Hi Jerry,
yes - I did rush my post and then had to do something and came back later and thought - "Oh dear - that's a little clunky - I had better tidy it up."
Revelation 5 is obviously happening around the throne of God in heaven - that is where the action is. I have started a Poll on it just for you to have a look at the results.
This is not a trick question: I had someone suggest something truly unusual and I would love to hear your replies and opinions. Revelation 5 (NIV - UK) 5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a...
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"MEANWHILE, IN GOTHAM CITY...."
I did not ask where the Elders on the thrones might have made a
promise about the earth - I asked where Revelation actually
SHOWS the thrones ON the Earth. Remember - this is apocalyptic symbolism. Parallelism is a common literary device running through Enoch and other apocalyptic writing of the period. Parallelism reminds me of how the old Batman show changes scene. "Meanwhile, in Gotham city!" and the screen twirls and the Batman trumpet jingle plays and we move to a scene with the Commissioner holding the Bat-phone behind that bland desk of his. The Commissioner and Bat-phone ground us. They are a clear signal. "Now we're in Gotham city!" Parallelism flips back and forth like that. It's how the genre works.
So what symbols act like grounding references as to where we are?
Heaven = JESUS, THE THRONE, the ELDERS on THRONES, Martyrs and White Garments.
Earth = bad stuff.
It's not hard.
IN fact - and here is a controversial statement - I am prepared to state that I think John's actual visions and inspired truths did
not actually look anything like the symbols he used in the book of Revelation. I think he was given a fresh sense of the eternal security of the martyrs, and of the gospel truths, and of the nature of the church and heaven. Apart from a very few cases, the bible does not write down dictation from God. Christianity is not Islam like that! The apostles were Spirit inspired to write the truth accurately - but they did so in the language and customs and genre of the time. John carefully crafted these images as much as Shakespeare!
So - as much as we might ask "What is God saying here to us today?" - we also need to ask "What images did JOHN use to craft this message and why?" It's not blasphemous to do so. It's hermeneutics. It's how the bible works.
John repeatedly and consistently shows that the THRONES THEMSELVES are in heaven
in every single instance in Revelation!
This means the Millennium is actually reminding us that while the martyrs ARE dead - they come alive in heaven before the THRONES and with JESUS.
Problems for the Millennialist:-
IT CONTRADICTS REST OF NT:
Why do all the other verses in the NT equate Jesus returning with the raising of ALL the dead and Judgement Day and Heaven and Hell and a New Heavens and New Earth, not Jesus installing a half-heaven, half-earth, half mortal, half immortal kingdom?
Why does Revelation 20 show Jesus returning after the Millennium - not before?
Where does Revelation 20 ACTUALLY show Jesus returning to earth BEFORE the Millennium to reign DURING the Millennium on earth?
MORTALS AND IMMORTALS: Who are the 'nations' during the Millennium that are going to be deceived at the end of the Gazillion Years - when according to a literalist view, the dead martyrs have already been raised? Do we have mortals living alongside immortals? Doesn't Corinthians say that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom to come? Are you saying it can now?
Didn't Jesus say that in the age to come there would be no more marriage? In effect - no more babies? How will there be any "nations" to rebel at the end of Revelation 20 if there's no marriage and these non-Christians are all mortal? It's a Gazillion Years!
SATAN's BINDING:
The literal Millennialist insists that because we are currently in a spiritual battle with Satan - we cannot be in the Millennium. Because there’s no Satan in the Millennium, right? That’s a good question - but answering it will first involve the idea of Parallelism. We know from 24 other apocalyptic works of the time that the genre often uses a literary tool called Parallelism. In apocalyptic, this is often comparing the geopolitical darkness of the day on earth (dressed up in the theological language of monsters and symbols) with the action in heaven. But there is also what John is doing here in Revelation 20. There’s Parallelism that is roughly like an English or Art essay where we might be asked to “compare and contrast” 2 things. John uses this a LOT! EG: The great city of sin, Babylon, with the great city of light and life - the New Jerusalem. Those who took the Mark of the Beast in Rev 13, with those who did not in Rev 14. The righteous and how they fare, with the unrighteous and how they fare. Etc etc etc.
So in Revelation 13 we have Satan inspiring the Roman government persecution against God’s people. It's written in this symbolic language that shows while John is talking about the Romans - he is also warning that this applies to all Christians across all time - and that we should be ready for outbreaks of persecution like this in our own times. But it’s OK - because in Revelation 14 - the martyrs are safe!
It’s a similar scene in Revelation 20. We just saw Judgement Day at the end of Revelation 19. We are about to see it again in Revelation 20 - but from the Parallel point of view from heaven. What do we see here? We see Jesus, and the martyrs come to life before the thrones of the elders - and in Revelation they are always in heaven. John even speaks of the martyrs being safe from hell as being safe from the ‘second death’ - a weird way of talking about the pit - but they are safe from the ‘second death’ because the first death still has them! They are ‘alive’ in heaven!
Now, Satan has been bound in a very specific way! We’ve got to understand the imagery is not a geographic reality - Satan being bound in a literal pit - but a theological statement. Satan is bound with regard to 'deceiving the nations' as the gospel goes forward. That shows how ineffectual he is to prevent the growth of God's kingdom.
EG: There are now roughly a million Christians in IRAN - where there is intense persecution of Christians. As God's gospel charges into new lands, Satan's ability to 'deceive the nations' is in retreat.
DO WE SEE THIS USE OF SATAN BOUND ANYWHERE ELSE LIKE THIS?
The Greek word for "Bound" when Satan is "Bound" in Revelation 20 is
ἔδησεν (edēsen). I’m no Greek scholar - but apparently this word
ἔδησεν (edēsen) is the aorist active indicative, third person singular form of the verb
δέω (deō).
δέω (deō) is the Greek root word and it means "to bind, tie, fasten; to imprison, to put in bonds."
This root word is the same word used in Matthew 12. The Pharisees have just accused Jesus of using Satanic powers to defeat demons. But Jesus answers that this is a matter of kingdoms at war - and that a kingdom divided against itself will fall. Then...
“Again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.”
It’s the same root word
deō. Jesus is here to bind Satan and carry off his plunder! How does he do this? The next few Chapters of Matthew explain the parable of the sower, the weeds in the kingdom, Judgement Day, etc. That is - Jesus is creating his kingdom through his gospel message. He is choosing people for his kingdom. That’s the plunder! Jesus is binding Satan as the gospel marches forward. (See also Mark 3:27) Also see Luke 13:11 where the woman ‘crippled’ (or bound) by Satan for years is healed by Jesus. He is unbinding her from Satan. He binds Satan’s kingdom as he frees Satan’s captives.
There is also the unusual passage of 2 Peter 2 where in a list of God’s past judgements against his enemies, it says... “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness[to be held for judgment;” etc That’s past tense. It already happened. There seems to have been some binding of demons - and 2 Peter specifically says they are there to wait for Judgement. But here’s the thing. Revelation 20 does not say that - it says Satan is bound specifically in regard to deceiving the nations.
Finally - we come to the march of the gospel as a means of binding Satan. “When the seventy returned from their preaching mission, they said to Jesus, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." Jesus replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:17-18) A certain kind of binding of the strongman, of the restriction of Satan’s power and kingdom, occurs as we declare the gospel.
But Jesus goes EVEN FURTHER than this when he says: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." John 12:31-32:
The Greek for "Cast out" in Revelation 20:3 is ebalen, and the root word is ballo: "to throw, cast, hurl, fling, cast down, throw down, put, place, lay." This is the root word for ‘will be cast out’ or the longer term
ekblēthēsetai that we see in John 12:31-32!
Then when Jesus rises - he is given all power and authority - and as a result gives us the Great Commission. His reign now gives us the authority now to declare the gospel now and bind Satan’s kingdom now. Combine this with our understanding of parallelism in Revelation - we can see that John is warning us that we are in a spiritual war with Satan, and this will sometimes influence governments to turn against us. But remember - as we declare the gospel and see people saved, we are binding the strongman, taking his plunder, making Satan ‘fall like lightning’, and claiming the victory through the cross because Satan’s authority over this world WAS cast out - past tense - once and for all - on the cross! All that awaits is the final Judgement Day which we see at the end of Revelation chapter 20, at the end of this millennium that we are currently in!
