Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
Thanks. Yes, I saw that and the follow-on discussion. My question has to do with the time: Why is it the full thousand years, or is it a portion of time - 5 minutes or 500 years? Where specifically do we get the time factor and the teaching I heard much about, that it is 1,000 years?
|
Well StG, the 1000 years is in reference to the Millennial reign of Christ... that age is also known as the kingdom age... it commences with the Lord's second coming and it ends at the commencement of eternity future. As the kingdom age is all about ruling and reigning with Christ on earth and not just about being forgiven and saved from eternal perdition in eternity future then the criterion for entering the kingdom is a higher standard. For example, the parable we were discussing specifically mentions a penalty in "jail" for refusing to forgive. The Lord forgave you as a debtor yet you refuse to forgive other debtors... into the "jail" you rascal!
Some parables appear to indicate that the time out in outer darkness is variable.... that is what we were discussing ..... in reference to the "jail"... where and when is it and what is required to come out of it.
The gospel of the kingdom reconciles the matter of faith, works, reward, eternal salvation. etc. All born-again Christians are saved eternally but not all are counted worthy to rule and reign with Christ during the 1000 year reign on earth... yet at least no later than the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ all will be pure, refined, and part of the New Jerusalem.. every last farthing will have been paid to reference another parable. Some will be counted worthy to rule and reign with Christ for the entire 1000 years as the reward to the overcomer in Revelation 2:26-28 states plainly. No parable there just plain talk.
Some Christians I grew up with lived like the devil.. yet they held that they were eternally saved and that there were no further consequences. Yet other Christians I met with believed that you might be saved in the morning but by evening you could have fallen out of grace because you drank, cussed, or committed some other sin. Both points of view lack the complete revelation of scripture... We are eternally saved by God's grace through the blood of Christ....but there are consequences for our behavior after becoming a christian. We do not lose our eternal salvation but we may lose the reward of the kingdom. It is the most balanced and scriptural point of view that brings all those parts together. I've yet to hear an alternative point of view that reconciles all of scripture related to that ... especially from those who argue against it. Having no explanation of their own they simply remain in unbelief apparently willing to jettison those scriptures that they cannot or refuse to understand. Its also probably fair to say that some that discard the kingdom teachings may have a problem they cannot shake... so as a christian they cannot live in contradiction to scripture ....therefore they convince themselves to dismiss it.. or bury it.... like the parable about forgiveness.
Drake