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Pastor: Rev. Garry Eriks Phone: (970) 667-9481
Vol. 7, No. 20
Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org
Contents:
The Millennium
Christ's Sorrow Over Jerusalem's Sins
(4)
What Will the Resurrection Body be
Like?
Scripture's testimony concerning the coming of Christ raises the question, "When (and how) shall He come?" It is in answering this question that the subject of the millennium of Revelation 20 comes up. The different millennial views, premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillennialism, therefore all have to do with the time and manner of Christ's coming.
From one point of view it is to be regretted that millennialism, something mentioned only a few times in Scripture and that in one chapter of a difficult and symbolic book, should have become such a matter of debate and disagreement among Christians. Nevertheless, the difference between these different millennial views is important and not to be dismissed as of no account. The time and manner of Christ's coming are important!
For example, the constant testimony of Scripture that Jesus comes quickly, is of enormous importance for our hope while we live our lives in the world (cf. II Pet. 3:8, 9, 17). So is the fact that He comes suddenly and unexpectedly (cf. I Thess. 5:1-10).
So, too, the different views of the millennium also raise questions about the nature of Christ's kingdom, whether it is earthly or heavenly, present or future, Jewish or Christian, and these questions, too, are of the utmost importance. We are called to seek the kingdom and we must know what it is we seek, if we are to fulfill this calling.
We will not, therefore, dismiss the subject of the millennium as unimportant, but will attempt to explain the different views, and to show from Scripture what ought to be believed. We do this not to further divisions among Christians or to offend those who hold differing views from ours, but to show what the Word teaches and why.
We trust that everyone understands that "millennium" means "a thousand years," and refers to the "thousand years" mentioned six times in Revelation 20. During that thousand years, according to Revelation 20, Satan is bound, and those who have part in the first resurrection live and reign with Christ. At the end of that period, whatever period of time it describes, Satan is loosed for a "little season" the nations are deceived by him and gathered to battle against the holy city. God then intervenes and judgement follows. That much is clear to all from Revelation 20. What that all means, however, is not so clear.
Some believe this is all in the future, including the thousand years itself (premillennialism), others that it has all already begun and that we are already in the period described as a thousand years (amillennialism). Still others teach that while it may have begun, its principle fulfillment is still future and will be seen only when a period of unprecedented peace, blessing and prosperity comes for the gospel and the church (postmillennialism).
In connection with this some believe that the next personal coming of Christ is prior to the millenium (pre-), others, that it is after the millennium (post- and a-). The former also teach more than one future coming of Christ, the latter two expect only one future coming. To these different views we turn in our next article. Rev. Ronald Hanko
Christ's Sorrow Over Jerusalem's Sins (4)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Mt. 23:37.
A reader asks: "Will you please re-explain this passage?" I am happy to do that because it is an important and interesting passage which has often been misinterpreted. Apparently, I explained the passage in an earlier issue, but that was long ago and it will not hurt to look at the passage once again. Note that a parallel passage is found in Luke 13:34.
In the last article, I referred rather in detail to Gal. 4:21-27 because that passage speaks of Jerusalem and her children, just as the Lord does in this passage in Matthew. There is, Paul says, a Jerusalem which is from below, which is in bondage with her children. That is the Jerusalem which the Lord addresses in Mt. 23:37.
There is also a Jerusalem which is above, which brings forth free children who are sons and daughters of God almighty. Of the children of that Jerusalem Jesus also speaks. But as I pointed out earlier that Jesus makes a sharp distinction between Jerusalem and Jerusalem's children. Jerusalem is condemned, and of it Jesus says: "Your house is left unto you desolate" (vs. 38). But Jerusalem's children Christ desires to save. He does not say, nor does He intend to say that He desires to save Jerusalem; it is rather her children that are the objects of our Savior's love and compassion.
Let it be understood at the very outset that these children of Jerusalem whom Christ desires to save are also surely saved. They were saved in Christ's earthly ministry. Among them were the 11 apostles, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha, Martha, Lazarus, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the Jews who believed in the Lord. 120 of them were gathered together in the upper room on Pentecost.
Among Jerusalem's children who were saved on or after Pentecost were the 3000 who were converted and baptized under the preaching of the apostle Peter. And also among the children of Jerusalem who were saved were those multitudes who, subsequent to Pentecost, were added to the church. These are directly Jerusalem's children because they are the remnant according to the election of grace from Judah itself.
But, in a yet broader sense of the word, and following Paul's direction in Gal. 4:26, Jerusalem's children are all the elect throughout the entire new dispensation, gathered by Christ, taken under the wings of His protecting care, born out of Jerusalem which is above, and becoming by a wonder of grace, the bride of Christ, descending out of heaven (Rev. 21:1,2). But the question remains: Why does Jesus say in this text that He desires to save Jerusalem's children? Why does He not say that, in fact, He does save them?
There is a good reason for this. Jesus means to say that it is His will and the purpose for which He came into the world to save Jerusalem's children. But He met opposition at every turn. That is, the wicked Jews not only themselves refused to believe in Jesus, but they did everything in their power to keep others from believing in Jesus.
Think of how they cast the man born blind whom Jesus healed out of the synagogue (John 9:34) and how they threatened to excommunicate anyone who did believe in Jesus (John 9:22). Think of how they threatened Nicodemus when he stood up for some measure of justice before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-52).
It is a terrible sin to refuse to believe in Christ. But it is a yet more terrible sin to do all in one's power to attempt to prevent others from believing in Christ. This was the sin of the Jews. And, if I may add a word here, this is the sin of those who believe not the truth of the sovereignty of God and who do what they can to prevent others from believing that doctrine.
One more question needs answering. I mentioned it in an earlier article. It is this: Why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem? Is not this itself proof that Jesus desired to save Jerusalem? The answer to that question is an emphatic No.
The reason why Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem was because of the preeminent position which the city had occupied over the centuries. It had been built by David and Solomon under God's direction to be a city beautiful for situation, a city which in all its glory was the city in which God dwelt. It was the symbol of Israel, God's chosen people to whom pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises (Rom. 9:5). In their terrible wickedness the Jews had made the city an instrument of sin, a spiritual wasteland, a city devoted to the destruction of Christ. It was the opposite of all that God had originally made it.
Jesus wept because of what that city was once. For the same reason Jesus cleansed the temple, for it was a picture of His body, and the Jews had made it a den of thieves. After all, the type of Christ ought to be as near the reality as possible. And Jerusalem, all of whose institutions pointed ahead to Christ, was now an apostate city which killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent to her. And it added this above all that it barred the way of the city's children to come to Christ. That is monstrous! The city which pictured Christ in every detail killed those who believed in Christ! No wonder Jesus wept.
But Christ gathered these children. He is the almighty Lord Who gathers, defends and preserves His church throughout every generation. Prof. H. Hanko
What Will the Resurrection Body be Like?
One of our readers asks: "Will our new bodies be as people of the same age group, or if a child dies at 10 years old will they have a new body recognized as a body of a 10-year-old, and if a person dies at 60 years will they have a new body recognized as a body of a 60-year-old person?"
Scripture tells us very little by way of answering this question. If there is any passage that provides any answer at all, it is Isaiah 65:20. Perhaps our correspondent was thinking of this passage when he wrote.
We should notice that Isaiah 65:20 refers to the new heavens and the new earth (vs. 17), not to this present world, for that shall have passed away and "shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." The verse does not, as many suppose, refer to some future earthly millennium in this present world.
Insofar as the verse gives us any help in answering our question, it suggests that there will be no difference of age in the new creation. The word "thence" means literally "from there," so that the verse says that there will not be from there an old man or an infant of days. This we take to mean, among other things, that there is no difference of age or aging in the new heavens and earth.
Revelation 10:6, which tells us that in this coming eternal state there will be "time no longer" appears to confirm this. The word translated there as "time' refers to time as a succession of moments, the passing of hours and days and years. That there will be no passage of time as we now know it would seem to imply that there shall be no age or difference of age either.
Perhaps we should remember in this connection that our bodies themselves shall be changed wonderfully through the resurrection from the dead. There will be no more marrying or giving in marriage (Lk. 20:34, 35); apparently no eating necessary to sustain the body (I Cor. 6:13); we shall be as the angels (Matt. 22:30).
The fact, however, that Scripture says so very little about what the resurrection body will be like, and so too, what heaven itself will be like, is an important reminder to us. Scripture does not tell us much about these things because it is not necessary for us to know them, nor are they the things that matter.
The resurrection body will be glorious and wonderful, that we do know. I Corinthians 15 gives us some indication of that, especially when it compares the present body to a seed sown in the earth and the resurrection body to the plant that grows from it. They are so different they are hardly to be recognized as the same body. Perhaps the change from lowly earth-crawling worm to the butterfly which soars through the heavens is another picture. Yet even this is not the most important thing.
What we must know about the resurrection is that the changed and glorified body God gives us in the resurrection will be delivered forever from the presence and power of sin and from all the consequences of sin (Rev. 21:4; 22:3). Not only that, but in that body we shall be able to inherit heaven itself, which "flesh and blood cannot inherit" (I Cor. 15:50). And even more importantly, these vile bodies shall be fashioned like His most glorious body (Phil. 3:21). We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is (I Jn. 3:2). Christ is our hope, not the resurrection body. Rev. Ronald Hanko
Last modified: 02-May-02