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Video
Summary
The seventh day is the final one in God’s plan for human history. As we have seen previously, each Genesis day of re-creation corresponds to one millennial day of human history. The seventh Genesis day of rest and the Millennium are mirror images of one another and their order corresponds in the sequence of seven: a crowning end to God’s perfect, completed work. In the Genesis re-creation, the seventh day of rest followed the reconstruction and refilling of the physical world. The millennium (the final one thousand years in God’s plan for human history) will follow God’s completion of the Church, the reconstruction and refilling of His family (which was depleted by the rebellion of Satan and his fallen angels).
God blessed the seventh day of the Genesis re-creation, setting it apart as holy, a special memorial to God’s holiness, faithfulness, and goodness. The millennium is likewise a time sanctificed by the Lord, when creation will be redeemed and humanity will flourish under the perfect rule of Jesus Christ. God will reclaim direct control over the earth, and man too will reclaim their rightful control over the earth (which had been lost in the fall); Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, will reclaim that which was lost by the first Adam. The wedding of the Lamb is the resurrection of all believers just prior to the commencement of the millennium, when Christ is united to His Church forevermore. The millennial believers are the “friends of the bride” who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb, Christ’s double portion given to Him throughout that time of rejoicing and celebration that lasts the full one thousand years. So it is that the process of God restoring the world under the personal rule of Christ will not just undo the damage of the fall, but will actually lead to an abundance greater even than initial paradise.
Content
Audio clip from Ichthys
As discussed in the previous section, the seventh Genesis day of rest and the Millennium, a time of universal peace and rest under the perfect rule of Jesus Christ (Is.9:6-7), are not only mirror images of each other, but also occur in identical order in the sequence of seven: the ultimate position, connoting a crowning, final perfection, and demonstrating in each case that what God has wrought (in both re-creation and replacement) is absolutely perfect, with nothing further to be done. The important difference between the two is the same as we have observed all along, namely that in the case of the Genesis days, the type is the reconstruction and refilling of the earth, while the antitype in the case of the millennial days is the formation and completion of the Church (i.e., the reconstruction and refilling of the family of God, depleted by the Satanic rebellion). So while on the seventh Genesis day God ceased His work of re-creating the earth because it had been perfectly accomplished, in the analogous seventh millennial day, God will cease from His work in filling up the body of Christ’s Church (because she will have been perfectly and completely filled up to the full replacement number, and resurrected to be with Christ forever). As in the beginning of human history in Eden, however, when the command “be fruitful and multiply” made clear that it was God’s will for what He had made full to become even fuller (Gen.1:22; 1:28), so during the Millennium a new multitude of believers in addition to the Church will be called out to join the family of God, fulfilling once again the principle that where God is at work, loss (in this case that of the devil and his followers) is met not only by replacement, but by superabundance (Rom.5:20-21).
Just as the seventh Genesis day was, therefore, a demonstration that everything God had done in re-creating the earth “was good” (Gen.1:31), so the Millennium will demonstrate that only a world ruled by God (through His anointed Son), can be made “good”. The earth of Genesis chapter one is gradually reclaimed from a condition of darkness and devastation (following God’s judgment upon Satan’s revolt: see Part 1 of the present study) by systematically ridding it of all factors unfavorable to human life and habitation, both by separation from elements hostile to life, and by replacement and filling with the elements necessary for life (as we have discussed in detail above). In an analogous fashion, the millennial earth under the perfect rule of Jesus Christ will restore “goodness” to the world again, not only by removing from it the most pernicious source of evil (the devil and his angels and the world system of evil they promote: Rev.20:1-3), but also by the provision of all things necessary to bring about blessing and abundance under the perfect reign of Jesus Christ. Only when Satan and his followers have been removed from interference in human life, and only when the world finds itself under the direct reign of the Son of God (Ps.2; Rev.19:6) will the earth be “good” again, and it is important for believers to understand that without these two key factors of the devil’s removal and Christ’s return, no paradise on earth is possible.
In Genesis 2:1-2 we are told that when God had accomplished all He had set out to do in restoring the earth and replacing its creatures (following His prior judgment upon it), that He blessed the seventh day and “made it holy” (i.e., sanctified it). This special “setting apart” (the essential meaning of the Hebrew and Greek roots for holiness respectively: qadash, קדש; hagiazo, ἁγιάζω) of the seventh day serves to make it a special memorial to God’s holiness, faithfulness, and goodness. In the face of the rebellion of so many of His angelic creatures, God did not compromise His holiness but acted in justice, judging the earth, and in so doing opened the door for His righteous mercy. In restoring light to the universe and habitability to the earth, God demonstrated His faithfulness in the face of creature unfaithfulness, bringing about the requisite conditions for life on earth again, thus restoring wholeness (biblical “peace”). In replacing earth’s plant and animal life (and in creating the conditions for replacing what was missing in the family of God, either through the [potential] reconciliation of the fallen angels or their replacement with mankind), God rendered the pre-fall cosmos “good”, thus demonstrating His great and unique love for His creation, and the boundless and incomprehensible nature of His grace.
In a similar fashion, the Millennium will see, through the perfect rule of the Son of God, the reclaiming of God’s direct control over the earth and Man’s as well in the of person Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, reclaiming that which was lost by the first Adam. Though sin will not disappear until the present heavens and earth are destroyed by fire and replaced with the new heavens and earth (Is.65:17; 66:22; 2Pet.3:7; 3:10-13; Rev.21:1), the Millennium will be a period that begins and ends with winnowing and purification (Ezek.20:34-38; Zech.13:8-9; Matt.3:10-12; 25:31-46; Lk.3:9-17; 2Thes.1:7-8). Like the seventh Genesis day, it will be a time sanctified (i.e., made holy) by the Lord, indicating a world of true justice and righteousness enforced by the Son of God Himself (Ps.2; Rev.19:11; cf. 2Pet.3:13). According to Deuteronomy 5:15, a major purpose of the Sabbath day was for Israel to remember their deliverance from Egypt by God’s mighty power. It was to be a day of rest so that even those without recourse, servants and animals, might have some repose (Deut.5:14). Just so, the Millennium is a time to remember God’s deliverance of the world from the devil’s grasp, so vividly and horribly experienced in the Great Tribulation which immediately precedes it (Rev.20:1-3), a time to enjoy the rest and blessing of the Christ’s perfect rule, and to celebrate the great deliverance God has wrought from the worst period of human history:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me [the Messiah], for the Lord has anointed Me. He has sent Me to proclaim victory on behalf of the afflicted, to bind up the wounds of the broken hearted, to announce liberation for the captives and freedom for the prisoners, to announce the year of the Lord’s favor [the Millennium], and a day of vengeance for our God [the 2nd Advent], to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who grieve for Zion, to anoint them with joy as with a crown in place of their grief, and to dress them in garments of praise in place of their faint spirits.
A major part of this Millennial restoration of “good” in an environment of superabundance is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and the Jewish nation as a whole. The Millennium will see the complete fulfillment of all the Old Testament covenants, with Jews from everywhere on earth brought back to the land of Israel, established with her promised borders by the Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will preside over the entire world from His capital, Jerusalem (see section IV.2 below and Part 1 of this series for references).
The Church (believers from all three prior dual millennial day sets or ages) will return with Christ, being resurrected just prior to His 2nd Advent (1Cor.15:51-52; 1Thes.4:13-18). This is the “wedding of the Lamb” of Revelation 19:7. The Church is thus complete at the return of Christ, but there are many who will turn to Him after He returns with His bride. These are those “invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Rev.19:9; i.e., those implied in 1Cor.15:24 vs. the Church of 1Cor.15:23). First and foremost, the new wave of Millennial believers will be Jews, who, when confronted with the reality of the returning Messiah, will turn to God (Jer.31:31-34; Joel 2:30-32; Zech.12:10; Rom.11:12; Rev.1:7). Throughout the course of the Millennium, however, many more will believe – gentiles as well as Jews – as the human race, lately decimated by the events of the Tribulation, expands geometrically in the paradise conditions of Christ’s world-wide Kingdom (Is.9:6-7; 49:19-21; 54:1-3; Dan.2:35; Zech.2:4; 10:10; Matt.13:31-33; Mk.4:30-32; Lk.13:18-21). These Jews and gentiles who will turn to the Lord after His glorious return are a complement above and beyond the fullness which is the Church at Christ’s return. That is, they are given to Christ over and above the number needed to replace the devil and his followers on a strictly one for one basis (for that is accomplished by the resurrection of the Church at the 2nd Advent). These post 2nd Advent believers, “invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (the uniting of Christ and His Church and its celebration throughout the memorial time of the Millennium: Rev.19:9), will share and enjoy the world-wide blessing and bounty of Christ’s Millennial reign. Thus the believers of the Millennium constitute an additional blessing for Christ, a “double portion” blessing that is traditionally the right of the first born (Deut.21:15-17; cf. Gen.48:22; 1Sam.1:5; 2Ki.2:9; Job 42:10; Is.61:7; Zech.9:12; 1Tim.5:17), and so very appropriate for the “First Born of all creation” (Col.1:15; cf. Ps.89:27; Col.1:18; Heb.1:6), so that He might truly be “the First Born among many brethren” (Rom.8:29).
Summary points
Overview
The seventh Genesis day of rest and the Millennium—a time of universal peace and rest under the perfect rule of Jesus Christ (Is.9:6-7)—are not only mirror images of each other, but also occur in identical order in the sequence of seven: the ultimate position, connoting a crowning, final perfection, and demonstrating in each case that what God has wrought (in both re-creation and replacement) is absolutely perfect, with nothing further to be done.
| Seventh Genesis day of re-creation | Seventh millennial day of human history |
|---|---|
| Follows the reconstruction and refilling of the earth | Follows the formation and completion of the Church (i.e., the reconstruction and refilling of the family of God, depleted by the Satanic rebellion) |
| God ceased His work of re-creating the earth because it had been perfectly accomplished | God will cease from His work in filling up the body of Christ’s Church (because she will have been perfectly and completely filled up to the full replacement number, and resurrected to be with Christ forever) |
| Was a demonstration that everything God had done in re-creating the earth “was good” | Will demonstrate that only a world ruled by God (through His anointed Son), can be made “good” |
Where God is at work, loss is met not only by replacement, but by superabundance
The command to “be fruitful and multiply” in the Genesis account made clear that it was God’s will for what He had made full to become even fuller, and the “friends of Bride” who come to believe during the Millennium demonstrate the same principle. Where God is at work, loss (in these respective cases: the ruination of initial creation and the falling away of the devil and his followers) is met not only by replacement, but by superabundance.
So it is that the process of God restoring the world under the personal rule of Christ will not just undo the damage of the fall, but will actually lead to an abundance greater even than initial paradise.
| Seventh Genesis day of re-creation | Seventh millennial day of human history |
|---|---|
| The earth is gradually reclaimed from the condition of darkness and devastation brought about as a result of Satan’s rebellion | The earth is gradually reclaimed from the condition of frustration and groaning (cf. Romans 8:19-22) brought about as a result of the fall |
| By systematically ridding it of all factors unfavorable to human life and habitation, both by separation from elements hostile to life, and by replacement and filling with the elements necessary for life | By systematically ridding it of all factors unfavorable to spiritual flourishing, both by separation from the most pernicious source of evil (the devil and his angels and the world system of evil they promote), and by the provision of all things necessary to bring about blessing and abundance under the perfect reign of Jesus Christ |
Only when Satan and his followers have been removed from interference in human life, and only when the world finds itself under the direct reign of the Son of God (Ps.2; Rev.19:6) will the earth be “good” again, and it is important for believers to understand that without these two key factors of the devil’s removal and Christ’s return, no paradise on earth is possible.
The holiness of the seventh day
In the seven Genesis days of re-creation, God blessed the seventh day and “made it holy”. This special “setting apart” (the essential meaning of the Hebrew and Greek roots for holiness respectively: qadash, קדש; hagiazo, ἁγιάζω) of the seventh day serves to make it a special memorial to God’s holiness, faithfulness, and goodness:
- Holiness: God did not compromise His holiness but acted in justice, judging the earth, and in so doing opened the door for His righteous mercy.
- Faithfulness: In restoring light to the universe and habitability to the earth, God demonstrated His faithfulness in the face of creature unfaithfulness, bringing about the requisite conditions for life on earth again, thus restoring wholeness (biblical “peace”).
- Goodness: In replacing earth’s plant and animal life, God rendered the pre-fall cosmos “good”, thus demonstrating His great and unique love for His creation, and the boundless and incomprehensible nature of His grace.
Like the seventh Genesis day of re-creation, the Millennium will be a time sanctified (i.e., made holy) by the Lord, indicating a world of true justice and righteousness enforced by the Son of God Himself (Ps.2; Rev.19:11; cf. 2Pet.3:13). Through the perfect rule of the Son of God, God will reclaim direct control over the earth. In fact, man too will reclaim their rightful control over the earth (which had been lost in the fall); Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, will reclaim that which was lost by the first Adam.
The comfort and rest of the Millennium, and how this fulfills prophecy
According to Deuteronomy 5:15, a major purpose of the Sabbath day was for Israel to remember their deliverance from Egypt by God’s mighty power. It was to be a day of rest so that even those without recourse, servants and animals, might have some repose (Deut.5:14). Just so, the Millennium is a time to remember God’s deliverance of the world from the devil’s grasp, so vividly and horribly experienced in the Great Tribulation which immediately precedes it (Rev.20:1-3), a time to enjoy the rest and blessing of the Christ’s perfect rule, and to celebrate the great deliverance God has wrought from the worst period of human history:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me [the Messiah], for the Lord has anointed Me. He has sent Me to proclaim victory on behalf of the afflicted, to bind up the wounds of the broken hearted, to announce liberation for the captives and freedom for the prisoners, to announce the year of the Lord’s favor [the Millennium], and a day of vengeance for our God [the 2nd Advent], to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who grieve for Zion, to anoint them with joy as with a crown in place of their grief, and to dress them in garments of praise in place of their faint spirits.
A major part of this Millennial restoration of “good” in an environment of superabundance is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and the Jewish nation as a whole. The Millennium will see the complete fulfillment of all the Old Testament covenants, with Jews from everywhere on earth brought back to the land of Israel, established with her promised borders by the Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will preside over the entire world from His capital, Jerusalem (see section IV.2 below and Part 1 of this series for references).
The wedding supper of the Lamb
The Church (believers from all three prior dual millennial day sets or ages) will return with Christ, being resurrected just prior to His 2nd Advent (1Cor.15:51-52; 1Thes.4:13-18). This is the “wedding of the Lamb” of Revelation 19:7.
The Church is thus complete at the return of Christ, but there are many who will turn to Him after He returns with His bride. These are those “invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Rev.19:9; i.e., those implied in 1Cor.15:24 vs. the Church of 1Cor.15:23). The wedding supper of the Lamb is the uniting of Christ and His Church and its celebration throughout the memorial time of the Millennium.
First and foremost, the new wave of Millennial believers will be Jews, who, when confronted with the reality of the returning Messiah, will turn to God. Throughout the course of the Millennium, however, many more will believe—gentiles as well as Jews—as the human race, lately decimated by the events of the Tribulation, expands geometrically in the paradise conditions of Christ’s world-wide Kingdom.
These Jews and gentiles who will turn to the Lord after His glorious return are a complement above and beyond the fullness which is the Church at Christ’s return. That is, they are given to Christ over and above the number needed to replace the devil and his followers on a strictly one for one basis (for that is accomplished by the resurrection of the Church at the 2nd Advent). Thus the believers of the Millennium constitute an additional blessing for Christ, a “double portion” blessing that is traditionally the right of the first born, and so very appropriate for the “First Born of all creation”, so that He might truly be “the First Born among many brethren”.
Follow-on topics
The world will be twisted and broken until the Millennium. Until then, it cannot become “good”
Consider this quote from the study:
[I]t is important for believers to understand that without these two key factors of the devil’s removal and Christ’s return, no paradise on earth is possible.
Put simply, this right here is why trying to “fix” the world is a completely doomed affair. So long as Satan is the prince of this present kosmos and we lack the support of Jesus Christ returned in the flesh ruling from Jerusalem, nothing we do will change the fundamental state of the this broken creation.
This doesn’t mean that we should somehow give up and view everything as hopeless. In fact, things are far from hopeless:
- The kingdom of God is expanding to every nation and tribe and people
- Christ is being preached
- Those walking in darkness are turning to the light, from death to life
How can these things not have meaning?
But even all combined, these things will never transform the basic nature of the world from darkness to light. In fact, much the point is that we are left down here after belief in order to shine our light into the darkness.
It is sheer arrogance to think that on our own we can accomplish what Christ’s first advent did not: the restoration and redemption of creation itself. Of course, most Christians who get tied up in political action and the business of trying to “fix” the world probably wouldn’t quite word things in terms of them personally redeeming creation. But in truth, trying to overcome supernatural evil and spiritual darkness by means of mere human solutions is exactly that. It is offensive to God precisely because it pretends at effectiveness while in fact doing nothing at all to solve the true problems, which are spiritual in nature, not material.
People caught up in such things become spiritually unproductive because they throw all their time and money and attention at things that are in truth not their problems to solve, while neglecting learning, believing, and applying the Word of God (and helping other do likewise), which is the whole reason why we are here as Christians. Because our time and resources are zero sum in this world, every minute spent futilely fighting against a broken world that it is impossible for us to fix as humans is a minute not spent doing what God actually wants us to be doing down here as believers.
So we must speak out against all this, because many people really do think Christians have a duty and responsibility to somehow implement change top-down through politics rather than bottom-up by winning hearts and minds for Christ (through the Word of God). This form of thinking is scary because it makes people feel good about “doing something” while actually leading them away from what God truly wants of them.
More marriage symbolism: wedding banquets, friends of the bride
In the last couple lessons we have discussed how human marriage is just a shadow of the divine relationship between Christ and His Church; how it is the divine version that is the basis for the human version, not the other way around.
In discussing the wedding of the Lamb and the wedding supper of the Lamb, the same principle is still in effect. Do humans have banquets and feasts at weddings—communal events full of joy and celebration? Well those are just based off the the wedding supper of Jesus and the Church, a period of blessing and rejoicing that will last for a full thousand years. No matter how grand the event, human wedding celebrations can’t hold a candle to the Millennium—a party that lasts a full thousand years.
Also consider those who attend wedding celebrations. Traditionally, human weddings involve friends and guests—those who are invited to share in the joy, though not themselves participating in the ceremony itself. Well, there is divine typology here too. Over time, Millennial believers will swell their ranks until they come to match the size of the Church itself—thousands, millions, billions. No matter how large a human wedding may be, again, it will pale in comparison to the wedding supper of the Lamb.
All of this should excite us. If we can get a taste of the Great Celebration in human weddings, how much better will it be when it is the real deal?