ERROR: MYSTIC MILLENNIUM Idealism, Preterist-Idealism

MYSTIC MILLENNIUM Idealism, Preterist-Idealism

This view holds that the Millennium (1000 years) of Revelation 20:1-7

  • HAS NO BEGINNING OR ENDING DATES IN HISTORY.
  • IT IS STRICTLY A PERSONAL JOURNEY IN CHRIST.

(In essence, Idealism cannot see the difference between the application of prophecy's lessons and prophecy's historical fulfillments).

It incorporates the following errors:

 

 

Idealism:

  1. Asserts that the Resurrection of blessed & holy ones in Rev 20:4 is a past experience in the life of a Christian, that it is, therefore, not a bodily resurrection.
  2. So Idealism erroneously concludes, then, like "Full" Preterism, that the Resurrection of Rev 20:4 is a "coming to covenant life," (born again).
  3. But this logically drives the conclusion that the Resurrection of Rev 20:5 is the "coming to covenant life" of the rest of the dead, as well, since it uses the same words in an adjacent verse.
  4. So, whether one lives and dies as a "blessed & holy" martyr for Christ (Rev 20:4) or as "the rest of the dead" (Rev 20:5), he "comes to covenant life," nonetheless. Such doctrine renders obedience to Christ irrelevant to one's eternal fate. And that, again, lends support to the cancerous doctrine of Universalism.

In conclusion, much of the same arguments against "Full" Preterism, (Covenant Eschatology), can justly be applied against Idealism as well, LINK and LINK.

Despite Idealism, Rev 20:4 is not equivalent to being born-again. Rev 20:4 is the same event as 1 Thess 4:17. Rev 20:4 is the Resurrection of the Just, the Blessed & Holy ones, the coming to life again of the dead in Christ and their being changed into a bodily form just like what Jesus enjoys.

Notwithstanding, while I do see some measure of value in some of the the Idealist approachs to the Scriptures, (the renewed focus upon personal relationship-obedience to Christ, for instance), I also see some room for caution with the Idealist approach to prophecy & history. It should not be taken too far.

 
Frankly, some of the approaches I take can be regarded as "Idealist", too, I suppose. For example, I see resurrected-glorified Saints reigning from the unseen realm in the stead of the Eph 6:12 principalities-powers since the time of Christ's circa 70AD Return. These are Saints, brothers in the faith who have gone on to invisible glory, having been perfected through suffering, biological death, then judgment and resurrection-glorification. This is very ancient and catholic doctrine (in the original sense). And some folk might see some measure of Idealism in it.

And while I agree with Idealism that God's movements in the unseen realm are to be the centerpiece of Man's attention, I also concede that God's unseen movements have very real impacts upon the seen realm. This is why the historical does, indeed, still have some merit. Still, it takes faith to see the hand of God moving through our lives and, indeed, through the histories of the lives of men, nations & civilizations.

Even as Jesus would use parables to describe heavenly concepts with very earthly object lessons, God works through history, intervening in our physical reality, to give us confirmable evidence as to His invisible rule from the spiritual realm.

So I think it important to not lose our awareness of landmark, documentable, historic points of contact between God & Mankind, fulfillments of prophecy. Because if we take the Idealism too far, to the point where we lose all mooring points between our theology and documentable reality - then all we have left is a story that makes us feel better. Whether the story is true or not, it is no longer objectively confirmable - we only have the subjective witness of an inner, personal feeling. Some may call that "faith", but faith is blessed and stimulated by the witness of reality, too, Romans 1:1-4 & Romans 1:19-20. This is also why many believed following the miracles of Jesus and His Apostles and the holy exploits Christ's servants through the centuries since.

And holding onto a story by a feeling, without connection between our belief and reality, when the day comes when we don't feel better, our feel-good, hot-air balloon story comes crashing down and we cannot reason to ourselves or others why "the greatest story ever told" is any more worthy of belief than the confused stories of any of the Christless false religions.

So, the prophecy-history connection is important, (to me anyways), to point out that God is very much involved with Mankind, that He cares enough to intervene in our reality, that we are following something that is rooted deeply into reality and not just some cleverly designed fables. But I am convinced that Jesus is the Truth: and that "truth" is just another way of saying "reality" even as "The Logos" can justifiable by translated "The Explanation (of Reality)." So, to me, the Gospel is NOT the greatest story ever told: no, the Gospel is far and away the single, best, most credible explanation of what's really going on that I have ever encountered, bar none. And any explanation of reality MUST interact credibly and frequently with reality, reality as we experience it, reality as men have recorded it diligently, painstakingly throughout the centuries.
That is why, I believe, God placed it upon my heart years ago to start drawing the connections between the Bible's prophecies and the Bible's own accounts of their historical fulfilments. Joseph's early dreams - Joseph later becoming Lord of Egypt & his brothers. The baker & wine taster's prophetic dreams - the fates of the wine taster & baker. Pharoah's prophetic dreams of good/bad cows - the historical reality of good/bad years. The prophetic promises of inheriting the Promised Land - the historic realities of Joshua's conquering & possessing the Promised Land. The prophecy that David would be king - the historic reality that David became king. The prophecies that the Jews would go into Babylon - the historic reality of the Exile. Malachi prophesying about the Elijah to come before the Lord - the historic reality of John the Baptist being that Elijah that was to come. The prophesies that the Messiah would be born Bethlehem - the historic reality that Jesus the Messiah was born in Bethlehem. Etc, etc, etc.... It seemed that God wanted me to pay careful attention to such connections as I would work my way through my One-Year Bible again and again as a prerequisite to ultimately gaining the ability to draw the connections between the New Testament's prophesies and their later, post-New Testament fulfillments. Perhaps certain blessings of understanding only come to those willing to do their homework. I hope to please the Lord with mine.

May the above be understood in a favorable light, not as an attempt to brag (about what, really?) but an attempt to explain my interest in the matter. It is my hope to show idealistic young people that their dreams of making the world a better place are not in vain, but rather, they are favored by God who is also working to make the world a better place, too. We have a brighter and brigher future ahead of us but it will take a stout optimism to overcome the giants we must face down with every generation. "The wicked flee at the sound of a leaf, but the righteous are bold as a lion." "Let us go up at once and take the land, for God has given it to us and we are well able to possess it!" Through faith in Christ born of a good understanding, we CAN conquer tomorrow for the benefit of our fellow men.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and with all your mind."

Revelation 21:7
7 "He who overcomes shall inherit these things..."
NASB

1 John 5:4-5
4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
NIV

 

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ERROR: 70AD-FUTURE MILLENNIUM Post-Millennialism, Partial-Preterism

70AD-FUTURE MILLENNIUM Post-Millennialism, Partial-Preterism

This view holds that the Millennium (1000 years) of Revelation 20:1-7

  • BEGAN ABOUT OLD JERUSALEM'S DESTRUCTION IN 70AD.
  • WILL END AT A TIME STILL FUTURE.

 

It incorporates the following errors:

 

 

 Postmillennialism and Universalism

  1. Postmillennialism says that the Millennium began long ago, (at Christ's birth, death, resurrection, Pentecost, or at old Jerusalem's destruction).
  2. Postmillennialism says that the 1,000 years of Rev 20:1-7 is actually a good deal longer than a 1,000 years.
  3. Postmillennialism says that the Lord will return at the end of this 1000+ year Millennium, (rather than its beginning).
  4. Postmillennialism forgets that Paul considered the Lord's Return possible within his lifetime, (1 Thess 4:17), not a 1000 years later or more.
  5. Postmillennialism says that the Resurrection of the Blessed & Holy Ones, (Rev 20:4), is a past event and is, therefore, something different than the Resurrection of Christians at the Lord's Return, (1 Thess 4:17), a future event according to Postmillennialism.
  6. Postmillennialism teaches that the resurrection of Rev 20:4 (that of the Blessed & Holy ones) is past so it was not a bodily resurrection but a coming to covenant life.
  7. Therefore, Postmillennialism makes the same mistake as Idealism, Amillennialism, and "Full" Preterism by interpreting "resurrection" in Rev 20:4 as "coming to covenant life." This forces the conclusion that "resurrection" in Rev 20:5 is the "coming to covenant life," as well, since these two adjacent verses speak of resurrection of the two groups of the dead with the same words and grammer, LINK.
  8. The logical conclusion is the same: if resurrection in Rev 20:4 is "coming to covenant life" then the resurrection in Rev 20:5 is "coming to covenant life," as well. That is, Postmillennialism also supports the false teaching that "the rest of the dead" (Rev 20:5) eventually receive the same covenant standing as the "blessed and holy" (Rev 20:4): they both eventually "come to covenant life" whether they are among the souls of the blessed & holy martyrs or from among the rest of the dead. That is Universalism. Because of this error, many of the same arguments against "Full" Preterism apply against Postmillennialism, also, LINK.

Any time the Resurrection Rev 20:4 is made out to be something different than the Resurrection of 1 Thess 4:17, it invariably is contrived a “coming to covenant life” which, in turn, supports the conclusion of Universalism.

So, only Futurism and the 70-1070AD Millennium can possibly make a stand against Universalism. All the other systems support Universalism by their wrong view of the Resurrection of Blessed & Hoy One's of Rev 20:4 which then supports Universalism's view of the Resurrection of the Rest of the Dead, Rev 20:5. They refuse to equate the resurrection of Rev 20:4 with 1 Thess 4:17 at the coming of the Lord.

Rev 20:4 is not equivalent to being born-again. Rev 20:4 is the same event as 1 Thess 4:17. It is the Resurrection of the Just, the Blessed & Holy ones, the coming to life again of the Dead in Christ and their being changed into a bodily form just like what Jesus enjoys.

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ERROR: FUTURE-FUTURE MILLENNIUM Premillennial Dispensationalism, Chiliasm

FUTURE-FUTURE MILLENNIUM Futurism, Premillennial Dispensationalism, Chiliasm

This view holds that the Millennium (1000 years) of Revelation 20:1-7

  • WILL BEGIN AT A TIME STILL FUTURE.
  • WILL END AT A TIME STILL FARTHER FUTURE, A LITERAL 1000 YEARS AFTER IT BEGINS.

 

It incorporates the following error:

Teachings of a Millennium to begin in the future were discredited in early Nicene times by the most of the notable of Christian leaders, Eusebius and Augustine among them. They denounced it as the heresy of "Chiliasm," ("1000-ism"), so named due to its adherents' fixation upon a yet future, 1000-year, visible reign of Christ. Chiliasm lost traction as mainstream Christians began to realize that they were already living within the Millennium, delighting themselves in the relative abundance of peace that came with Constantine's victory and the Nicene era. The Middle Age's belief that the Millennium would end around 1000AD coupled with its still greater conviction that martyred Christians were already enjoying a glorified existence with powers over the affairs of men testify to the historic belief that the Millennium and its First Resurrection were regarded as past events. Chiliasm came back with renewed vigor in modern times as "Premillennial Dispensationalism." Modern Chiliasm, Premillennial Dispensationalism, "futurism" change the meaning of the words of Scripture that refer to the timing of the Lord's Return-Rapture, the arrival of the Last Day, the beginning of the Millennium in order to fit their Millennium into our future, now nearly fifity generations since Christ's ascension. Many a frank article is available that refutes this system.

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