Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church

5101 Beechtree

Hudsonville, Michigan 49426
Services: 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org

Vol. 8, No. 2

Contents:

Literalism and Revelation 20
The Abomination of Desolation
What About Rewards?

Literalism and Revelation 20

As we saw in the last article, amillennialism does not take the thousand years of Rev. 20 literally, but understands it as a symbolic reference to the complete New Testament age. The symbolism is found in the fact that 1000 is 10 X 10 X 10, where 10 is understood to represent completeness. It is this non-literal understanding of the thousand years literally that we wish to defend in this article.

We have already pointed out from Ps. 50:10, that a "thousand" is not always to be taken literally in Scripture. God does not only own the cattle on a thousand hills, but on all of them. Other passages in the Psalms where a "thousand" is not literal, but has the meaning "all" or "the whole" are Ps. 84:10; 91:7; and 105:8. Those who say, therefore, that the number must always be taken literally, also in Rev. 20, are wrong.

We would point out, too, that there are other things in Rev. 20 that cannot be taken literally. Satan is not literally a dragon, nor can a spirit, Satan, be bound with a chain (cf. Lk. 24:39). Most, too, would understand the reference to the "pit" to be a reference to Hell, Satan's place. And, further on in the chapter, Antichrist is not in the literal sense a "beast" (vs. 10), nor the book of life a literal book of paper and printed pages.

There are also numerous examples of things that cannot be taken literally in the book of Revelation itself. No Christian I know, for example, expects that his reward will actually be a white stone with his name written on it (Rev. 2:17) or that he will be turned into a pillar in heaven (3:12), or that Jesus actually has a sword for a tongue (1:16).

It is striking that those who insist most loudly on a literal understanding of the thousand years, and say that anything else is unfaithfulness to Scripture are themselves unwilling to take literally the reference to souls in Rev. 20:4. They insist that these are not literal disembodied souls, but "whole persons."

We would remind our readers that Scripture itself does not demand a strict and rigorous literalism, and, indeed, tells us that "spiritualizing" is necessary for the interpretation of Scripture (I Cor. 2:14). There are many examples of such spiritualizing in Scripture, Galatians 4:21-31 being one notable example.

The proper way of interpreting Scripture is not a rigid and impossible literalism, but that Scripture interprets itself. It does this in Rev. 20 by showing us (1) that "a thousand" may sometimes be understood symbolically; (2) by showing us in Matt. 12:29 exactly when the binding of Satan took place; and (3) by showing us that the thousand years ends with the end of the world (Rev. 20:8-15). The only possible conclusion, therefore, on the basis of Scripture itself, is that the thousand years refers to the whole NT age.

Does all this matter? Indeed it does. If there is still a thousand year age to follow the end of this present age, then the heavenly hope of believers and the final judgment become so remote, that the calling to watch and to pray and to prepare for the judgment are all but meaningless. The urgency of our calling to wait and look for the end of all things rest on our assurance that these things are coming quickly! Rev. Ronald Hanko

The Abomination of Desolation

One of our readers asks to have Daniel 9:24-27 explained. This is probably too big a task for the short articles of this letter, but it seems to me as if the heart of the passage is in vs. 27, and on that passage I wish to comment. Let me quote it first, although the reader is asked to look up the whole passage.

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

The text, quite obviously, has to do with what is called elsewhere in Scripture, "the abomination of desolation." Daniel mentions it elsewhere, especially in chapter 12, verse 11. Our Lord mentions it in connection with His discussion of the signs of His coming at the end of time. In Mt. 24:15 Jesus tells us, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand) then let them which be in Judea flee…."

From these references in Scripture, we may conclude: 1) that the reference is to something so spiritually abominable that one shudders even to think of it: it is an Abomination - with a capital A. 2) This abomination, whatever it is, makes desolate. And, if we should ask, What is made desolate? The answer is the holy place so that the sacrifice and oblation are forced to cease. 3) It shall be there only until the consummation when that which is determined shall be poured out upon those who are desolate, that is, upon those who are made desolate by this abomination.

Putting the discussion of this abomination into the context of Daniel's prophecy, it is evident that Daniel is referring to the very thing that happened under the rule of Antiochus Ephiphanes, the Syrian despot, who attempted to destroy the true worship of God in Jerusalem during the 400 years between Malachi and Christ.

He set up an image of himself in the most holy place of the temple. He forced every Israelite to worship that image of himself. He offered pig's meat on the altar of burnt offering and forced the Israelites to eat unclean meat as part of the sacrificial feast.

He made the holy place desolate and made the worship of God impossible.

Jesus refers to this very prophecy in connection with His discussion of the signs of His coming - signs which He discusses in their relation to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. I might remark parenthetically that the post-millennial preterists limit Mt. 24 exclusively to the destruction of Jerusalem. But they have no conception of prophecy and mislead God's people.

Jesus' reference to the destruction of Jerusalem is to an event that happened in 70 A.D. when the armies of Titus destroyed the holy city. The Roman eagle was set up in the most holy place of the temple and the Jews were forced to worship this symbol of Rome, thereby declaring that the Roman emperor was divine. The holy place where God dwelt in covenant fellowship with His people was made desolate and the worship of God became impossible.

Jesus speaks of one more fulfillment of that event. It shall take place just before the end. Under the reign of Antichrist, the beast shall set up an image of himself in the places where God is worshipped and shall insist that all worship be now given to him. Those who refuse to worship before his image shall be killed.

This is in keeping with other passages of Scripture. It agrees with II Thess. 2:4 in which Antichrist is described as sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. It is in keeping with Jesus' command to flee when this happens (Mt. 24:16) because all worship of God in the corporate worship of the church shall become impossible. This is also in keeping with the description of Antichrist in Rev. 13:14-15 which speaks of an image of the beast and the demand of the beast that all men worship him.

And we are told that just before the end the witness of the church shall be silenced completely and the worship of the saints shall come to an end. This is stated emphatically in Rev. 11:7ff.

These will be dreadful times for the church. Those who refuse to worship the beast will be killed. Those who refuse his mark will be unable to buy or sell. Those who remain faithful to God will no longer be able to worship Him in the company of the saints, for the holy place is made desolate by this monstrous abomination of Antichrist who makes himself God. But we must not be alarmed or fearful, for the full number of the elect is now gathered, the church has served its purpose in the world, the cup of iniquity is all but full, and Christ shall come to pour out His wrath upon that spiritual desolation which Antichrist creates.

It is well to close with Jesus' own admonition: "Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man returns." Prof. Herman Hanko

What About Rewards?

Our question this time is lengthy: "What will the judgment seat of Christ mean for the believer? Does the Bible teach that there will be rewards in heaven? I have been loaned a book by a well-known author who states in his preface, 'The preponderant theme of this book … is based upon the apostle Paul's teaching that not all who go to heaven will receive a Reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ. But all can. We are all without excuse.'" Our correspondent adds, "There is very little mention of grace in the book."

There can be no doubt but that the Bible speaks of rewards, both for the righteous and the unrighteous in the judgment day (Matt. 16:27). What makes the matter the more difficult is the fact that Scripture says that these rewards are given "according to works" even in the case of the righteous. This sounds on first hearing like a denial of salvation by grace alone, and the teaching of meritorious good works.

Now there can be no doubt that the ungodly receive their just due in the judgment day. They receive exactly what they have earned by their evil works and their "reward" is entirely of merit, or more properly, of demerit. With this there can be no difficulty, nor would anyone object to such teaching (II Sam. 3:39; II Tim. 4:14). It is simply justice.

In the case of the righteous, however, the matter is different. It should be noticed, first of all, that they are rewarded according to works but not because of works. There is great difference here. A reward that was given on account of or because of works would indeed receive a reward that was merited, and would contradict all that Scripture teaches about grace and about the impossibility of man ever meriting anything with God (Lk. 17:10).

There can be no merit in the reward that is given to the righteous, therefore, at least not any merit of their own. If there is any merit involved, it is Christ's and His alone. Thus we say too that their reward is the "reward of grace" (cf. Rom. 4:4). It is grace added to grace, or, to put it differently, God rewarding His own work in us.

The salvation which brings about the good works of the believer is all of grace, and so are the good works themselves. It is God that works in them both the willing and the doing of those works (Phil. 2:13), and so they can claim no merit in the performing of them, and so too, when those works are rewarded, it is grace that they receive anything at all according to those works.

That the reward is according to works, therefore, is not a denial of this. The reward, in the justice of God, will indeed exactly match the good works we have done, that is what "according to" means. Nevertheless, the proportion of good works performed by one person in comparison of another, and his subsequent reward, are to be wholly ascribed to the grace of God (though all the sins and shortcomings are his own fault).

Scripture speaks of this reward, first of all, to draw us on to good works, for though the love of God and heart-felt gratitude for His goodness are the first motives for the good we do, the obtaining of that reward is also a motive (Matt. 5:12; 10:42; II Jn. 8). The promised reward draws us to it.

That this reward is according to works is both a warning and an encouragement. It is warning in that it reminds us that we shall not attain to it without striving with heart and strength to live in all good works for God's glory - and encouragement in that we may know from it that our labors are not in vain in the Lord. Rev. Ronald Hanko