How Soon Is Christ’s Return?
00:00:00.000 | Well, last time we wrestled with the texts that promise that one day we will see God,
00:00:09.560 | and those texts that say that we cannot see God.
00:00:12.760 | And today we have a question about when the children of God will see Jesus himself face
00:00:17.200 | to face.
00:00:18.200 | Will that be sooner, or will it be later?
00:00:20.560 | The question comes in to us from John in Denver, Colorado.
00:00:23.320 | Pastor John, I see two biblical realities I cannot reconcile in my own mind, and you
00:00:28.660 | are the man for the task.
00:00:30.520 | First, I see a strong emphasis that Jesus is about to return to earth.
00:00:35.740 | The church stands on her toes in anticipation, it seems.
00:00:39.360 | Also, I see a millennium, a 1,000 year period on earth before Christ returns.
00:00:46.160 | We are not in the millennium, I don't think.
00:00:49.040 | So Christ is at least 1,000 years off and soon to return.
00:00:53.740 | How do I reconcile those two realities?
00:00:57.240 | Hmm.
00:00:59.180 | There is one place in the Bible where this 1,000 years is spoken of explicitly, and let's
00:01:06.420 | read it because my guess is most people don't see it in context very often.
00:01:11.260 | They just bandy these things about.
00:01:13.060 | So let me read verses 1 to 6 of Revelation 20 and then try to answer his question.
00:01:20.340 | Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless
00:01:25.300 | pit and a great chain.
00:01:28.380 | And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him
00:01:34.420 | for 1,000 years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that
00:01:43.540 | he might not deceive the nations any longer until the 1,000 years were ended.
00:01:49.580 | After that, he must be released for a little while.
00:01:54.780 | Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.
00:02:02.180 | Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for
00:02:08.260 | the word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received
00:02:14.300 | its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
00:02:17.660 | They came to life and reign with Christ for 1,000 years.
00:02:24.660 | The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended.
00:02:31.380 | This is the first resurrection.
00:02:34.900 | In my view, a lot hangs on what you make of that statement.
00:02:39.020 | That resurrection, rising to reign with Christ for 1,000 years, this is the first resurrection.
00:02:45.460 | Where does that happen will make all the difference.
00:02:48.340 | Number six, "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.
00:02:56.300 | Over such, the second death," that's hell, "has no power, but they will be priests of
00:03:02.900 | God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for 1,000 years."
00:03:09.140 | So there's the one place in the Bible where explicitly it says there'll be 1,000 years,
00:03:15.300 | sometimes called millennial, meaning 1,000 millennial reign of Christ on the earth.
00:03:22.580 | Now the question that divides Bible-believing Christians is how this 1,000-year reign of
00:03:28.620 | Christ on the earth, followed by a complete revolution of things in the new heavens and
00:03:35.540 | the new earth, how that relates to the second coming of Christ.
00:03:39.940 | Some say the 1,000 years, the millennium, is a reference to the period of time where
00:03:45.300 | we are right now as Christ reigns in heaven today, till he puts all of his enemies under
00:03:51.020 | his feet.
00:03:52.020 | And then Christ comes back after this age of mission to the nations is complete, and
00:03:58.220 | then there's the new heavens and the new earth, they're established, and that view is called
00:04:02.580 | amillennialism.
00:04:06.020 | Not the best name, I think most of them would agree.
00:04:10.060 | What it means is that there is no future millennium that we're waiting for because we're in it
00:04:16.460 | now.
00:04:17.460 | So amillennialism, not the very greatest title, because they would say, "No, there is one
00:04:23.380 | and we're in it now."
00:04:24.980 | And it's symbolic for a very long period of time in which Christ is reigning now.
00:04:32.220 | Some others say that the 1,000 years is a real period of lengthy glory in this age.
00:04:42.220 | We're not in it yet.
00:04:44.100 | It will come just before Christ comes so that the gospel triumphs in the world.
00:04:50.480 | The world is Christianized, by and large.
00:04:54.260 | Peace and righteousness hold sway in the world.
00:04:58.780 | And then after that, post that, this is postmillennial, Christ returns.
00:05:05.740 | So that's called postmillennialism because the second coming happens after a real future,
00:05:15.180 | long time of triumph for the gospel in the earth.
00:05:20.380 | And then here's the third view, and I put myself here.
00:05:24.580 | Some say that the 1,000 years happens after Christ comes again, or he comes pre- before
00:05:34.940 | the millennium, and that's why it's called premillennialism.
00:05:39.340 | And then after Christ comes to a very rebellious earth and establishes his reign, there is
00:05:46.020 | a long, long period of glorious rule of Christ on the earth.
00:05:52.420 | Now, John's question makes it sound to me like he's not aware of this view.
00:05:57.940 | I mean, he says, "We are not in the millennium."
00:06:01.540 | Okay, I agree with that.
00:06:03.820 | I don't think so, he says.
00:06:05.140 | So Christ is at least 1,000 years off.
00:06:09.700 | I don't know where he gets that necessity.
00:06:14.180 | And soon to return, he says, "How can it be soon to return if there's 1,000 years between
00:06:19.800 | us and Christ?"
00:06:22.180 | So my answer is that Christ may not be at all 1,000 years off because a millennium does
00:06:30.620 | not have to come first.
00:06:33.660 | That's my view.
00:06:34.660 | It comes after Christ's return.
00:06:38.800 | So Christ could come very, very quickly.
00:06:41.100 | I pray he does.
00:06:42.700 | I have really good friends who hold all three of these positions, and so I'm not going to
00:06:49.740 | withhold my fellowship or friendship over these kinds of disagreements.
00:06:56.260 | But I would simply suggest to John that he study that section and get some books and
00:07:02.180 | read about these views, that he study that section in Revelation, and that he read especially
00:07:08.740 | verses 4 to 6 of Revelation 20 very carefully and ask what the first resurrection looks
00:07:16.940 | like it refers to.
00:07:19.700 | That's when the millennium begins.
00:07:22.780 | They came to life, reigned with Christ for 1,000 years.
00:07:28.000 | This is the first resurrection, and then the millennium starts.
00:07:32.980 | I think that resurrection is the resurrection at the coming of Christ, the second coming,
00:07:39.020 | and that's when the millennium begins.
00:07:40.440 | So John can press on with his joyful sense of expectation in the Lord's return.
00:07:48.200 | It could happen very, very soon.
00:07:51.060 | He doesn't have to wait 1,000 years.
00:07:52.060 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:07:53.060 | Thank you for the question, John.
00:07:54.060 | Thanks for listening to this episode.
00:07:58.100 | You can find our audio feeds and you can keep up with our episodes as we release them, and
00:08:02.420 | you can sift through our over 1,000 episodes now in our archive.
00:08:06.620 | And you can do all of that through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:08:13.140 | Well speaking of timing and when we can expect things to happen, does God know the day and
00:08:18.960 | the hour when we will each die?
00:08:22.320 | Is our time set?
00:08:23.520 | Has he set that time?
00:08:25.500 | And is God in control of the day and hour?
00:08:28.720 | That's the question coming up on Friday as Pastor John scours the Bible to find all of
00:08:33.800 | the evidence that he can find to make his answer from Scripture.
00:08:37.800 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:39.120 | We'll see you then.
00:08:40.120 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:08:42.160 | [End of Audio]
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