But because the conversation has turned to the millennial reign of Christ on earth whether it is a literal prophesy or a metaphor I now wish to offer some items for the discussion as I do have a clear spiritual understanding that the thousand reign of Christ on earth is Gods appointed Sabbath and a fulfillment of promises made to the descendants of Israel.
Please excuse the length of this post - it required a lot of background.
First, the leanings I have in the Spirit which guide this understanding: (1) that God keeps every single promise (2) that a thing is true because God says it our mortal logic notwithstanding, (3) that all that there is whether spiritual or physical was made by Jesus and for Jesus, (4) that from Genesis to Revelation, beginning to end, God is raising a family to live with Him in the new heaven and new earth. :
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: - Colossians 1:16
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, - Ephesians 1:3-5
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. Revelation 21:1
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Revelation 21:6-8
For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6
Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 31:37
The descendents of Israel are distinct in the prophesy for the new heaven and new earth:
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but [rather] through their fall salvation [is come] unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Romans 11:11
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd. John 10:16
Nevertheless, I am certain that no thing and no one can stand between God and his adopted children the ones whose names were written in the book of Life from the foundation of the world. I am also certain that no one can come to Jesus except the Father draws him and that no one can come to the Father except through Christ. I am also certain that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. John 6:65
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this [is] my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, [they are] enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, [they are] beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God [are] without repentance. Romans 11:26-29
Israel has long viewed Gods promises through the lens of the physical and national a promised earthy land living in peace with the surrounding nations and the Messiah as their righteous king, heir to the throne of David. Yet over the last few millennia, they have come to understand there is another promise of the Messiah a preexistent Messiah, transcendent and universal.
But as mortals are so often wont to do and surely due to the blindness spoken of in Romans 11 - Israel sees these prophesies as irreconcilable, i.e. the Law of the Excluded Middle, it must be one or the other, either/or. See Jewish Encyclopedia on the Messiah.
Likewise they may be blinded by the Law of Identity, being able to recognize the Messiah as a single identity appearing but not coming twice first as the Lamb of God and then again, at the end of this age, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. (Revelation 5)
We should not make the same mistake in our discernment. Jesus Christ is everything He says He is our mortal logic notwithstanding:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes [were] as a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on [his] vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelation 19:11-16
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection. Revelation 20:1-5
Point 3: The 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth is Gods Sabbath.
First, the Sabbath has a deeper prophetic meaning than a simple observance:
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ. - Colossians 2:16-17
On another thread, one of the Orthodox posters testified that the Church intentionally discouraged apocalyptic beliefs because it was apparent that Christ had not yet come again and likely would not come any time soon. (II Peter 3) Indeed, to this day, some beliefs Orthodox, Catholic and evidently many Protestants - either ignore or discredit Revelation altogether.
But whatever the reason, the insight of the Sabbath being the thousand year reign of Christ on earth has been pretty much lost. Then again, all things work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8) And some things are withheld from us until the time is right. (Daniel 12:4, Revelation 10:4) So no doubt this has all happened according to Gods will.
One of the manuscripts which was discredited by the Catholic Church is the Epistle of Barnabas (not to be confused with the Gospel of Barnabas, a late sixteenth century pro-Islam fraud.) The epistle is thought to be written in the first few centuries after the Resurrection and is helpful here because it speaks very clearly of this Sabbath belief:
Yea and furthermore He saith; Thou shalt hallow it with pure hands and with a pure heart. If therefore a man is able now to hallow the day which God hallowed, though he be pure in heart, we have gone utterly astray. But if after all then and not till then shall we truly rest and hallow it, when we shall ourselves be able to do so after being justified and receiving the promise, when iniquity is no more and all things have been made new by the Lord, we shall be able to hallow it then, because we ourselves shall have been hallowed first. Finally He saith to them; Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot away with. Ye see what is His meaning ; it is not your present Sabbaths that are acceptable [unto Me], but the Sabbath which I have made, in the which, when I have set all things at rest, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world. Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens. - chapter 15:3-9
In one place it says So it cometh to pass; for because they went to war it was pulled down by their enemies. Now also the very servants of their enemies shall build it up. So of course those who view prophesy with the lens of mortal logic discount the whole Epistle of Barnabas on the basis that the servants of the Romans did not rebuild the physical temple. But the prophesy does not suggest the temple rebuilt by the servants of the enemies of Israel is of necessity a physical one. Indeed, the spiritual temple is the focus of the remaining verses in the chapter. Nor does it exclude the possibility that the servants of Rome will physically rebuild a temple. Rather it speaks of the temple we are now and emphasizes the distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. The bottom line again is that mortal logic applied to prophesy can result in skepticism. This was, btw, the same error noted in the Gospel of John (the presumption that the temple is physical):
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. - 2 Peter 3:8
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. Genesis 5:5
The Sabbath could begin any day now, or it could be a few centuries away. Either way, we should be ready. (Parable of the Ten Virgins.) The Jewish year is 5768 from Adams first moment on earth so under that calendar, Christ is not due for approximately two centuries and change. But using the Christian calendar, 6000 years more or less have already elapsed. The difference is a dispute over the amount of time the Jews were exiled in Babylon.
Summary
The bottom line is that both the natural olive tree (the physical descendants of Jacob, and God knows who they are) and we who have been grafted in (the Gentiles who have been saved) can look forward to Gods Sabbath rest, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth which fulfills the realistic, national elements of end times prophesy as well as the never-ending new heaven and new earth which fulfills the transcendent, universal elements of end times prophesy. God's gifts and callings are without repentance - He keeps all of His promises. It is not an "either/or."
Between now and then, we Christians are, even while yet in the flesh, dead to this mortal life and alive with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) How much better it will be for all of us when we weigh anchor from our physical bodies whether by mortal death or rapture and even before the fulfillment of the remaining promises, most especially the new heaven and new earth!
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, - I Thessalonians 5:9
From the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, the promise to the Church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3, the promise in I Thessalonians 4, Romans 8:38-39 et al including the above, my leaning in the Spirit is that none of us who are alive with Christ in God (Col 3:3) shall endure Gods wrath. And yet there will be martyrs from the wrath of the beast and those martyrs will reign with Christ in the 1,000 year Sabbath. (Revelation 20)
Maranatha, Jesus!!!
Found At Last: The Jewish Calendars 240 Missing Yearsshalom b'shem Yah'shua
Would have to read again, but you may have even articulated a nuznce or two I hadn't articulated to myself.
A slight quibble . . . can't 100% agree with:
And without some significant adjustment in my eschatology, would have to begin before the last cohort observing Israel rebirthed in 1948 died . . . I say . . . at the outside . . . 2075.
But after over 50 years watching trends . . . I find it difficult to imagine how things with respect to the globalists and all their END TIMES prophecied related WORLD GOVERNMENT stuff . . . can be delayed anywhere near that long.
Comp glitches must clse n post
I haven't heard this before. I wonder though, if it's the Sabbath why doesn't the new Jerusalem descend until after the 1,000 yr reign?
FK I pinged you because I thought you might find this thread interesting.
Curious "musing". There is little to suggest from the writings of Church history that such was ever the view. In fact, the quote from Barnabas you gave seems to teach something quite different, for Barnabas concludes:
I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world. Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens.It was the eighth day, i.e., the Lords Day, that was significant to the early Church. There is no mention here a literal "thousand years" on the earth as a Sabbath. So there was really nothing for them to loose. The true rest for Gods people is in the new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells.
Hebrews 4 explains the rest of God for His people, and it has nothing to do with the so-called future "thousand years".