Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

chapter of Revelation informs us that God and the Church of the redeemed will take up
their dwellingplace on earth after heaven and earth have been renewed; how then can it
be maintained that Christ and the saints will dwell there a thousand years before this
renewal. How will sinners and saints in the flesh be able to stand in the presence of the
glorified Christ, seeing that even Paul and John were completely overwhelmed by the
vision of Him, Acts 26:12-14; Rev. 1:17? Beet truly says: “We cannot conceive mingled
together on the same planet some who have yet to die and others who have passed
through death and will die no more. Such confusion of the present age with the age to
come is in the last degree unlikely.” 22 And Brown calls out: “What a mongrel state of
things is this! What an abhorred mixture of things totally inconsistent with each
other!” 23
f. The only Scriptural basis for this theory is Rev. 20:1-6, after an Old Testament
content has been poured into it. This is a very precarious basis for various reasons. (1)
This passage occurs in a highly symbolical book and is admittedly very obscure, as may
be inferred from the different interpretations of it. (2) The literal interpretation of this
passage, as given by the Premillenarians, leads to a view that finds no support
elsewhere in Scripture, but is even contradicted by the rest of the New Testament. This
is a fatal objection. Sound exegesis requires that the obscure passages of Scripture be
read in the light of the clearer ones, and not vice versa. (3) Even the literal interpretation
of the Premillenarians is not consistently literal, for it makes the chain in verse 1 and
consequently also the binding of verse 2 figurative, often conceives of the thousand
years as a long but undefined period, and changes the souls of verse 4 into resurrection
saints. (4) The passage, strictly speaking, does not say that the classes referred to (the
martyr saints and those who did not worship the beast) were raised up from the dead,
but simply that they lived and reigned with Christ. And this living and reigning with
Christ is said to constitute the first resurrection. (5) There is absolutely no indication in
these verses that Christ and His saints are seen ruling on the earth. In the light of such
passages as Rev. 4:4; 6:9, it is far more likely that the scene is laid in heaven. (6) It also
deserves notice that the passage makes no mention whatsoever of Palestine, of
Jerusalem, of the temple, and of the Jews, the natural citizens of the millennial kingdom.
There is not a single hint that these are in any way concerned with this reign of a
thousand years. For a detailed interpretation of this passage from the Amillennial point
of view we refer to Kuyper, Bavinck, De Moor, Dijk, Greydanus, Vos, and Hendriksen.
22 The Last Things, p. 88.
23 The Second Advent, p. 384.
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