I hope you had a blessed and comforting week. Even with all the craziness and uncertainty in the world, it’s normal, and even expected, for us as believers to live in comfort and calmness given what we know to be true and the hope it instills in us. This week we’re actually going to revisit a topic that may still be a little fuzzy in our minds as we try to put together scripture on it and interpret it. Regardless of how fuzzy it is though, and whether or not our interpretation is accurate, we can rest assured in the fact that we know whatever the truth of it is, YHWH’s plan will be what is good and whatever is best for us.
Now, before we get too far into this, understand that this is by no means the end all, be all on this topic. I don’t have this all figured out, and I don’t think anyone on earth does either. Everyone who’s studied the topic in any depth has their own theory(ies) as to what the proper interpretation is, but no matter who you come across there is not one theory that satisfactorily answers every possible verse regarding the matter. Some are way in left field, of course, and clearly not accurate, but as I’ve studied I always had this gut feeling that the truth is somewhere in the middle of all of the more sound theories out there.
Additionally, this week is not meant to be an all-encompassing, in-depth description of what all the verses regarding the end times mean. It’s only meant to cover things that I have come to understand and have learned since writing about the topic four years ago (almost exactly to the day!). And of course, we must state the obvious: while the topic is called “the end,” in reality that means the end of our current state, not the end of everything. The end of our current state is the beginning of our forever state, and that is one of the things that gives us comfort and hope!
Something else to note is that none of the things presented this week or in the following ones came easily believed. The interesting thing about the more sound theories of the end is that when you read about them and study them you end up saying to yourself, “yeah, that makes sense,” and before you know it, you find that you have built a complete belief structure on the foundational “rocks” of those things that "just make sense." As you continue to study and look at other interpretations, some of these rocks become moveable and you’re not sure if your original belief of their solidarity is entirely accurate anymore. However, as those rocks get replaced by something that makes more sense given what you’ve learned, it’s hard to readjust the complete structure to fully take into account that change and ensure everything is still sound.
Perhaps a good example is the first aspect we’ll cover: the 1,000 year reign of Yeshua. As you may recall, this “rock” that was placed in the foundation of my beliefs those many years ago was based on one chapter in Revelation and a couple other verses in the rest of scripture (Revelation 20, 2 Peter 3:8, Psalm 90:4). It’s perfectly reasonable to put all these things together, along with some other passages (e.g. Hosea 6:1-3), to believe that part of the plan for the end is a literal, physical reign of Yeshua for 1,000 years before this heaven and earth get replaced by renewed ones.
In fact, one of the foundational themes you’ll find as we go through this "end times update" is that rather than starting with a literal view like the one above, as originally thought, the literary style of the book of Revelation demands a hesitation to jump to such a view. It’s natural to assume, and even desire, that such a monumental event as the end of what we understand as the world today would garner a massive and breathtaking display of judgment and destruction as we would see in a literal fulfillment of the verses in Revelation. However, that belief would ignore all the other places in scripture that use the same language and imagery to describe events of the past that we know were fulfilled and yet didn’t include such earthly and heavenly displays.
We’ll get more in depth in that in a moment, but for now, let’s get back to this 1,000 years. Believe me, I would love, just as much as the next believer, to live 1,000 years physically with our Messiah (and who knows, maybe what I’ve come to believe is completely wrong and what I originally believed is actually correct!), but the truth is, neither of the supporting verses for this 1,000 year belief demand a literal 1,000 years. And even more, when you look at the context of the 1,000 years in Revelation 20, it seems to suggest that these years already started either at the resurrection of Yeshua or at the judgment of Jerusalem fulfilled in 70AD. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t read any historical records of Yeshua physically reigning on earth since then. I certainly don’t see Him today, so if He did, where did He go? And why would He leave this place in such the state that we see it today?
Perhaps a more detailed explanation of this context is in order. The binding of Satan was done by the Messenger with the “key to the Abyss,” (Revelation 20:1). If you look at the context of the Abyss in the New Testament, it was a place where evil spirits were sent (or desired not to be sent!) (Luke 8:31) and was another word for what’s translated to hell (2 Peter 2:4). Who had the key to hell? Yeshua, of course! He said that Himself (Revelation 1:17-18)! And yes, He was also called a Messenger in scripture. Hagar was visited in the wilderness by the “Messenger (Angel) of the LORD,” who said, “I will greatly multiply your descendants,” (Genesis 16:7-10), a statement that can only be true if it were to come from one of the members of the Godhead.
So, it follows that if Yeshua already held the key to hell when Revelation was written, before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD (we’ll have to study that fact another time!), the events of Revelation 20, namely the binding of Satan, could have happened any time from the resurrection until now. In fact, you'd have to ask yourself why He wouldn't have already bound him if He had the key this whole time and His people were suffering. Additionally, part of fully understanding Revelation and putting all the pieces together is knowing a couple important aspects of the time clues written in it. When John writes, “after this,” the many times he wrote it, it doesn’t mean that each of the continuous chunks he writes in between these statements occurred sequentially, one right after the other. It could mean that in some places (like for example between the seals and trumpets because the seventh seal involved the handing out of the trumpets, Revelation 8:1-2), but it could also mean that’s just the next thing he saw and that part of the vision represented a different aspect of a period of time (whether that period was also covered by other portions of his vision or not).
The other huge time clue to key in on is the statement that what John saw is going to soon, or quickly, come to pass (Revelation 1:1, 22:10). When you look at the context of this Greek word in the rest of the New Testament, you can see that it means hastily, speedily, and even immediately (e.g. Acts 12:7, 22:18, 25:4). Paul wrote that he hoped to come to Timothy “soon” (1 Timothy 3:14), and I think you can agree he didn’t mean thousands of years!
So, what does this 1,000 years mean, and why 1,000? I believe that it is a figurative statement of a complete period of time. In other words, when the “1,000 years are complete” (Revelation 20:3) is whenever YHWH’s planned fulfillment of this period is achieved not necessarily exactly 1,000 years. Why 1,000 though? Why not one million, or maybe 5,325? First, the number ten (as in 10 x 10 x 10, which equals 1,000) is symbolic of completion. For example, the 10th day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-27), which is for the atonement of all mankind’s sins and representative of the removal of Satan from the world (Leviticus 16) (Hmmm, sounds kind of like a binding in an Abyss, doesn't it?). Also, on the 10th day of the first month the Passover lamb is selected (Exodus 12:3), ten generations of man lived before the flood waters came (Noah was the tenth starting from Adam), there were ten plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7:14-11:10), and man was even designed by YHWH with ten fingers and ten toes!
It’s not just that the number ten is symbolic, either. A thousand is used elsewhere in scripture to represent completeness as well. When YHWH says every beast is His and the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10-11), does He mean the cattle on the 1,001st hill are not His? When He says He remembered His covenant forever, the word He commanded to a thousand generations (Psalm 105:8), did He mean He didn’t command it to the 1,001st generation? Or that He’s not faithful to the 1,001st generation, even if they keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9)? Clearly, the number 1,000 is used symbolically in scripture as a representation for completeness rather than intended for a literal interpretation.
So, the 1,000 years of reigning in Revelation 20 does not mean a literal 1,000 years, but in order for us to close the loop on the literal versus figurative interpretation discussion, we’ll have to cover what the events of those 1,000 years actually mean next week. Otherwise, there’s no basis for believing anything in Revelation is figurative. You see, Revelation is written in a context of prophetic judgment, and we can look at other parts of scripture to see that the language used for this is meant to evoke a certain feeling with its imagery rather than be a literal description of physical events. And we cannot look at and interpret Revelation any differently than any other parts of scripture because the whole of scripture is not only meant to provide a cohesive view, it all comes from the same, Perfect Being who is not the Author of confusion! (1 Corinthians 14:33)
Where else can we see this prophetic judgment language, you might ask. How can we be sure what we’re reading in Revelation is figurative? Well, let’s take a look at Egypt first. The prophecy against Egypt included statements of it being “a day of clouds” (Ezekiel 30:3), its “foundations…torn down” (Ezekiel 30:4), and YHWH “set[ing] fire” to Egypt (Ezekiel 30:8). It even says Egypt will be cast into the “Pit” in the depths of the earth (Ezekiel 32:18)! Sounds a lot like an Abyss, doesn’t it? Clearly, the use of this language is meant to be figurative rather than literal, and it matches similar language in Revelation.
That may not be similar enough to Revelation to convince you, so let’s have a look at another one. The prophet Isaiah wrote the book bearing his name sometime between 700 and 681 BC, and the first destruction of Jerusalem occurred about a hundred years later, in 586 BC. What’s interesting is that there are some very familiar phrases in Isaiah’s prophecy of that destruction (Isaiah 24-27).
First, there are statements like, “the earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered” (Isaiah 24:3), “the earth mourn[ing]” (Isaiah 24:4), and “the earth’s dwellers…[being] burned” (Isaiah 24:6). Was the whole earth really laid waste when judgment was placed on Jerusalem the first time (or even the second?)? Were all but a few of earth’s “dwellers” burned? Of course not. These phrases, just like the similar ones in Revelation, are used to describe the magnitude of significance for what was about to occur so that the reader can feel the full weight of it.
Going a little further in this particular prophecy, we see that its fulfillment involved the earth being “utterly broken apart…split open…[and] shaken violently” (Isaiah 24:19). The earth “stagger[ed] like a drunkard and sway[ed] like a shack” (Isaiah 24:20). We even see descriptions of the moon being “confounded” and the sun being “ashamed” (Isaiah 24:23).
Now, some people may say that Isaiah 24-27 is actually Isaiah’s version of the same prophecy as Revelation. In other words, that they cover the same events. That certainly may be true, however I offer that instead it's describing the first destruction of Jerusalem, as stated earlier. I believe this to be true for two reasons, which I submit for your consideration so you may make your own determination. First, the time period in which it was written, being less than 500 years before the first destruction, and the surrounding chapters in the book, with seemingly no prophetic break in between (such as statements of when particular visions or words were given seen elsewhere), suggests the prophecy was intended to cover events closer to the writing and be a mirror of future events in Revelation. And second, many prophecies recorded in Isaiah clearly reference events that were fulfilled in the past, yet they include a mirror of fulfillments in the future (e.g. a prophecy clearly referenced in the New Testament to John the Baptist is found amongst Isaiah’s prophetic statements to Hezekiah about things that would soon come to his people by way of Babylon, Isaiah 39-40).
We will certainly dive deeper into this topic next week, but I hope for now you can see why we needed to revisit this! We still have comfort and hope in YHWH’s plan and that we will ultimately be with Him for eternity, but perhaps that will not come about in the way that we originally thought. We certainly don’t want to be looking in world events for something that will never happen, and we definitely don’t want to be distracted or pulled into the sensationalism of some of the theologians (both amateur and professional) that are incorrectly attempting to tie certain worldly events to the prophetic events of Revelation.
Until next time, Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!
-Rob and Sara Gene
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