 1000 years, and THEN there is a world war where Gog and Magog attack Jerusalem. Then judgment. Then a New Heaven and New Earth, does not work!
But Revelation chapter 20 is taking apocalyptic imagery from the past and “moving it forward” and making one end times event into two.
Why? Because it was a way of writing that was familiar to his audience.
So then, Christ will continue to reign from heaven until the end.
Lastly, be encouraged. You, as part of the Body-of-Christ on earth, have authority over the earth as you submit yourself to Christ. You have authority over the earth because Jesus Christ, through His death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father, has restored those who are His so that through the power of the Holy Spirit we bring Christ everywhere we go and influence the world with light, truth, and love.
Aletheia: Truth in the Darkness 