能用 千禧年是指耶稣第一次来和第二次来之间，我们现在就处于千禧年 后面是千禧年的历史回顾
The teaching of millennialism—a prominent threat to the Bible’s teaching of heaven and hell—is making a comeback. But with our hands set to the work at hand, the eyes of our hope are intently focused on future glory.
Faith in God means trusting him for the long term.
Faithlessness focuses on the here and now.
term thinking led Israel to demand a king so they could be more like the nations around them and also led Israel’s kings to seek allies among the heathen countries instead of trusting that God would preserve their nation.
It prompted the Jews of Jesus’ day to look for a Messiah that would deliver them from the Romans.
It tempted Peter to tell Jesus not to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die.
It led the disciples at the Ascension to ask Jesus when he would establish his earthly kingdom.
Today’s world is still filled with that faithless, short-sighted view of God. The premise of a social gospel focuses on the here and now instead of eternity’s then and there.
American materialism deflects attention from God by setting its sights on instant gratification. Even mainline Christianity has been infected by the short-range thinking of millennialism.
A farsighted view With clear and loving words, God delivers Lutherans from these shortsighted views. “Set your minds on things above,” Paul urges, “not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). Lutherans don’t expect heaven on earth. Jesus told us, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). We look for heaven in heaven, for the same Savior promised us, “I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Luther shared Scripture’s farsighted worldview. He wrote, “For if we would be Christians, the ultimate objects of our quest should not be marrying, giving in marriage, buying, selling, planting—activities Christ says the wicked will be engaged in. But our ultimate quest should be something better and higher: the blessed inheritance of heaven that does not pass away” (What Luther Says 1891).
Faith’s clear focus on distant glory, however, does not distract us from the work in front of us. Because we are not taken in by the “second chances” offered in the teachings of purgatory and millennialism, Lutherans have a keen sense of the nature and urgency of today’s task.
The future holds either heaven or hell—no second chances, no alternatives. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
For that reason the Savior himself urged us to focus on the task before us. Trusting in heaven does not mean spending our time on earth standing around with our eyes in the sky (Acts 1:11). “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me,” Jesus said. “Night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4).
Since faith comes by hearing the Word, our immediate calling is to get the Word out or moving up quickly to as many as possible
A formidable threat
The devil is busy distracting us from our gospel task. He tries to take the edge off our sense of urgency by watering down the Bible’s straightforward teaching about the impending judgment.
Most devious are his circumventions of hell. Satan plays on mankind’s natural aversion to giving a final account to God. Many denominations follow his lead. Mormons teach that no one suffers eternally in hell. Instead, after death, people work themselves through levels of heaven. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists teach that the wicked will not suffer eternally but will be annihilated. Roman Catholicism offers an alternative to hell with a contrived purgatory where people can earn their way to heaven after death.
Because of mainline Christianity’s influence in our country, many of these hell dodges are not prominently advertised.
Even though officially taught, false churches put these teachings on the back burner in hopes of proselytizing Christians. But the teaching of millennialism—a prominent threat to the Bible’s teaching of heaven and hell—is making a comeback within the ranks of Christian churches.
Millenarians, as millennialists are properly called, have roots dating back before Christ.
Although the Old Testament never mentions a millennium, Jewish fables imagined a 400-year messianic kingdom based on an apocryphal reference (2 Esdras 7:28).
After Christ, Revelation 20:1-7 was misinterpreted by a number of false teachers to expand on the old Jewish notion of an earthly reign of peace.
The light of Scripture
07 22:14:43The teaching of a millennium is mentioned only once in Scripture, in Revelation 20:1-7. The word literally means “a thousand years.” Yet, no doubt, in its Revelation context it is to be understood figuratively. Everything leading up to the mention of the millennium (1,2) is clearly figurative. Jesus is pictured as an angel. A key and chain represent Christ’s power over Satan. Hell is pictured as an abyss. Satan is called a dragon. Figuratively, the millennium is the whole New Testament age. 回应删除
雅亿 (谢谢豆的平台) 2012-02-07 22:15:28Yet contrary to the immediate context and against all testimony in the rest of Scripture, millenarians demand that the thousand years in Revelation 20 be understood as a literal 1,000 years. However, Jesus spoke against every notion of an earthly “Christian kingdom.” The last days, Jesus said, would not be characterized by peace and mass conversions. Rather there will be “wars and rumors of war” (Matthew 24:6). There will be “many false prophets” and “the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:11,12)
07 22:16:21Millennialism poses grave dangers to the Christian faith. It pretends to be Bible based, but operates with a twisted interpretation of a single passage. It opposes clear Bible witness. It gives false comfort to those who want to hold on to their worldly lifestyles by offering them a second chance for conversion. It is rooted in an earthly kingdom concept that our Savior warned us against. For that reason, Lutherans, along with their founding fathers, reject millennialism in the 17th article of the Augsburg Confession
07 22:17:16Since heaven is the only alternative to hell and there will be no second chances at conversion, Lutherans intently focus on their earthly mission. But with our hands set to the work at hand, the eyes of our hope are intently focused on future glory. “In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). Instead of the vain pursuit of heaven on earth, we have the sure hope of heaven in heaven.
07 22:13:43Millenarians are divided into two camps. The premillenarians believe that Christ will return at the beginning of a 1,000-year period prior to the final judgment. During this time the whole world will be won over by the gospel. At the end of this age, the devil will try to reestablish himself, but will be defeated and confined to a lake of fire. Postmillenarians say that Christ will return at the end of a 1,000-year age. During that time there will be a mass conversion of Jews and eventually of all people on earth. Toward the end there will be a brief apostasy linked with Satan’s attempt to reassert himself. After Satan’s final defeat, Christ will return in glory, destroy the earth, and take believers to glory in heaven.
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