The second arrival of God – The Realm of one thousand years -3

The eschatological pessimism of those people who grope finding analogies between some eschatological signs symbolically described by Holy Scripture and some situations of moment from church or universal history, is not according to our time. Don’t forget that in the first ages Christians appreciated a lot the ascetical life, and in middle age the individual pietism and mystic life, in our century the Church appreciate and cultivate especially the virtues which have a contribution to: ennoblement and strengthening social life: justice, freedom, equality, labor, pace, mutual help.
Returning to piety forms adequate only to that ages, means to try to return the time, to leave the normal way of historical development and to put the Church against the normal progress of the society. By this, the Christians will be against to its role for Christians. So those people who have these ideas are eliminated by their selves from discipline of Christian life and also by general rules of social life.
The realm of thousand years – between eschatological wanderings, there is also the faith of some neoprotestants cults that between two moments (considered to be different): Parusia of Christ and “end” of the world, Jesus Christ will create on the earth a realm of a thousand years, governed by Him and chosen people.
The origin of the faith is very old. It is known that the Judean faithful people of old times, after Babylon exile, understanding in a wrong way some messianic prophecies of Old testament, they hopped that Messiah, will create, only for them and against other peoples, an earth realm and after this realm will arrive the end of the world and the Last Judgement. So in an apocrypha book written by patriarch Enoh (XVII-XXXVI) he told that the happiness – brought to Judaic by messiah will be long and will start by a harsh judgment of others peoples and villainous. According to apocrypha named Testament of 12 patriarchs, it was made by gold for Judean people and will be inaugurated by the revival of chosen people. Apocrypha Book IV of Esdra considered that the messianic realm promised to Judeans will be an earth prelude of heaven happiness and will be ended by general revival and last judgment,
The Judean teologists had different opinions concerning the duration of this realm. Some of them considered that it was of 40 years (as the wandering if Jews in Arabian desert); and according to others of 70 years (like Babylonian slavery); and according to others 400 years (like Egyptian slavery); according to others all years of slavery, peregrination, persecutions, famine, disease, wars, poverty (400 years of Egyptian slavery + 40 years of wandering in Arabian desert + 111 years of foreign domination during the judges period + 70 years of Babylonian slavery + 490 years of national and religious pains, from the Babylonian exile to Jerusalem destruction by Roman army etc.) . At the end, between Judean faith ofl people from pre-Christian age there was the idea that this messianic realm will have duration of one thousand years and will end the 6 millenniums from the creation of the world, all the duration of human life being considered as a sabbatical period of 7 thousand years.
The idea that the end of the world will be preceded by an age of “one thousand years” of earth happiness for good people and great pains and defeats for the others was founded in almost all Judaic circles from apostolic age. Form Judean, some Christian writers and church priests from the first centuries took it. Under its influence, the author of Epistle of Saint Varnava (XV,4-9) considered that human history on the earth will have a duration of seven thousands years – corresponding to “seven days” of creation – and last millennium will be of messianic happiness. Under the influence of Judean eschatology and especially to keep the Christian hope during a persecution period, sustained milenarism or hiliasm the bishop Papias de Ierapole (Eusebiu de Cezareea, Church History, XXXIX, 11-130, Saint Iustin Martyr and Philosopher (Dialogue with Judean Trifon, LXXX-LXXXI), Saint Irineu (Adversus haeresis V, 28,3), apologetic Tertulian (Adversus Marciconem III, 24), Saint Ipolit, Apolinaire de laodiceea, lactantiu, Supliciu-Sever, Victorin de Pictavi, Saint Ambrozie de Mediolan and others.
But, even so many Christian writers and church priests sustained it and it was not convicted by any official decision of the Church, the hiliasm did not influenced the Christian though. In the East if was strongly attacked by origin and then by bishop Dionisie of Alexandria. At the West, hiliasm or milenarism was attacked first by Roman priest Oaius – who, during the polemic, hw made the mistake to contest the authenticity of Apocalipse of which milenarists abused – and then by Happy Ieronim and especially by happy Augustinm who was the first who proposed a system of a wide interpretation of Apocalypse symbolism.
The Hilista hor milenariste heresy, disappeared during the centuries IV and V, reappeared within the Protestantism, after 12 centuries. The literal milenarisme was preached within the reform, by sect of Anabaptists and then by Ruselist ad Adventists and also by some protestant commentors. Some of last ones considered that as the fighting Church does not fully realize the prediction of Apoc. XX,1-10, about “binding” the devil and creation of realm of Christ and His chosen people on the earth, we have to admit that Jesus Christ will come to govern together with the saints on the earth (during one thousand years”, but only in an invisible, soul and spiritual way. But not in this form the milenarism was not accepted.
The milenists (or Russelists), Adventists reformists and the others adepts of milenarist heresy considered that their teaching is based on the pericopa from Apocalypse XX, 1-10, which they interpreted it in a literal sense, without any relation to general symbolism of these biblical books and against the context and the eschatology of the others books of New Testament. The declared that Apocalypse predicted two revivals: one for good people, at the beginning of this one thousand years, when Christ will arrive for the second time, and one for the others, at the end of this thousand years, when the earth stage of the realm of God will end and Satan and his servants will be brought for ever to hell pains.
The biblical text from Apocalypse XX, 1-10, is the following: 1. “Then I saw an angel coming from the heaven and having the key of the profundity and a big chain in his hand. 2. And take the dragon and old snake, who was devil and Satan, and bringing it for thousand years; 3. and thrown it to adine and closed it to defend peoples until the end of one thousand years. After that, must be release for a while. 4. And I sow thrones and the persons sitting on them made judgment. And I sow the souls of those cut by hatchet for the name of Jesus and for the word of God, who did not bowed to the beast or to his face and they did not received his sign on their face or hand. They revived and divided with Christ one thousand years. 5. And the other deceased are not revived until the end of one thousand years. This is the first revival. 6. Happy and saint is that person who has the first revival. For them the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and Christ and will divide with Him one thousand years. 7. And when one thousand years will end, Satan will be released from his prison. 8. And will deceive the peoples from the four angles of the earth, Gog and Magog and to bring them to war, and their number is like the sea sand. 9. And they went to the face of the earth, around the saints group and the loved fortress, but fire came from the sky and burned the, 10. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown by the fire and brimstone, “where there is also the beast and liar prophet; and will be tortures day and night for ever”.
The adepts of millenarism ignored the fact that, to understand this pericope, must be taken into consideration some essential elements, as follows:
a) all visions from Apocalypse are described in symbolic language and don’t allow literal interpretations;
b) the figures and numbers from Apocalypse symbolically expressed only abstract notions and general characteristics, not definite quantities;
c) the vision from Apocalypse XX, 1-7, does not predict the future eschatological; events, but it symbolically describes the missionary activities of the Christian church from its creation until Parusia of Christ.
In fact, pericopa from Apocalypse XX, 1-10 included 3 pictures;
1. vers.1-3 about limiting the devil power for a period of “one thousand years’
2. Vers.4-6 about the realm of Christ and His chosen people for “one thousand years’;
3. Vers. 7-10 announcing the total defeat of Satan and his invisible tools, after ending this “thousand years”
We have to observe that the first 2 pictures are synchronically, prophetically describing, concomitant facts. The described facts are simultaneous to those announced by XIX, 12-12. They consider the conflict between divine forces and diabolic forces, in his development from creation to Parusia of Christ.
After teaching of Holy Scripture the fall of Satan power is developed in two main stages. At creation of the Son of God and at foundation of Christian Church, Satan and bad angels were hit by Christ vision and divine grace, which considerably limited the influence on the Christians and released them from their tyranny. Then, the bad angels received a punishment previous to their final conviction (XX,10), their power was neutralized and they became prisoners having some relative freedom (Matei XII, 29, Marcu III, 27). Happy Augustin (De civitate Dei XX,8,10 said; “Alligatio diaboli est non permiti exercere totam tentationem quam potest”.