Amill brother's advice needed.

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God'sElectSaint

Puritan Board Freshman
Greetings brethren!
I have been studying Eschatology lately. I have no firm position yet and I would like to a establish what my system will be according to what I deem most consistent with scripture of course. I am becoming more and more drawn to Amillennialism. Thus far I feel it the most consistent with the whole of scripture. Here's a quick summary of what I understand about it thus far:
1.) 1,000 years= this present age of Gospel preaching until Christ returns, not a literal 1,000 years.
2.) Satan bound and cast out for 1,000 years= Satan was bound and cast out from "deceiving the nations"at the Cross. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."(John 12:31)
3.) First Resurrection in Revelation 20= The new birth, being raised from spiritual death unto life by faith. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;"(Eph 2:1) It's a spiritual resurrection.
4.) Nature of the Kingdom of God= This one really hit me hard. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." and also "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world:"(John 18:36) This really shatters the idea of an earthly Kingdom for me personally.

Is my understanding of amillennialism on track? Are their other essentials or explanations I should know? And of course what resources can help me here, books,sermons? Has anyone on the PB done a sermon series on amillennialism that is on the web, that I could listen to? Thanks in advance guys!
 
You seem to be on the right track

And of course what resources can help me here, books,sermons?

here's few resources that were helpful to me.


Sermons on the Book of Revelation By Joel Beeke

http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.a...hnrc&currSection=sermonstopic&AudioOnly=false

Sermons on the Book of Revelation by Arturo G Azurdia

http://www.monergism.com/search?f[0]=author:34666&f[1]=series:38960

Articles about Amillennialism

http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/eschatology.html
 
R. C. Sproul's book here is very good. He also has sermons here which is a series and has other schools of thought on the end times in order to learn the differences. They are pretty good. I listened to them a long time ago
 
Greetings brethren!
I have been studying Eschatology lately. I have no firm position yet and I would like to a establish what my system will be according to what I deem most consistent with scripture of course. I am becoming more and more drawn to Amillennialism. Thus far I feel it the most consistent with the whole of scripture. Here's a quick summary of what I understand about it thus far:
1.) 1,000 years= this present age of Gospel preaching until Christ returns, not a literal 1,000 years.
2.) Satan bound and cast out for 1,000 years= Satan was bound and cast out from "deceiving the nations"at the Cross. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."(John 12:31)
3.) First Resurrection in Revelation 20= The new birth, being raised from spiritual death unto life by faith. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;"(Eph 2:1) It's a spiritual resurrection.
4.) Nature of the Kingdom of God= This one really hit me hard. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." and also "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world:"(John 18:36) This really shatters the idea of an earthly Kingdom for me personally.

Is my understanding of amillennialism on track? Are their other essentials or explanations I should know? And of course what resources can help me here, books,sermons? Has anyone on the PB done a sermon series on amillennialism that is on the web, that I could listen to? Thanks in advance guys!

I would broadly agree. I would say Scripture tends to show the "first resurrection" elsewhere is Christ's. Acts 26:23 presents Christ’s physical resurrection as the first resurrection, saying, “Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first resurrection from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles."

Colossians 1:18 closely mirrors Acts 26:23, saying, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Revelation 1:5 uses the same Greek word to describe Christ’s triumphant resurrection, saying, “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.”

Paul similarly says in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”

Revelation 20:6 simply says, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.”

I believe is is our "part" in the the first resurrection that is the new birth. Whatever “the first resurrection” is, participation in it qualifies humans’ to escape the horrors of eternal punishment (the second death). In this experience Christians identify with Christ’s victorious resurrection.

The Greek for “that hath part” is echo méros. The Greek verb echo correctly interpreted “that hath” in the King James Version is written in the present tense and in the active voice. Therefore, we can view the relevance and vitality of “the first resurrection” as being both current and ongoing. Christ’s victory over death is not simply a past event that has no active bearing upon what we are today; it is ongoing reality in the lives of God’s people. The Greek word translated “part” in the text is the word
meros meaning share, allotment or portion. This reading tells us that all those that have come to the joy of saving faith in Christ have become partakers in the resurrection life, and through this will escape the horrors of the second death – eternal wrath.
 
1.) 1,000 years= this present age of Gospel preaching until Christ returns, not a literal 1,000 years.
2.) Satan bound and cast out for 1,000 years= Satan was bound and cast out from "deceiving the nations"at the Cross. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."(John 12:31)
3.) First Resurrection in Revelation 20= The new birth, being raised from spiritual death unto life by faith. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;"(Eph 2:1) It's a spiritual resurrection.

These three are also held by postmils.

4.) Nature of the Kingdom of God= This one really hit me hard. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." and also "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world:"(John 18:36) This really shatters the idea of an earthly Kingdom for me personally.

The kingdom is in this world and affects this creational world and world of men, but is from above and is not of the world that lies in the Wicked One.
 
I can't speak for the other sermon series recommended since I haven't hear them yet (I plan to listen to Beale's soon). However, I will strongly second Art Azurdia's Revelation series. In some senses, it might not be what you asked for. Art minimizes the technical aspects of his eschatological views. There was little if any argumentation for his system against anything aside from dispensationalism.

That said, he convinced me to become an amillennialist primarily because Revelation came to life in his sermons. I've heard a number of sermon series from a broadly dispensational perspective. Revelation was unclear, complicated, confusing and intimidating. I would have been afraid to teach the book in a small group. I also found little of practical value in the book. It seemed to be a bunch of complicated material we were supposed to decode complicated end times charts from, preceded by some letters to random churches tacked on for no apparent reason.

In Art's sermon series, revelation suddenly became a book that is exceedingly practical and encouraging for all Christians in all periods. It's become one of my favorite books, and not for making charts or engaging in esoteric arguments. I've never quite had a sermon series open my eyes to the spiritual food in any part of scripture I'd been missing as much as Art's series.

So, I'm strongly commending the series to you not so much because it presents amillennial theology, but it gives you a fantastic view of the point of the Revelation that will make subsequent efforts to understand the underlying theology more fruitful.
 
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