Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times - Conscious Evolution TV

obin-bobin The End Times According to Christians 117For a thousand years all creation will enjoy the idyllic, peacefulconditions God intended at the completion of the six days ofGenesis 1.Although premillennialism is based on this kind of lofty theologicalthinking, the linchpin of the case for premillennialism ingeneral is the claim that this view best accords with theprophecy of the millennium (Rev. 20:1–10). Premillennialistsargue that the key to understanding this prophecy is to read it asa central aspect of Christ’s final victory over Satan, the chronologyof which is presented in the final four chapters of the bookof Revelation. According to what George Eldon Ladd calls “themost natural reading” of Revelation 20:1–10, the destruction ofSatan occurs in two stages separated by the millennial era.Christ’s cosmic opponent is incarcerated for a thousand years,and then following the final eschatological battle that this archenemyinspires, Satan is banished to the lake of fire.Crucial to this understanding of the millennium is the interpretationof the two resurrections noted in Revelation 20. Onthe basis of the use of the Greek word (ezesan) that means “theycame to life” in both references, premillennialists conclude thatthe author had in view two physical, bodily events that are separatedby a thousand-year interval. They argue that there is noreason why the first reference should be “spiritual” and the secondliteral. Ladd speaks for all premillennialists when hedeclares that the meaning of the text is quite straightforward:“At the beginning of the millennial period, part of the deadcome to life; at its conclusion, the rest of the dead come tolife.” 19 To interpret the text in any other manner, adherents add,is to violate a fundamental principle of biblical interpretation.Premillennialists find their understanding of Revelation 20confirmed by several additional New Testament texts that theybelieve implicitly imply two resurrections. In one text, Paulspeaks of an “out-resurrection out from among dead ones,” anindication that he anticipated that he would participate in aresurrection that would separate him from other dead persons(Phil. 3:11; cf. Luke 20:35). Other texts imply a partial resurrection(1 Thess. 4:16), a distinction between a resurrection of therobin-bobin