RAPTURE, ANTI-CHRIST AND MILLENNIUM

THE CHRISTIAN X-FILES.

What we have failed to understand in its full extent was the anti intellectualism of so much Australian life, permeating the Church."

(Davis (J. D.) McCaughey, 1997, p. 7.)

While the year 2000 has passed, a millennium bug of a different kind lurks in our churches and on popular culture. The idea of "the end of the age" fascinates some people. The number ‘2000’ is given a mystical significance as a portentous year. Which is interesting, considering that the date is an arbitrary one with no real connection to the birth of Christ or any other seminal event! Yet, on church bill boards, TV and in pamphlets that discuss eschatology (the ‘end times’), there is an insistence upon a literal return of Christ, perhaps in a time close to 2000 CE.  The tensions within the Middle East over questions of Iraq, Israel and Palestine seem to trigger concern.

The Internet also contains numerous sites that deliver the message of the end times according to "biblical prophecy".  An example is found at the pages managed by Churches of God, UK, and which draw heavily on the work of James McBride.
(Click here to read the ideas expressed by McBride. A useful summary of dispensationalism is available here. Use your browser's BACK button to return to this page.)

These beliefs are usually encapsulated within a firmer insistence that Christ must return to rule over Israel or the world, to thus fulfil 'unfulfilled prophecies' concerning the Davidic Kingdom.  Christ is to rule over the new Kingdom of David.  This reign is to last one thousand years and is seen as a prelude to the end of the world. After a great and horrendous battle, in which Satan wars against Christ, the victorious Christ then delivers judgement and rules over a new Holy City, with his faithful saints. Two other features figure prominently in the accounts given of these end times. One comprises millennial views of the kingdom and notions such as "the rapture of the church", in which all the chosen will be gathered up into the clouds to meet Christ. The other feature includes numerology based on the number 666, which is taken to refer to "the antichrist".  In this, the approach to the Bible is in a manner similar to the way some people read the couplets of Nostradamus or the riddles from the Oracle at Delphi.  The Bible is mined for spurious "prophesies," in The Book of Revelation particularly, regardless of it clearly relating to its own time to deliver a message of hope to the faithful who were living then, at the time of the persecutions from Rome.

The origin of the popular views of eschatology spring from the writings and sermons of Edward Irving (1825-1827) and John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), pictured left, and the Brethren Movement, in the nineteenth century.  The earlier work of the Catholic priest, Manuel de Lacunza, "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty" (1812)  may have had some influence on these views and later fundamentalist tracts and the Scofield Reference Bible (1909) popularised these ideas by teaching dispensationalism as a system of interpretation.  Darby's beliefs were ruled as heresy, by the General Assembly, of the Presbyterian Church, in the U.S.A., in 1944.  They were seen as not standing up to biblical examination, and yet, these notions pervasively persist. 

The bottom line lies in proper interpretation of scripture and the proper use of scripture, to inform human hope.  The truth is that there is almost no biblical evidence for a figure called "the antichrist", to come in the future. The idea of a millennial kingdom, here on earth, is simply not present in Revelation 20, the only place in the entire bible where a thousand year reign is mentioned! To persist with such notions belies truth, misinforms and delivers false hope.  It makes a mockery of the Scriptures and brings ridicule to the entire church, polluting the minds of gullible people with nonsense. 

Closer examination of some of the Darbyist ideas, especially the notions of "the second coming", "the rapture of the church", "the great tribulation", "the anti-Christ" and "the millennium of Christ's reign" is a revelation but not in the way that Darbyists believe. 

The second coming of Christ, is properly understood as the fulfilment of the work of the kingdom of God, begun by Christ.  According to The Gospel of Luke, Christ commissioned his disciples and followers to continue His work and clearly taught that "the kingdom of God is among you." (Luke 17:21).  It is also clear that the early church members believed in an immanent return of Christ, in their lifetime.  When this did not happen, later writers, especially in The Gospel of John, directed attention to the resurrection and to a realised eschatology.  John's Gospel may well have been addressing these concerns when he presented a realised eschatology, within the context of a cosmic Christ, the very Word "become flesh", opening a direct path to the Father through Christ so that we may have knowledge of God now, in this life.  Hence the "presence", "coming" or parousia of Christ could be understood in terms of the epiphany and manifest presence of Christ in the Church.   This notion was already present in Matthew, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  (Matt. 28:20b.)  This passage does not allow any dispensationalism, either, as the Greek wording does not imply divisions of time.  

In the 19th century, Darbyists create an elaborate system of conjecture, based on a selection of apocalyptic passages of scripture, taken out of context, to answer the question, 'what has happened to "prevent" the return of Christ?'  They gave birth to "biblical prophecy", as future forecasting, building upon The Book of Daniel and Revelation as "authority".  The approach is literal, based on selected texts used out of scriptural, historical and cultural context. They practise text jumping with "proof texts" and a simplistic dualism, projecting their own brand of historicism (dispensationalism) into the texts. Preoccupied with end times, they draw upon Daniel and Revelation, blithely transposing discrete texts. They assume that God must restore the Davidic Kingdom and act in history through the Jewish State, thus "fulfilling" certain "biblical prophecies" (namely, Jer.30-31 & Ezek.36-39). They ignore the fulfilment of these prophecies, as reported by Ezra 5:1-2; Hag.2:20-23; Zech.4:6-10, when the Davidic Kingdom was re-established under Zerubbabel, in 538 BC. They also ignore the separate Jewish State, of 141-63 BC.  While perpetuating post-exilic, Jewish views of history as "god's great plan", they ignore the very restoration of the kingdom that occurred as part of the Jewish understanding that gave rise to the notion of a divine plan!

In making their constructs they try to apply a spurious historicism, based on the belief that Scripture and human history are divided into "dispensations", as discrete periods of time marking discrete covenants in which God handles human affairs.  Thus Israel and Christians are accountable under different "dispensations", that necessitates them have to deal with the problem of Israel in the world without a Son of David on the throne.

To do this they develop an accommodating scheme of some ingenuity. It is, however, based on erroneous assumptions and mis-translation of texts. It runs like this: if God is to work through Israel, the church must be removed from Earth so God may do so. This is "solved" by removing the church from history in a "Rapture", whereby the church is taken up "into heaven" so God can deal with Israel on earth. This is based on a spurious interpretation of 1 Thess.4:13-18, to accommodate Darby's scheme. This text is written in apocalyptic form, and is to be taken symbolically (like all apocalyptic material), meaning that when the "last things" occur, the people of God will be together in their relationship with God and Christ.  Paul is writing about the resurrection, a theme that he repeats, with different symbolism, in 1 Cor.15:42-57. The Darbyist scheme would have us believe in a literal snatching up of the church faithful, into the sky. 

Another remarkable trick of Darbyism, is to read evidence for the 'rapture' of the church into The Book of Revelation. The book is interpreted as a chronological guide or as a blue print for the future. Further, since the word 'church' is not found between Rev.3 and Rev.22, Darbyists take that to mean that the in-between chapters describe the period of the rapture, the tribulation period, when the church is 'absent' from the earth! This is done regardless of what the book says itself about the symbols it uses. 

The belief is also held that, during the period of the "rapture", the world is to be ruled by the Antichrist. This notion is read into Revelation, for it does not appear in the text at all! The only time the Bible mentions "Antichrist," is in the Johannine letters, where it is not a literal term.  Darbyists transpose their understanding to Mk 13:22; Matt.24:24; 2 Thess 2; Rev.13 & 17, introducing foreign notions into the texts.  The number of the beast, 666 or 616, refers to Nero, not a person yet to come, and is explained as such, in the text itself!  The "beast that was and is not" (Rev.17:11) refers to Domitian, perceived as the personality of Nero come to life again, as another persecutor of Christians. 

The notion of the millennium, is a basic part of the Darbyist scheme. There is an insistence on a millennial kingdom, of a political-state type, to be established after Christ returns, after the church has been removed in the "rapture" and after the "Great Tribulation". During this time, Jesus supposedly reigns in Jerusalem over an Israelite state, for 1 000 years. This belief is derived through a literal acceptance of selected "prophetic" passages, linked with Rev.20.  Remember, the prophets said that the Jewish people in Babylon would 

• be allowed to return home 
• restore and be ruled by a king of the Davidic line 
• establish a political state again.

• the people returned in 583 BCE. 
• the descendant of David, Zerubbabel, ruled as "God's chosen," c. 520 to 515 BCE. The state was a vassal of the Persian Empire at the time. 
• a separate, free Jewish state was eventually established in 141 BCE. It ended in 63 BCE, was briefly revived and ended again in  40- 37 BCE.

Broadly, the Darbyist scheme outlines Rev.20 as follows: 

The return of Jesus*
Jesus* binds Satan 
The Rapture occurs - removing the Church *
seven years of tribulation *
The millennium ( Jesus rules- in Jerusalem* ) 
The Loosing of Satan 
Final battle to end all human history* (? Armageddon*) 
The final judgement ( with all going to their reward) 

Rev. 20:1 speaks of an angel "coming down from heaven" and does not refer to Jesus returning, at all.  Some sects identify this angel with Michael.  Some argue that Jesus has already returned in the "narrative", as the rider on the white horse in Chapter 19.  While this latter figure does represent Christ, there is no reference to a return.  The incident in Chapt.19 is part of the apocalyptic description that began in Chapt.17, concerning the destruction of the Harlot City (Rome) and the removal of the persecutions of the Christians in Asia Minor.  Jesus is acting as God's agent, executing judgement on those who persecute his people.  It is not appropriate to shuffle the figures from one section to another.  Chapter 20 begins a new vision, discrete from the others. 

Likewise, it is the angel who binds Satan, not Jesus. There is no reference to a return of Jesus. In Darbyist, heretical thinking the 1000 year period of the binding of Satan is equated with the millennial rule of Jesus, which is assumed to be in Jerusalem.  In apocalyptic symbolism, the number 10 and its derivatives, stand for completeness. This symbolic use of number has been followed in the text up to this point and there is no reason given or indicated to change it.

There are some problems in translation that are adapted by the Darbyists, also, due to the use of the aorist, passive, subjunctive in the Greek verb, telesqh'/ , "might/may be fulfilled" or "might/may end" (Rev.20:3, 7).  In the KJV (and also in the RSV, NRSV and NIV) the translators of the Greek text change the original aorist, subjunctive mood into the English indicative mood, thus making it seem absolute or chronological, rather than modal or contingent.  A contingency binding does not imply that when Satan is bound, something else happens or that when Satan is released, something else happens. A contingency binding implies that "when the servants of Christ are dedicated and devoted entirely to Christ and to God's kingdom, Satan is bound, but when these persons become apostate and ally themselves with Satan or his representatives then Satan is loose, free to do damage to God's people." (Efird, p.75.) The binding of Satan is a literary, apocalyptic device to exhort the faithful response in the people of God. The appeal is to vigilance, not futuristic prophecy! A faithful response can happen any time, anywhere and with any person.  It is improper to transpose literary genre, from one cultural tradition to another and to claim that an absolute, chronological significance is demonstrated. 

There is also no mention of Jerusalem or the earth at all in these verses of Revelation. 

Where, then, are Christ and the martyrs? Simply, they are with Christ, ie. "in heaven" or where ever Christ is present spiritually with his people. The 1000 yrs reign, in apocalyptic symbolism, means that Christ's loyal followers, especially those who have been persecuted, "are with him completely".  Perhaps the intended meaning is best put that Christ is always with the faithful. (Efird, p.78.) 

How are we to understand the millennial reign? Literally or symbolically? 

It is to be understood, properly, as conveying a reward for the faithful in times of persecution - primarily at the very times of its origin, c.90 - 95 CE.  It is comparable to similar apocalyptic messages of reward in Dan.12:1-4.  If Rev. 20 is taken literally, only the "beheaded" can qualify!

The phrase, "in the heavenly places", signifies a sense of being with Christ. This can have a spiritual meaning and not a literal one "in the sky". 

In the RSV, NIV & NRSV, the reference to resurrection in vs.4-5 that are rendered "came to life". This is an incorrect translation (Efird, p79) and should read, "lived" (as in KJV) and so avoids the unfortunate chronological motif imparted to the text by the use of "came to life". (Thus Darbyism is active in the minds of the translators of the RSV, NIV and NRSV versions!)  Revelation teaches us that death does not break the relationship with Christ. That is Good news for those persecuted under Nero, Domitian or anyone else! The "first death", is physical death. The "second death," is separation from God, "based on whether persons responded positively to God's offer of grace and new life and remained faithful in the face of persecution." (Efird, p.79) 

There is scriptural reference to Armageddon (Rev. 16:16) but there is no battle fought there, for it is "a place of assembly" only.  In Rev.20:8-9, there is no battle either, for the text describes a gathering for battle and a siege but no battle is fought. Some Darbyists developed the idea that the battle is actually a protracted, extended war. This idea simply does not fit the text: no actual battle is mentioned at all. What follows is an account of the seventh act of divine wrath in a plague of "fire from heaven"! The idea of a "battle" is read into the text (as eisogesis) and does not derive from it.  Yet, so prevalent is the Darbyist notion of a "battle of Armageddon" among popular Christianity, what the Bible really says is effectively lost in our time and is replaced with notions as fantastically spurious as the X-files.

Similar eisogetic projections are seen in the interpretation of Gog and Magog to be cryptic references to some modern states. Russia, Red China, Iran and Iraq have been suggested at various times. The key to interpreting these names lies in Ezekiel 38-39, where the prophet uses the names Gog and Magog to refer to Babylon. Revelation speaks of a new Babylon, a new persecutor, namely Rome. In Revelation "Gog and Magog" signify Rome as Babylon revisited! There is no future reference implied or intended.  

In Revelation 20, the Darbyist interpretations about the return of Jesus and the end-of-the-world simply do not follow from the text. Revelation does not predict the end of the world or the return of Jesus. 

There is no return of Jesus, 
no reference to Jesus binding Satan- an angel binds the Satan-Dragon, 
no reference to a restored political state of Israel, 
no earthly reign of Jesus in Jerusalem, 
no chronological sequence of events, only a contingent chronology, 
no mention of a great battle - no battle at all, in fact! 
no prediction of modern nations,
no prediction of the end of human history, 
no rapture of the church, 
no Great Tribulation in our times or in the future
no double comings of Jesus 

The 'Book of Life' image teaches us that grace is prior to any human action regarding salvation. Revelation was written, as with all apocalyptic writings, to bolster the faith of the people during times of persecution and deprivation.  It promises that the persecution will end and that through Christ, the faithful are united to him and to each other through faith.  It promises that Christ will remove the persecution and allow the people to worship and live again as they should, in faith and in freedom.  The message of faith rests with faith and through faith there is salvation or liberation in Christ. 

Amen. Freedom from fundamentalism and spurious biblical prophecy would be a blessing, indeed!

W. L. Anderson

• Innocence - Adam in Eden
• Conscience - From the expulsion from Eden up to the flood
• Government - After the flood, man allowed to eat meat, death penalty instituted
• Promise - Abraham to Moses and the giving of the Torah
• Law - from Moses to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ
• Grace - The cross to the "Millennial Kingdom"
• "Millennial Kingdom" - A 1000 year reign of Christ on earth centred in Jerusalem.