about Future Events

FUTURE EVENTS

Revelation 22:20-“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.  Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Amillennialism is widely held in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches as well as in the Roman Catholic Church.  This teaching follows very closely with the teachings of Augustine that were espoused in the fifth century AD.  Augustine claimed that the premillennial doctrine of future events was “carnal”.  The official teaching of amillennialism is as follows:

1.   Jesus is presently reigning from heaven, seated at the right hand  of God the Father.

2.   Jesus also is and will remain with the church until the end of the world, as he promised at the Ascension.

3.   The millennium is figurative and there will be no literal 1,000 year reign of Christ.

4.   The Church is commissioned to spread the Good News and declare Christ’s kingdom until he comes in glory at the end of the world.

In the  Catechism of The Catholic Church, we find the following statements:

V.  THE LAST JUDGMENT  

 1038 The resurrection of all the dead, “of both the just and the unjust,” will proceed the Last Judgment.  This will be “the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.  Then Christ will come “in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . And they  will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”   

 1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man’s relationship with God will be laid bare.  The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done of failed to do during his earthly life.   

 1040 The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory.  Only the Father knows that day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming.  Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history.  We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end.  The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.  

1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them “the acceptable time, . . .the day of salvation.  It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God.  It proclaims the “blessed hope” of the Lord’s return, when he will come “to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed.”

VI.  THE HOPE OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH 

 1042 At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness.  After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign forever with Christ, glorified in body and soul.  the universe itself will be renewed:  the church. . . will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of renewal of all things.  At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ.  

 1052 “We believe that the souls of all who die in Christ’s grace. . . are the people of God beyond death.  On the day of resurrection, death will be definitively conquered, when these souls will be reunited with their bodies” (Paul VI, CPG &28)   

 1053 “We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in Paradise forms the Church of heaven, where in eternal blessedness they see God as he is and where they are also, to various degrees, associated with the holy angels in the divine governance by Christ in glory, by interceding for us and helping our weakness by their fraternal concern.” (Paul VI, CPG &29) 

1059 “The holy Roman Church firmly believes and confesses that on the Day of Judgment all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ’s tribunal to render an account of their own deeds (Council of Lyons II [1274]; cf. DS 1549)    

1060 “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness.  Then the just will reign with Christ forever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe itself will be transformed.  God will then be ‘all in all’. (1 Cor. 15:28), in eternal life.” 

Roman Catholic apologists claim that Protestants invented the doctrine of premillennialism after the Reformation.  They claim that very few if any of the early church fathers held the premillennial view.  Furthermore, the pretribulation rapture doctrine was an invention of early nineteenth century Protestants and is not found in the Scriptures.  For the most part, Catholics scoff and make light of any premillennial teaching and claim empathetically that premillenialists are ignorant and unlearned.

Jesus clearly tells us that he will come again.  We find these words in John 14:1,2,3- “Let not your heart be troubled:  ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions:  if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. In Acts 1:11, the angel makes the following promise to the disciples immediately after the ascension of Jesus back into heaven: “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?  this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”  So, Jesus promised that He would come again.  The angel promised that Jesus would come again.  St. Peter stated that scoffers would question the second coming of Jesus.

We believe that Bible clearly teaches a literal bodily second coming of the Lord Jesus.  We further believe that this second coming will occur in two distinct stages.  We believe that He will first come for His church; the earth will then experience a seven year period of tribulation followed by the literal physical second coming of Jesus Christ; Christ will physically reign on this earth for a thousand year period; Satan will be loosed for a short period after the one thousand year reign of Christ and the world will finally be destroyed by fire and a new earth will be created by Christ.  Therefore, our position is premillennial and we believe in a pretribulation rapture of the church.

The official teaching of the Catholic Church espouses a general resurrection and a general judgment.  Both are foreign to the Scriptures.  In addressing fellow Christians, St. Paul clearly speaks of a future judgment reserved for Christians.  For instance we read in Romans 14:10,11- “for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”  Paul adds to this in 2 Corinthians 5:10 where he once again speaking to Christians states, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”  The Greek word translated judgment seat is bema and has the sense of an award being given, say at the Greek games for winning a race.  Furthermore, St. Paul clarifies this judgment of Christians in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 by stating:  “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest:  for the day shall declare it, because, it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  If any man’s work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss:  but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”  These verses have nothing at all to do with Purgatory.  The man is saved, but his works are tried and burned and not the man.  (For more information on purgatory, click on the purgatory link on the home page)

The Scriptures also speak of another judgment that occurs under very different circumstances.  This judgment is recorded in Revelation 20:11-15.  The Church of Rome in accepting the amillennial view of future events does not take a literal view of the Book of Revelation; rather an allegorical (symbolic) view.  In Revelation chapter 20 the following words are recorded:  “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened:  and another book was opened, which is the book of life:  and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them:  and they were judged every man according to their works.  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  The Greek word translated throne is thronos and has the sense of a throne where a sovereign monarch sits and pronounces judgment.  It is so very clear that this judgment is not the same as the one mentioned in Romans and 2 Corinthians.  Nothing is mentioned in Romans or Corinthians about being cast into the lake of fire.

While we whole heartedly agree with the teaching that the righteous will reign with Christ in our glorified body, we totally reject the teaching of a general resurrection and general judgment.  In Revelation chapter 19, we clearly see the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth again from heaven just as He promised while he was on earth the first time.  Revelation chapter 20 clearly tells of a future one thousand year reign of Christ on this earth.  In verse 4 we read, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them:  (one group of people)  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; (another group of people clearly the tribulation saints) and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”  The first group is the New Testament saints or church and they have been with Christ in heaven enjoying “the marriage supper of the Lamb” during the seven years of the tribulation period (see Revelation 19:6-10)

Furthermore, we clearly see in Revelation 20:5,6 that there are also two distinct groups of people.  “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.  this is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:  on such the second  death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”  The redeemed (born again believers of all ages) will reign with Christ during the thousand years and the damned (lost) will not stand in final judgment until after the thousand years (see vs. 11-15)

 Finally, one verse of Scripture is mentioned in an attempt to prove the teaching of a general resurrection and general judgment at the end of the world.  However, in 1 Corinthians 15:28 we read:  “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”  This verse certainly does not speak of a general resurrection and judgment.  Jesus Christ came to this earth as our Savior and then our Mediator with the Father.  At the end of the world, these two aspects of Christ’s ministry will be finished.  That is the essence of this verse.

The first century church expected the Lord to return at any moment and were for the most part premillennial in their teaching.  The Christians in Thessalonica were expecting the Lord to return in their lifetime.  They knew all about the resurrection and had a question for Paul.  He answers them in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 stating the following:  “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as other which have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  These verses clearly describe an event that is going to happen one day.  There certainly is no general resurrection taught in this passage.  Christians are promised that they will not remain on this earth during the period of the tribulation. In Revelation 3:10 we clearly see that promise.  “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, i also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

During the second century, some of the church fathers began to espouse the teaching of amillennialism and Augustine fully developed it.  For centuries it was the only teaching of the Catholic Church and still is.  The reformers were more interested in separating from the false teachings of Romanism and the doctrine of future events was unimportant to them.  In the nineteenth century, Christians once again began to seriously study the Scriptures and prophetic events and premillennialism once again has come to the forefront in Biblical prophecy.  In reading many Catholic web sites and forums, I am amazed at the total ignorance of Catholics toward future events.  They laugh and scoff at the notion of a premillennial return of the Lord.  they have no Biblical understanding of prophecy and certainly are not looking for the imminent return of the Lord.  I am not surprised though, because Catholics are not encouraged to read the Scriptures and if they do, they are forbidden under the penalty of Mortal sin to interpret them.