Posted by Judge #15 [GLamotta] on April 03, 1999 at 19:27:20 {Ed9c7782HMMRXA6xmpscboLUiPtahc}:
JUDGMENT DAY MUST BE AFTER...THE MILLENNIUM!
There has been some loose claims of late that
Judgment Day must occur DURING the millennium.
This is one of the WTS false teachings,
however, according to the Bible.
Three simple and basic reasons why are these:
1) The Bible chronologically places Judgment
Day not just after the millennium but also
after Satan is let loose and he has had time
to start a rebellion and then those persons
are
destroyed and then Satan is finally put
into Gehenna. And THEN it talks about
Judgment Day.
2) The Bible at Revelation 20:5 clearly says:
"(The rest of the dead to not come to life
until after the 1000 years have ended)."
This
is figuratively speaking about those who
survive Armageddon and who are not part of the
144,000 (who do get eternal life early) will
not be given approval for eternal life until
after the 1000 years. And this is
because
they will undergo yet another test with Satan
after the millennium, and after they have been
taught thoroughly God's word and his
requirements. That's part of the purpose of
the millennium, so see how people who had
a
righteous government and perfection would
respond to Satan.
2a) Keeping the above in mind, therefore,
during Judgment Day is clearly says, "scrolls
were opened. But another scroll was opened,
it was the scroll of
life." Now that scroll
being opened meant that those written in it
would now be getting everlasting life! It was
time to reward the righteous! So that
DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS this happening during the
1000-year reign.
That's because how could
they be getting everlasting life now, after
everything is over, when 1) The Bible says
that the rest of the "dead" would not get life
until after the 1000 years were over, and 2)
Some of them still
had to be tested by Satan
and apparently many do rebel with Satan when
he is released? So what? They get eternal
life and God says, "Oops! Big mistake?" Not
hardly.
3) The most DYNAMIC reason why Judgment Day
must be
taken in its textual chronological
order, however, is this very wonderful
statement which occurs right after the throne
for judgment appears. Rev. 20:11 says: "And I
saw a great white throne and the one seated on
it.
From before him the earth and the
heaven fled away, and no place was found for
them.
That's a beautiful statement, "earth and
heaven fled away." But what does it mean?
This statement is referring to the "system
of
things" that existed just before the throne
was placed for Judgment Day. "Heaven and
earth" is like the "system of things" or the
order of things. So when this phrase is used,
it means that whatever was going on before
is
fully ended and done with. It's over! That
"heaven and earth" has fled! And now a new
situation and a new scenario is taking place.
What happened just before that is no longer?
Satan just got 86-ed! Satan is no longer.
So
what a change of venue.
Thus the scriptures are showing that this is a
brand new setting when it says, "heaven and
earth fled." But this statement cannot be
just reintroduced somewhere else and taken out
of order.
Because this statement has to refer
to the "heaven and earth" that was in place
when the judgment seat was sat. That means it
is related to just what was before it. So
when "heaven and earth fleeing" or a statement
like "I
saw a new heavens and a new earth"
(Rev. 21:1) is used, it is a TRANSITIONAL
STATEMENT, which means it has to follow
immediately what it is referring to. The old
heaven and earth is whatever was going on just
before.
So
even though some might find it compatible
with some beliefs to feel like the second
resurrection must take place during the
millennium and they are some doctrinally based
arguments to that effect, this TEXTUAL
indicator is
the Bible's way of keeping
important events in strict chronological
order.
Thus while it may be clear that interpretation
of scripture in some places clearly suggests
parallel accounts and some things described
out of
chronological order in scripture,
sometimes the Bible wants things in strict
chronological order. And this simple and
wonderful phrase, indicates that in this case,
this event called JUDGMENT DAY, is not simply
unique, and
not simply not related to the old
"heaven and earth" that knew Satan, but that
it must immediately follow that event and not
be taken out of chronological order.
Therefore, the scriptures in this case, simply
do not TEXTUALLY
permit the reintroduction of
Judgment Day to any other time period other
than immediately after Satan is destroyed
since the "fleeing of heaven and earth" is a
direct reference to what major change had just
taken place and
that that old system of things
that knew Satan had now fled, and this is a
brand new situation.
Furthermore, this is also a very UNIQUE
situation! Since Revelation 21:1 again says
that "..the former heavens and the
former
earth had passed away." This is indicating
that now that Judgment Day had ended, and
everyone had been judged, that finally a brand
new era of peace and happiness was now able to
proceed. It means that the system
of JUDGMENT
DAY had now ended and was completed.
Thus these two phrases just before and just
after Judgment Day not only lock it in place
chronologically, but also show that it indeed
is a separate and distinct event, a
special
time, unrelated to and unlike any other.
Mixing up Judgment Day with the millennium,
therefore, would be textually inappropriate
and would amount to twisting the scriptures.
I think that if anyone honestly
reads
Revelation 19,20 and 21 it should be clear
that at least in this portion of scripture,
the events are ending and are all given in
chronological order and there is no need to
have a complex reintroduction out of order
of
one little section throughout this entire
passage of scripture in order to confound us
with the idea that there were be anyone
resurrected during the millennium.
Cheers,
Contributed