We have statements in scripture concerning the beasts and the thousand years. For example, it says that the dragon will be bound with chains and cast into a bottomless pit for a thousand years. Now I don’t want to take away your millennium … I just want to suggest that the EXPERTS might not know what they are talking about because there are only a couple of verses in the Bible on the subject.
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In a recent presentation on eschatology ... I asked the audience these questions about Revelation 20.
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ME : The Dragon, literal or figurative? Is it a real dragon?
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Audience replies: Figurative
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ME : The Chains, literal or figurative? Is it actual chains?
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Audience replies: Figurative
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ME : The Bottomless pit, literal or figurative?
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Audience replies: Figurative
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ME : The millennium, literal or figurative?
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Audience replies with STUNNED SILENCE.
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Keep in mind that the Jewish approach to numbers was not the same as the modern literalism in which we have been taught.
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For example ... God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10).
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Well, actually God owns ALL the cattle on ALL the hills on the planet. But for the ancient Jew who read that verse, one thousand was not limiting God’s ownership to an exact number, or a literal 1,000 hills. They understood the expression was not literal.
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Another example is how “one day in the house of God is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Ps. 84:10). Yet if understood literally, would 1001 days elsewhere be better than a day in the house of God ?
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And then we have 2 Peter 3:8 ...
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"With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." -2 Peter 3:8
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Modern Christians often regurgitate this verse to DISMISS all of the imminent/urgent time statements throughout the New Testament ... as though God was trying to be mysterious and keep everyone guessing about His timing. - *Sigh*
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Peter was simply quoting from Psalm 90:2-4
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In the proper context, David was writing out a prayer from MOSES ... it is speaking of God being TIMELESS (outside of time) ... IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HOW GOD MEASURES TIME. As the creator, He lives OUTSIDE the limits of both time and space.
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"A day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day' ... means that for God, THERE'S NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DAY OR A MILLENNIUM, BECAUSE HE'S IN A TIMELESS PLACE.
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All throughout the scripture, whenever God was about to do something ... He always communicated WHEN, by how the people measured time on the earth.
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If the Apostles believed that God was measuring time differently than we do ... then why would they repeatedly say the "End Time" events were SOON, NEAR, SHORTLY, AT HAND, IMMINENT, etc ... over and over again ?
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REVELATION
"things which must shortly take place." -Rev 1:1
"the time is at hand." -Rev 1:3
"I will come quickly"... -Rev 2:5
"I will come quickly" -Rev 2:16
"Behold, I come quickly." -Rev 3:11
"No more delay" -Rev 10:6
"Third woe comes quickly" -Rev 11:14
"knows he has a short time." -Rev 12:12
"The hour of His judgment is come" -Rev 14:7
"Must shortly come to pass." -Rev 22:6
"I come quickly." -Rev 22:7
"Time is at hand" -Rev 22:10
"I am coming quickly" -Rev 22:12
"Surely I come quickly." -Rev 22:20
"FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY." (Heb 10:37)
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