FURTHER THOUGHTS ON DR.

JEREMIAH’S ‘GOLDEN AGE’

Rev. 11:15-18: And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.

And the 24 elders worshipped… saying, we give Thee thanks O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and is to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee thy great power and hast reigned.

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.  

Rev. 20:4: And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgement 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 on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 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 .And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations.

It is on the scriptures quoted above that Dr David Jeremiah and others holding to a millennial reign of blessing base their understanding. However, it seems they have overlooked some of the basic rules of hermeneutics (Bible study) in doing so.

Those rules include:

• Noting to whom the book is written [i.e. to fellow partakers in the tribulation and to the seven churches in Asia],
• When it was written [amid ancient Roman persecution of Christians], noting the different tenses used, i.e. whether events occur in the past, present or future.
• Considering the context.
• Rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) to determine whether the scripture studied is “present truth” for us today or belongs to another dispensation.

Even at a glance it is clear that the above verses about “the thousand years” say nothing about a “golden age”, in which the curse is lifted, men live to be as old as trees, people’s hearts are turned back to God and the earth restored to its pre-Flood beauty. All of which blessings and many others were detailed by the Old Testament prophets who foresaw them being fulfilled in a special day of God’s glory that would occur long before the events of the Book of Revelation.

Indeed, Revelation chapters 19 and 20 say nothing about such things at all. Nor does Revelation as a whole. Rather, the overall theme of chapters 19 and 20, and indeed much of the whole book, is one of judgement rather than restoration, still less the “restitution of all things” prophesied by the Apostle Peter in Acts 3:21.

Conclusion: the great blessings God promised through the prophets are not fulfilled in the Millennium but earlier in the Day of Christ, otherwise known as the Kingdom of God. Importantly, this world changing event takes place before the rapture, the tribulation and the second coming. It comes centuries before the parousia, the time of the Lord’s personal 1000-year presence on earth. 

That this is so is easily proved. One helpful method of Bible study is to carefully note where a word is used or not used in scripture. For example, the word “restoration” or “restitution” is nowhere used in Revelation but judge, judged, judgement occur frequently in the book. Similarly, warnings, admonitions, the call to repent, rebuke and decreed punishments abound in Revelation but are not found in the hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that truly depict a “Golden Age” of blessing and restoration. For example:

• Psalm 67:4: For Thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth.
• Romans 15:12: … Isaiah saith: There shall be a root of Jesse that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles [nations] and in Him shall the Gentiles [nations] trust.
• Psalm 96:10: Say among the nations the Lord reigneth. Rotherham: Say among the nations Jehovah has become King.
• Isaiah 2:4: They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore
• .

 By contrast the story in the Book of Revelation is one of continual war, war in heaven, and war on earth. Peace is mentioned only twice in Revelation; once in Rev. 1:4 as a salutation to the seven churches, then in 6:4 stating that the Red Horse has power to take peace from the earth. The biblical truth is that the 1000-year personal presence on earth of God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, will bless mankind in many ways. It will provide an intimate understanding of God Himself, his plans and purposes that could not be learned in any other way.

But a necessary preparation for such a time is that first the Lord must step in to take over government of the world and bring in a truly “Golden Age” of blessing and restoration for all mankind. This is mentioned six times in Paul’s epistles as the “Day of Christ”. It is when the Lord Jesus will shine forth from heaven in a blaze of glory [his epiphanea] that will manifest his kingdom on earth (2 Tim. 4:1).

It is my conviction that only after centuries of this highly beneficial heavenly rule, as foretold in the Old Testament prophecies listed above, will we then be ready to meet the Lord in person at his coming.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com