Hoyte Nelson's 

Poems/ Reflections & Biblical Essays

Biblical Essays

Poems & Reflections

Essay

The Church Victorious

The millennial question as I have come to understand it has been divided into systems, and subdivided into systems, especially within the last century or so; moreover, within Southern Baptist ranks within my life time. When I entered the ministry over a half century ago, the subject of an “earthly millennium” was foreign to me. I had attended church and Sunday School all of my life, and was taught that when we die, or when Jesus comes again, we would go to be with Him in heaven.

The Bible was always precious to me, even in my youth, yet I knew little about the varied systems, which today are so widely held. This is not to say that I knew nothing about what the scriptures had to say concerning the coming of our Lord; it was a simple truth to me: He is coming.  Death is sure; therefore, be prepared.

For example, in 2 Corinthians 5: 1 we read, “For we know that when this earthly tent which is our house (body) is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” It was as simple as that! When I read scriptures like, “we” have a building...eternal in the heavens,” and “they” lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4), I took it for granted that “we,” and “they” were not necessarily the same folk.

In the years of my ministry, in order to reconcile my thinking with the pre-millennial system, or systems of which most of my fellow pastors ascribed, I took the position that the mid-tribulation theory would have to be correct because I believed then, as I do now, that no one will be saved when the church is no longer here on this earth.

I will now explain why I no longer hold to a fixed millennial position. I believe that the prophecies concerning Israel and the kingdom are now, or will be, fulfilled in Christ and His church. I believe the millennium, as far as it relates to God’s people, has to do with a very special people, who gave their lives as a witness to their faith. Whatever the signified (symbolism) of a thousand years means, it most certainly has to do with the “souls” of the martyred saints, both Jew or Gentile who are now “one” in Christ Jesus.

I believe that the Throne of David was established at the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2: 29-36), and will never be re-established until the New Heaven and the New Earth comes to pass as recorded in 2 Peter 3: 9-13; Isaiah 65: 17; Revelation 21: 1, etc. 

I believe the “Temple” question was settled at the Jerusalem conference. In the book of Acts, chapter fifteen, concerning the Jew and Gentile church as one, being the Tabernacle of David (or the Temple of David) which was torn down (destroyed), and restored as the church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, there will not be a restoration of a biblical earthly Temple in the future (Acts 15: 13-18; 2 Kings 23: 27).

I believe the church is now the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6: 16), and that we are, in Christ, the sons of Abraham. In Galatians 3:7, it is said: “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham.” 

I believe the purpose of the nation of Israel, through our father Abraham, was fulfilled in bringing to us the scriptures; furthermore, the nation of Israel, as a nation, had long since been lost in the annals of time, and only Judah [now called “Jews”], remained as a nation, at the time of Christ’s first Advent.  Remember the promise that God made to Jacob: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh come” (Genesis 49:10), and that after Shiloh came (Messiah), the prophesy was fulfilled concerning Judah. “The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there’ ” (2 Kings 23: 27). Jesus again reminds His disciples of this truth in these words: “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer                                                                                                                                                darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthews 8: 11,12).

  The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians is quite revealing. In chapter 3: 16 he gives this explanation: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and his seed, he does not say, ‘And to seeds’ as referring to many,’ but rather ‘to thy seed,’ which is Christ.”

And so I believe that the promise to Abraham was not fulfilled through a nation, but through a person, Jesus Christ.  This salvation, complete in Jesus Christ, is now being

proclaimed, through the church, even to the ends of the earth. The mystery, kept secret from the prophets of old, is now the foundation for the building of His kingdom (Colossians 1: 24-29).  

Interestingly, neither the church, or Israel, or Judah for that matter, were in themselves, ever intended to be anything other than the vehicle through whom God would bring into fulfillment all of His purposes from eternity. These are now fulfilled in the mystery that was so long hidden in the council of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That is, that the Gentiles would be forever one with Israel as referenced by Paul in Ephesians 3: 3-6; therefore, the makeup of the mystery (Jews and Gentiles), now called the church, is the consummation of the mystery, (Jew and Gentile as one body in Christ Jesus.

The church, as the body of Christ, is one body forever:

Ephesians 2: 13-14 says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who made both Jew and Gentile into one, and broken down the barrier of the dividing wall.”

          In the book of Acts, in reference to the Jerusalem conference, says this:  “And He made no distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles, cleansing their hearts by faith” (Chapter 15, verse 9). The wall of separation is forever broken down between the Jew and the Gentile, never to be rebuilt.  Christ has now been glorified on His throne in heaven, where He is now making intercession for us. In Ephesians 4: 4-6,Paul writes, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and all.” There is no more Jew or Gentile, but Jew and Gentile as one body in Christ.  There is no more middle wall to separate us forever!

The promises to Israel concerning the Kingdom: (The King is now seated upon David’s Throne) In Acts 2: 29-33, it is said, “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and that his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath, to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul should not be left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption; this Jesus, God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.  Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit; has poured out this which you both see and hear.” (Verse 36) “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ.”  Jesus is now exalted forever on David’s throne, waiting for that final Day of Judgment when the righteous in Christ are called to their eternal home, and the lost to their place of damnation” (2 Thessalonians 1: 5-10; 2 Thessalonians 1: 5-10).  

Peter, in I Peter 1: 3-5, addressing the Jews scattered [aliens], says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you; who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.”  (Notice that the promise of King David’s Son, sitting upon the throne, was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus; we wait for the last day when He comes to bring to an end all the promises (the varied glimpses of His coming) on that day” (2 Thessalonians 1: 4-10).

I believe that the Church, consisting of both Jew and Gentile, is now the Temple of David, restored. Why? At the Jerusalem conference (Acts 15: 14-18), James, addressing the conference, says this, “Brethren, Simeon has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name, and with these words the prophets agree, just as it is written. ‘After these things (a prophecy referring to the first coming of our Lord), “and I will return, and I will rebuild the Tabernacle (Temple) of David which is fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, in order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,’ Says the Lord, who makes these thing known from of old.”

The new covenant is now fulfilled, and replaces the old:

“Behold the days come, says Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel...I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it...”

In Hebrews 8: 7,10,13 It says, “For if the first covenant has been faultless, then no place would be sought for a second...”“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days (the days of Christ) I will put my laws in their minds, and will write them in their hearts...” “In that he says, a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete...and is ready to vanish away.” The Church, made up of both Jew and Gentile, is now the “house of Israel” rebuilt on an eternal foundation: Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Conner Stone.

Again, (Hebrews 9: 15),  “And for this reason [the old covenant now obsolete, has passed away], He (Jesus) is the mediator of the new covenant. (Also, read Hebrews 9: 16-28).

Conclusion:  If we understand the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Temple being fulfilled as the church of all the redeemed, including both Jew and Gentile as explained in Acts 15: 13-18.  If we understand that the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the promise given to David that his seed (singular) is seated upon his throne forever as is fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ as explained in Acts 2: 29-31. 

If we understand that the millennium is limited to the “souls” of the martyred saints whom, it is said, “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,” and since there are no references to the earth, or to the Jews or to Israel in the book of the revelation, and since it is John who is called to “come up here (Revelation 4: 1), I conclude that I was in error when I tried to embrace my former position concerning these matters.