You couldn't be more wrong! Don't make the mistake of thinking because I say I'm amillennial, that I follow the full amillennial position! I say I'm amillennial simply to say I don't believe the bible is teaching a literal thousand year reign of Christ.Based on what I've read in your posts on this thread, especially post #409 on page 21 above, I would say that:
Reading between the lines, based what you have said and on what I have seen amillennialists argue in the past, I would also say:
- You are an inaugurated millennialist, aka an amillennialist.
- You believe that John's vision of Rev. 20:1-3 is a vision of the defeat of the devil that accompanied Jesus Christ's resurrection. The thousand years that begins with the imprisonment of the devil thus corresponds to the age that began with Christ's resurrection and ends when Christ comes in glory to judge the living and the dead and reign on earth with his holy ones.
- You do not believe that the devil is entirely bound from deceiving the nations in this age or even from causing the unrepentant to persecute Christians; rather, he is only bound in the particular sense that he cannot deceive all the nations so as to recruit them to mount an all-out attack on the holy ones. For it is that deception and attack which we see when he is released from his prison in Rev. 20:7-10.
- You believe that the devil's casting down from heaven in Rev. 12:7-12 is another viewpoint on his imprisonment in the abyss in Rev. 20:1-3.
- You believe that the "short" period referred to in Rev. 12:12 paradoxically refers to the same period of time that the thousand years refers to--i.e. the church age from Christ's resurrection to his coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. (I should mention that I am not against symbolic readings of time statements in prophecy, nor am I closed in principle to the possibility of reading the short period in ch. 12 as the same period as the long period in ch. 20. Please, let's not get distracted by that.)
- You see the raging of the nations leading to the destruction of those who destroy the earth, and the judgment of the dead, which are referred to in Rev. 11:18, as being revealed more fully in the visions of Rev. 20:7-10 and Rev. 20:11-15, respectively.
7. You believe that the period characterized in Rev. 11:2 and 13:5 as "42 months," in Rev. 11:3 and 12:6 as "1,260 days," and in Rev. 12:14 as "time, times, and half a time" paradoxically refers to the same period of time that the thousand years refers to--i.e. the church age from Christ's resurrection to his coming in glory to judge the living and the dead.
If you would like to engage in conversation on this issue, I'm open to that so I won't be in and out of this thread. My work schedule is inconsistent, therefore, a conversation would be more appropriate because many times it may be a few days before I can get back to you on this.
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