REVELATION 20 "A WORLD THAT DOES NOT EXIST, BUT MUST EXIST"

 By Mark Creech, Op-ed Contributor Wednesday, January 17, 2024

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A wonderful sermon was written by Theodore F. Adam, who had died as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. "A world that does not yet exist but should exist," says Adam. According to Adams, the theme of the message was based on a prayer uttered by his brother, who was also a priest, in which such an expression was used. Adams stated:

Do we really believe Jesus' statement, "All power is given to me"? What philosophies and beliefs will dominate this world? Do we really trust Jesus when he says, "All power is given to me... or will the world be handed over to those whose mind is to "rule or destroy"? Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them; teach them to do all that I have commanded you; and know that I am always with you, even to the end of the age.

Have we abandoned the dream, or do we still cherish the vision of our Lord when he taught us to pray, "Thy Kingdom Come?" On Earth, what have you done? That's certainly hope for a world that hasn't, but should.

We cherish that hope—a world that does not exist but must exist—a world where Christ came to live, to suffer, to die, and to live again! If the kingdom of this world is truly the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, we must challenge the best in ourselves. Today, faith with a vision of the world and God's vision for our world are very important. We must win the whole world to Christ as Lord and prove that Christ is truly Lord in life and in the whole world.

Every faithful Bible student would have believed this way. This is the calling that God gives to everyone who follows Christ. Not as it should be; this is the task that Christ gave his disciples, and believers must do it from age to age until the end of time. In this effort, Christians must unite. However, God's people disagree about how this vision was ultimately realized.

In Chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation, the subject of the Millennium is mentioned six times. "Millennium" is a word that means a thousand years. In"The Revelation Record," Henry Morris:

Among the various different systems of Biblical eschatology, the twentieth chapter of Revelation has become the main battle arena. In general, the way this chapter is interpreted determines the way the entire book of Revelation—and, to a large extent, biblical prophecy—is interpreted. In this chapter, we see the events during the thousand years (millennium) when Christ and God's people ruled the world in righteousness and Satan was bound.

However, the question is whether this note should be taken literally or not. Is this thousand-year period really 1,000 years, or are these numbers just numerical representations? Is Satan really imprisoned and helpless today, or is it only the power of the gospel that relatively frees him? Will Christ really reign in the world on a literal throne, or is this just a symbol indicating that the conversion of the world will eventually become truth through the work of the church and the preaching of the gospel?

Consider the first three verses of Revelation, Chapter 20.

Then I saw an angel descend from heaven with the key to the abyss in his hands and a heavy chain. 2. He captured the dragon—an old Satanic serpent—and bound it with chains for a century. Angels threw him into the abyss, which they then closed and locked so that Satan could not deceive other nations once more for a thousand years. After that, he must be released for a short time (Revelation 20:1–3).

John Walvoord wrote The Millennial Kingdom, outlining three main perspectives on Christ's reign over the coming thousand years on Earth

The view referred to as" premillennialism" is the most literal. He considers the current end times to be a sudden and terrible disaster in which the wicked will be punished and the righteous will be saved. The revival of the Jewish nation and their return to their ancient land after the return of Christ is the essence of premillennialism. A theocratic kingdom full of truth, peace, and tranquility will occur, and Satan will be bound (Revelation 20:2).

According to Walvoord, "amillennialism" is the second most common perspective in the coming millennium. Walvoord states that his most common character is to reject the literal reign of Christ on Earth. Satan is associated with the first coming of Christ. Between the first and second comings at this time is the fulfillment of the Millennium... It is possible to conclude that the eternal state will appear immediately after the Second Coming of Christ and that the next millennium will not be the same as the current one.

"Postmillennialism" is the third perspective. According to Walvoord, postmillennialists "think that the present age will end with a period of great spiritual blessing, in accordance with the millennial promises achieved through the preaching of the gospel." Before the return of Christ, people all over the world will become Christians and submit to the gospel. The name comes from the theory that Christ will return after the Millennium.

Some prominent theologians stand as amillennials and postmillennials. In both of these perspectives, nothing is considered a heresy. However, in my opinion, they rely almost entirely on allegorical or symbolic interpretations of Scripture, which leaves too much room for interpreters to impose their own interpretations on the text rather than simply accepting what they say. It also takes away the ability of ordinary people who read Scripture to identify what symbolic language is supposed to represent.

Furthermore, Harold Wilmington writes in his book "The King is Coming" that contrary to the false claims made by amillennialists and postmilenialists, premillennialism is the oldest of the three systems of interpretation. The first church's founders were the owners of it. He says that Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Polycarp were theologians of the first century AD who adhered to this view. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian were theological figures who held it in the second century. Cyprian and Commodianus were the two leading scholars of the third century who believed in it and taught it.

Wilmington says, "Beginning in the fourth century, however, the Roman Catholic Church began to grow and premillennialism began to wither, for Rome saw itself as God's instrument to deliver the promised Kingdom of glory." Except for certain groups, the premise of premillennialism has been lost over the centuries. However, with the help of people like Alford, Seiss, Darby, and C. I. Schofield, God willingly revived premillennialism and returned it to its rightful place.

It is remarkable that the revival of premillennialism took place at such a convenient time, especially given the fact that we are now in the end times.

I have to admit that there have been times when the post-millennial perspective has been very interesting to me. I want to believe it because of the way I work, which involves helping people in conservative evangelical churches throughout North Carolina. This is a more optimistic interpretation of the "world that is not yet but should be." Although I still strongly believe in engaging God's word in the public arena and seeing it as part of Christ's Great Commission, I cannot reconcile the doctrine of postmillennialism with the notion that human sinfulness is an aspect that cannot be eliminated or subdued by social progress. To build a kingdom like the Millennial Kingdom, Christ had to intervene supernaturally.

Undoubtedly true, as the late Dr. B. said in the book written by James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, "What if Jesus had never been born?" that the religion of Christ has benefited the world. He contributed to public education and helped the poor. Its results in the formation of the United States and the development of civil liberties cannot be ignored. In addition, we cannot ignore the tremendous influence it has had on many aspects of life, including science, economics, sex and family, health, medicine, morality, art, and music, as well as a whole host of other lifetimes, as they transform from helpless evils into virtuous characters.

President George H.W. Bush "I want a kinder and gentler nation," said President Bush. The influence of Christianity has done more to make the world better. However, history shows that past attempts to build utopian societies were unsuccessful; these failures supported the pre-millennial idea that the reign of Christ was necessary in the future to bring lasting peace and justice, which is very similar to what happened in the Millennium.

The amillennialism argument seems weak at all. It doesn't seem to be true that the amillennialists interpret the brief period of time between Christ's first and second comings as a representation of a thousand years imprisoned by Satan. During this period, it seems that "Satan has been more active than in all previous history, attempting, often with great success, to hinder and thwart the preaching of God's word and the spiritual strengthening and growth of God's people." Morris stated this:.

Morris quotes The Gospel of I Peter 5-8, which says, "Stay Alert!" Avoid your great enemy, the devil. He moves freely like a roaring lion, looking for prey.

Morris states: "This warning certainly does not give the impression that Satan is currently bound and helpless. Nor is it his wicked army, with which we must constantly "wrestle" to'resist the wiles of the devil' (Ephesians 6:11–13).

According to the opening verse of Chapter 20 of Revelation, after Armageddon and the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, an angel descended from heaven carrying the key to the most terrible prison, known as the "bottomless pit." The mission of the angel is to capture, shackle, and shackle the impostor and the great enemy, and then throw him into the abyss. There, Satan and thousands of other instigators of fallen angel sins were imprisoned. This cell barrier is not only locked but also sealed. Thus, the Evil One and every spirit entity he commands are forbidden to influence the nations for 1,000 years to a millennium.

Some people believe that this powerful angel is Christ in the form of an angel. Christ is best suited to carry out Satan's punishment. In Revelation Chapter 1, Revelation 1:18 states that Christ has the keys of Hades. There are others who think that the angel may be Michael, as he did when he led his Holy Angel to war with Satan and his evil minions, who were expelled from heaven and descended to Earth (Revelation 12:7-9), and now it comes to clean up the mess by throwing it in the trash in the middle of the Earth. However, the Apostle John does not tell us the identity of this heroic angel.

This angel had "heavy chains in his hands" (vs. 1), which many believe should not be taken literally but simply considered as a representation of his divine power to accomplish the work. They claim that Satan cannot be bound with iron chains. However, why look for additional interpretations if the literal interpretation makes sense? Do we not need to believe that God can make a strong chain to bind the dragon? Shouldn't we stick to 2 Peter 2:4, which tells of angels who have sinned and been cast into hell, imprisoned in chains of darkness until Judgment Day? Who is qualified to determine whether God created the chain?

O May God hasten the day when the Serpent who tempted mankind becomes a sin (Genesis 3), an accuser and persecutor of the righteous (Revelation 12:10), a major source of false belief systems (2 Corinthians 11:14–15; I Timothy 4:1), idolatry (I Corinthians 10:20), moral decline (Ephesians 6:12), conflict and division (James 3:14–16), spiritual blindness (2 Corinthians 4:4), and Romans 1:21-25) isolated, he will no longer be able to take everything on this peaceful, perfect, pure, heavenly, prosperous, oriented planet.

He was imprisoned for more than a thousand years but then released for a short time, which required additional consideration. The future will show much more about this wonderful past.

Wilmington mentions something about millennials that not many people know. Millions of people sing the hymn "Joy to the World" at Christmas time. The majority of people are unaware that this incredible hymn by Isaac Watts is not about the first coming of Christ at the time of his birth. It really is about the Millennial Kingdom that Christ established at his second coming. Look at the words:

The world is happy! The Lord has arrived!

Let the King of Earth accept it.

Each heart must prepare its room.

In addition, nature sings.

Stop the growth of sin and sorrow.

or the soil does not meet the thorns;

He came to share his goods.

As far as the curse goes,.

He rules the world with truth and grace.

And make countries prove

truth value

and the greatness of his love.

This world is not yet, but it should be. And when Christ returns, it will happen in a wonderful and joyful way.

Elder Mark H. Creech served as Executive Director of the North Carolina Christian Action League, Inc. Prior to serving as the current pastor, he served as pastor at five Southern Baptist churches in North Carolina and one Independent Baptist Church in upstate New York.

News Sources :https://www.christianpost.com/voices/revelation-20-the-world-that-is-not-yet-but-ought-to-be.html