2 Chronicles 34 Revelation 20 Malachi 2
Can
you remember what you were doing when you were 8? Maybe you are 8! Imagining becoming king at that
age – this is what happened to Josiah 640 years BC. I love the description of Josiah’s
faithfulness in verse 2; ‘He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord … not
turning aside to the right or to the left.’ [see below] Can that be said of us
today?
When
Josiah was 16 (the text underlines the fact that ‘he was still young’), ‘he
began to seek the God of his father [ancestor rather than actual father]
David’. What a wonderful description of what we all need to do. How fervently
are we ‘seeking’ God, in our private devotions and in our public gatherings?
Note that this seeking is an ongoing, daily choice (‘he began to seek’) and
that it is never simply an internal or private journey. It means outward change
too, here expressed in the destruction of the elements of pagan worship
introduced and allowed by Josiah’s predecessors. His next work is to rebuild
the temple. Are there things in our lives that should not be there? Will be
faithful in tearing them down? Is there anything of the Lord’s work in us that
we have allowed to fall into disrepair? Will we be faithful in rebuilding?
During this rebuilding, the book of the law of Moses (most scholars believe
this to be the book we know as Deuteronomy) is discovered. Here we see the root
of the problem – God’s people have literally lost sight of his Word. It’s
interesting that, 4 times in Deuteronomy, God calls on his people not to turn
to the right or left from following his commands. Whenever that happens today,
we will experience similar problems – disobedience, unfaithfulness and defeat.
Let us thank God for the central place of his Word in our lives today.
Malachi
turns his prophetic wrath on the leaders of God’s people in chapter two. Their
sin? ‘Turning from the way and causing many to stumble.’ How? By not proclaiming
the message of the Lord so as to instruct the people with knowledge (2:7, 8).
Secondly, Malachi accuses the people of ‘breaking faith with one another.’ We
need to read and heed these words, and take to heart the call: ‘So guard
yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.’
Revelation
20 is one of the most contested passages in the whole of scripture, and one of
the most difficult to interpret. With regard to the Millennium (or
thousand-year reign of Christ), there have historically been 3 major positions
among Christians
Post-millennialism
- Jesus will return
after a millennium of worldwide Christian dominance
- This is barely
credible – certainly, Jesus in his final teaching (Matthew 24 & 25)
gives no such indication: the Church can expect to see the gospel spread
across the whole earth, with many coming to faith, but also persecution
and tribulation
A-millennialism
- we are living in
the millennium now – 1000 years is purely figurative
- The major problem
here is the banishing of Satan in 20:1–3. Can we really say that Satan is
absent from the world today?
Pre-millennialism
- Jesus will return
to earth, dead and living saints meeting together in the air (the
rapture), & reign with them for a lengthy period on this present earth
- The major problem
here is the release of Satan (20:7–10)
This
is not an area of theology over which we should fall out with other Christians;
but I believe the pre-millenialist position is the most faithful to scripture,
for the following reasons
- It is the oldest
view, held by all the ‘Church Fathers’ until Augustine’s Greek ideas.
- It best fits the
plain pattern of Rev 19 – 22 & the plain sense of 20:1–6 in particular
- 1000 years is
specified 6 times
- the focus
throughout is on earth (19:11–16, 17–21; 20:1, 4, 8, 11)
- the destruction
of the beast & false prophet leaves a vacuum in world government
- the verb ‘come
to life’ (20:4) always refers to physical resurrection (e.g the raising
of Lazarus in John 11:25)
- It is supported
elsewhere in scripture (Revelation 2:27, 5:10, 11:15; 1 Corinthians 6:3;
Philippians 2:10, 3:11; 2 Timothy 2:12; Acts 1:6, 3:21; Luke 1:32, 23.38;
Matthew 2:2; Isaiah 2:1–4; Micah 4:3; Zechariah 14:9, Isaiah 11:9;
Habbakuk 2:14; Daniel 7:9–13, 18, 22–27)
Taking
this position, the release of Satan does make some sense. If, after such a
period of gracious and just rule by Jesus and his saints, the people of earth
once again choose to rebel and follow the Enemy, then God’s final judgement is
utterly justified.
The
scene of final judgement is a sobering one, as books are opened, and all
secrets are laid bare, just as Jesus said they would be (Luke 12:2-4). We also
see the fulfilment of the promise made in 1 Corinthians that ‘the final enemy
to be destroyed is death.’
(member of the clergy)