The Millennium is a Pharisee Doctrine

The MILLENNIUM: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10840-millennium
By: Joseph Jacobs, A. Biram

Table of Contents

Messianic Period an Interregnum.

The reign of peace, lasting one thousand years, which will precede the Last Judgment and the future life. The concept has assumed especial importance in the Christian Church, where it is termed also “chiliasm,” designating the dominion of Jesus with the glorified and risen saints over the world for a thousand years. Chiliasm or the idea of the millennium is, nevertheless, older than the Christian Church; for the belief in a period of one thousand years at the end of time as a preliminary to the resurrection of the dead was held in Parseeism. This concept is expressed in Jewish literature in Enoch, xiii., xci. 12-17; in the apocalypse of the ten weeks, in Apoc. Baruch, xl. 3 (“And his dominion shall last forever, until the world doomed to destruction shall perish”); and in II Esdras vii. 28-29. Neither here nor in later Jewish literature is the duration of this Messianic reign fixed. It is clear, however, that the rule of the Messiah was considered as an interregnum, from the fact that in many passages, such as Pes. 68a, Ber. 34b, Sanh. 91b and 99a, Shab. 63a, 113b, and 141b, a distinction is made between and , although it must be noted that some regarded the Messianic rule as the period of the fulfilment of the prophecies, while others saw in it the time of the subjugation of the nations.



So it is no wonder it found its way into the first century Church comprised mainly of Jews.



But in time, the church condemned it as heresy. First, According to the Nicene Creed


We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sproul, R. C. (Ed.). (2015). The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (p. 2389). Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust.

And condemned as heresy by the Council of Ephesus in 431 in two ways.



“In addition to its condemnation of Nestorianism, the council also condemned

Pelagianism, [2] and rejected premillennialism (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Papias,

Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius) in favor of amillennialism (Clement of

Alexandria, Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine of Hippo): "Augustine's

explanation became Church doctrine when it was adopted as the definitive

explanation of the millennium by the Council of Ephesus in 431."[35]



Secondly, “Canon 7 condemned any departure from the creed established by the First Council of Nicaea (325)” This affirmed Jesus “shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.” Thereby denouncing premillennialism and the doctrines leading up to and including Dispensationalism of the 1800s.



Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Council_of_Ephesus&oldid=921743450"

So what is your position, do not believe in reve 20, mean you do not believe in binle?

I guess you also believe God lied through the Angel Gabriel when he told Mary that her Son would rule on the throne of King David.

Tell me. When did Jesus ever sit on David's Throne?

Using that as an argument against millennialism is a foolish argument. I have never heard a millennealist argue that Christ's kingdom ended at the end of the thousand years. Pre-mils, or at least dispensationalists, I've heard believe that after the thousand years this earth is burnt with fervent heat with the kingdom continuing forever with the new heaven and the new earth.

You have also basically admitted that your own eschatology depends on the apostles being wrong in this passage.

Acts 1
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

Jesus encouraged them in this belief which you reject.

I will take the side of the apostles and Christ that the restoration of the kingdom to Israel is a true thing to come.

The earliest writings that deal with this topic affirm an actual kingdom, with the prophets coming to an actual Jerusalem, etc. Eusebius, an amillennialist if I recall correctly, admitted that Papias, who knew St. John took it that way, the way you would describe as chiliastic. Justin Martyr wrote that Christians who were rightly minded agreed with him, and described the coming literal kingdom, but said there were some who disagreed. We do not know if those who disagreed were amil or had a completely different eschatology. But evidence for amil comes later. After a few hundred years, the strange idea arose that allegorical versus literal as the same as spiritual versus literal. Paul did not write about the 'spirit of the law'. He wrote about the Spirit and he wrote about the law. Augustine, probably borrowing from Ambrose, had this idea that literal interpretations were unspiritual or less spiritual. He was influential, and amil was popularize.

Someone got onto amil on your cessationist thread recently, but one can be non-cessationist and be amil. Augustine wrote a few cessationist comments early on, but he wrote of many miracles he witnessed toward the end of his life, documenting numerous healings in his days. (The number of anal fistulas that people suffered with and therefore had to be healed from was disturbing, but I saw a documentary that mentioned some of the Romans unsanitary practices, dipping communal sponges in grey water and such, so the need for that type of healing was quite important.) Augustine wanted people to come forward and testify of the many healings that had taken place.

You also confuse the kingdom of God with the specific topic of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God, and includes and is related to such things as righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, healing, miracles, raising the dead, and the preaching of repentance. Jesus sent the twelve with instructions to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils. He told them to preach 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' They demonstrated the proximity of the kingdom of God through miracles.

You actually oppose aspects of the kingdom of God on the earth in this age. Jesus said, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you..." Jesus also called casting out demons a miracle. You are against the idea of the saints working miracles. So you are against one of the manifestations of the kingdom of God in this age.

The kingdom





And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic* and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sproul, R. C. (Ed.). (2015). The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (p. 2389). Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust.

And condemned as heresy by the Council of Ephesus in 431 in two ways.



“In addition to its condemnation of Nestorianism, the council also condemned

Pelagianism, [2] and rejected premillennialism (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Papias,

Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius) in favor of amillennialism (Clement of

Alexandria, Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine of Hippo): "Augustine's

explanation became Church doctrine when it was adopted as the definitive

explanation of the millennium by the Council of Ephesus in 431."[35]



Secondly, “Canon 7 condemned any departure from the creed established by the First Council of Nicaea (325)” This affirmed Jesus “shall come again, with glory, to judge both the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.” Thereby denouncing premillennialism and the doctrines leading up to and including Dispensationalism of the 1800s.



Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Council_of_Ephesus&oldid=921743450"[/QUOTE]

@Dave-L

• I believe in the Holy Scriptures
• I believe that these scriptures are from the original Hebrew and Greek
• I believe there is traceability and confirmation of the accuracy of the original Hebrew and Greek due to the number of manuscripts that exist
• We have translations into English (and other languages) today, but so long as we are able to trace this back to the original language as penned by the original authors, we can rely on this being accurate
• I believe the original authors (40 of them) were inspired and led by the Holy Spirit. A true miracle, in that none of these authors across many counties and geographies, and thousands of years apart, contradict one another.

Now that we have this important foundation in place we can go onto the next points below. If at any point you disagree with any of the points above, or if you find any chinks in the above foundation, be sure to let me know. If you don't believe in all of the points above, then you posit that we cannot rely on the holy scriptures. Then we will never see eye to eye on any debate forthwith.

• The Lord made everything in 6 days, and on the 7th day he rested (biblical)
• A day with the Lord is like 1000 years, and a 1000 years is like a day (biblical 2 Peter 3v8). Your attached article refers to it.
• The Lord rested on the 7th Day, and the 7th millennium (6000-7000 years) is also a period of rest (Christ's rule on earth for 1000 years, and it is characterised as peaceful).
• As David ruled in Judah (Jerusalem) after subduing all surrounding nations by blood, so true will Christ rule from Jerusalem after subduing all nations by blood (His second coming). This is a type fulfilment (and these types repeat regularly throughout the Bible and history).
• Revelation 20 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for [a]a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
• If the bible says 1000 years in the passage above, then you would be wise to take it literally. For not one of God's words fall to the ground unfulfilled. At no point has scripture failed the test of time. At no point will any "Being" in the universe be able to point a finger at God and say "Your word said 1000 years but in fact there was 2000 years" or "Your word said 1000 years, but things didn't happen as per the scriptures". God cannot lie (Hebrews 6v18). God looks over His word to fulfil it. Jeremiah 1v12 12 Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
• This 1000 year reign is not the end of the matter, because Satan will be let out of prison to have one more go of it after the 1000 year period. Then the Day of the Lord will Come.
• To say that these scriptures were put in by John (the One whom the Lord loved) by influence of surrounding nations, or hand-me-down fables does violence to the scriptures. God is in the business of saving souls by TRUTH. He will not have allowed any corruption to the original recordings. And thank God we have them through the hundreds of manuscripts.
• The "Dead Sea Scrolls" were found with various documents all confirming the authenticity of the scriptures we have today. In fact a fully preserved scroll with the entire book of Isaiah was found, and completely unchanged from the record we have today. Further evidence of the trustworthiness of the scriptures upon which we can base our faith in the Lord.
• This is good news.

I don't consider church councils to be akin to scripture or anything like that, but I have found errors an innaccuracies in Wikidpedia. I recall reading that one of the councils, maybe Chalcedon, condemned prempremil views, but actually just one speaker in a discussion did, and it was not a council decision. I'd want to read the actual council proclamations. Authors of wikipedia can overstate their case. Most Protestants don't really believe in Chalcedon, not all of it. Do Protestants really believe anything about how monestaries should be administratied?

Did the OP quote a lie from Wikipedia.

Here is a quote from https://preteristarchive.com/Books/pdf/2004_gumerlock_millennialism-and-the-early-church.pdf with my emphasis added:
"For example, several writers have asserted that the Council of Ephesus in 431 condemned belief in an earthly millennium as a heretical superstition.14 In making this claim, however, none of the writers had cited a canon or decree associated with that council upon which the assertion could reasonably be deduced. Norman P. Tanner’s 1990 reference work, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, provides the Greek and Latin texts of all the documents associated with the Council of Ephesus, with English translations. Not only is there not one statement from this council condemning belief in an earthly millennium, there is not one hint that the subject of the millennium even came up at the council as a topic of discussion.15 The claim is totally groundless. "


I thought that Wikipedia article quote looked like bunk. Wikipedia is actually a good resource for a lot of topics, but it does contain errors. You just have to have a source for your error and you have a chance of getting it into Wikipedia. When I have added to Wikipedia or corrected errors, I tried to use good quality sources.

How does that eccelessiological quote from Augustine have anything to do with condemning premil? Where was the evidence for Ephesus condemning premil or chilliastic approaches in that section? Could someone fix this junk in wikipedia?

To the orignial poster:

The book of Revelation is not a doctrine of the Pharisees, but was given by God the Father:

"This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Since the millennial kingdom is presented here in the book of Revelation, it is then apart of the book of this prophecy. Regarding this book of prophesied the following is stated:

"Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."

Furthermore, the following is stated regarding those who would add to or take away from the words of this prophecy:

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll."

This destroys any claim made in your posting regarding the millennial kingdom being an invention of the Pharisee, because it belongs to the information contained within the book of Revelation and is the truth, which is the word of God.

Further more, by attempting to teach that the millennial kingdom is not valid, when it is stated right in the book of Revelation, you are in fact attempting to take away from the word of the prophecy of this book.

The phrase "a thousand years" is used six times in Revelation 20 and therefore, you ought to believe that it means a literal thousand years, which will Begin once the Lord returns to the earth to end the age.

Either the book of Revelation is the word of God or it isn't. If it isn't, then how could we trust the rest of His word?

I'll add 'and the Prophets, who wrote profusely about the Millennium.

I don't think the OP is arguing Amill. at all but rather pre-mill and everyone is taking it as though he support's Amill.

Agreed, writings such as:

The wolf will live with the lamb,

and the leopard will lie down with the goat;

the calf and young lion and fatling will be together,

and a little child will lead them.

The cow will graze with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play by the cobra’s den,

and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all My holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD

as the sea is full of water.

=============================================

Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

All of the above are characteristics of the millennial kingdom.

Actually, the OP is attempting to claim that the millennial is not biblical. That it was doctrine of the Pharisees, which is completely false.

The Nicene Creed is a private interpretation of man. A heresy or opinion And not the witness of God's law . The witness of God instructs us in the opening statement of Revelation 1:1. Not only was iHis word "inspired" by God but was "signified" according to the language of parables.

Revelation1:11 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

The phrase thousand years (used 9 times in the Bible.) like any other temporal thing seen . . . hides the spiritual understanding as a spiritual gift from natural man's understandings . That hidden understanding is also called "hidden Manna" in Revelation 2.. I would call it the gospel hidden as prophecy.

literalism seems to take away the signified understanding. . prophecy . No literal key, no literal serpent, no literal thousand years but rather the signified. A thousand years represents a unknown. Like a thousand years is as if it was (timeless) one day. The literalist would say a thousand years is a thousand years.

Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but "as" yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night

For a thousand years in thy sight are Timeless.

Ecclesiastes 6:6Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

Though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good it would be no better than living one day.

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord "as" a thousand years ,Not is. Timeless

Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

The gospel key bound the spirit of lies for the whole new testament era signified as a thousand years. God does not number days or people as the things seen rather than walking by faith the unseen eternal

I think he's speaking of the seven days of creation and it's going over everyone's head and should be discussed where it always has been.

Nope. You are wrong.

You are forcing a view on Revelation Jesus refuted many times in the gospels.

You are making a creed by saying this. Who are we to believe? Those who withstand millennia of challenges, or those who challenge them on a bible forum?

The 1000 years is not the kingdom. Satan attacks the kingdom when loosed.