sovereigngrace
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Let me start with this last part here. I don't think we are too far apart here. I tend to see it similar to what you do here.
Thanks for your response. I am glad we have some common ground. Maybe we can explore this subject further.
At this point I'm not convinced though, that this equates to the beast ascending out of the pit after the thousand years. One reason why is because Revelation 20:4 already proves that the beast has ascended out of the pit before satan is ever loosed from the pit.
The first thing that is important to grasp as we dive into the book of Revelation is that it is not chronological. It is a series of recaps. It presents different camera views of the same game (mainly, the period between Christ's First Advent and His Second Advent). Sometimes when one is watching a sports game, the camera is close in on the action, sometimes it presents a broad panoramic view of the game. Sometimes it is focused on the coaches, sometimes it is focused on the players, other times, it is focused on the fans. The book Revelation is a bit like that.
Secondly, the symbolism of Revelation is lent from literal Old Testament realities, events and people and in turn spiritualized in Revelation to impress New Testament truth. The symbolism is used as a picture-board to give us a glimpse into the invisible realm – something that is hard for the human mind that is focused on the physical, visible and earthly. It is hard to comprehend spiritual mysteries with the human understanding.
The physical calamities that befell Egypt before Israel were rescued and were documented in (Deuteronomy 4:34) mirror the spiritual calamities that will befall the world before the redeemed Church is rescued at the second coming.
Thirdly, we cannot divorce Christ from His body or His elect angels. All reside within the one unitary kingdom and possess the same overall agenda. They also work within the one divine program.
Christ's first advent involved Him coming to overcome every enemy of man. Christ conquered sin, death, Hades and Satan when He came. They are all defeated enemies that have been given a short season to survive during this intra-Advent. They will all finally be eliminated when Jesus comes again to introduce eternal righteousness. Because the kingdom of God is a unitary whole, the fate of all are tied together, Christ being the representative head. Christ's victory now belongs to the elect of God. That is why they have been given power over Satan and his demons. They have been given authority to invade his dark kingdom since the cross with the light of the truth.
Fourthly, the fate of the Satan, demons, the beast (antichrist spirit or the mystery of iniquity) and the wicked are all tied together. Because the kingdom of darkness is a unitary whole, the fate of all are tied together, Satan being the representative head. When Satan was defeated, the kingdom of darkness was defeated. When Satan was banished to the pit, so also was the beast. When Satan is released before the second coming so also is the beast. The 3 1/2 years (whether literal or symbolic) closely correlate with Satan's little season.
As to the first portion of your post involving the 5th trumpet, I'm not asking the following in order to necessarily make this be about Premil vs Amil, I'm asking this because I'm not seeing the logic in the 5th trumpet involving satan coming out of it, even if I were an Amil I would still not be seeing the logic in it. And the following are some of the reasons why.
Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
The first thing to note is, at this point in the text this only shows locusts coming out. It mentions zero about anyone else emerging from the pit as well, keeping in mind that I'm meaning as of at this point in the text. Once these locusts come out, the text indicates---And it was commanded them that they should not hurt--but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. How is it logical that satan would be behind that? The text says---it was commanded them---so who is it that commanded them? Maybe the following perhaps? And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
If this is who commanded them, and that this is meaning satan, why would satan be commanding someone to only hurt those that have not the seal of God in their foreheads? How can anyone that does not have the seal of God in their foreheads not be one of satan's followers? To me it makes more sense that the 5th trumpet is involving something God is doing, not something satan is doing.
Getting back to verse 4 and who is it that is commanding them, the text also indicates---that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree. Why would that be something satan is commanding someone? It seems to me then, that if the one commanding them is meaning the king of them(verse 11), this king can't be meaning satan since what they are being commanded to do or not do doesn't fit what satan would be commanding someone to do or not do.
The main issue Amils have with Premil is that it is a disjointed theological mess. There is no correlation of truth. There are no consistent hermeneutical rules. Premils seem to make it up as they go.
What is more, they are constantly forced to dilute down both the enormity of Christ's victory and the reality of Satan's defeat because of their mistaken teaching. Premil is always exalting the character and power of the enemy in our age, and ignoring or rejecting the character, ability and triumphs of Christ.
A careful observation of the several different parallel cycles in Revelation reveal a short season at the end where God allows the kingdom of darkness to flex its muscles and persecute His elect. It is sometimes symbolically referred to as ‘three and a half years’ or Satan’s little season. Is it literal or symbolic? If symbolic, symbolic of what?
I think most Amils today would view the three and a half years as symbolic. Some believe they symbolically represent the intra-Advent period (being half of seven the number of completeness). They see seven years as symbolically representing all time, half of that the New Testament period from Christ, the other half the Old Testament period. Others correlate the three and a half years with Satan’s little season (although not representing a literal period). I would have held to the former view re the intra-Advent period. So, what have I arrived at? Whilst I don’t believe the three and a half years are literal, I am leaning toward the latter – that they may coincide with Satan’s little season at the end. I normally shied away from that because I felt that would contradict what I believe Revelation 20 teaches, but I have discovered it doesn’t. I thought the beast would have to be restricted to a three and a half years life-span, which would have contradicted many other passages in Revelation showing him to be in existence long before John.
Whether the “forty and two months” are literal or symbolic can be debated. However, that doesn’t exclude a time-period of evil empowerment / persecution of the beast before the Lord's return. This notably fits perfectly with the Amil understanding of Satan’s little season (Revelation 20).
The beast has to be released from the bottomless pit at the end where he has been held since the 1st Advent. The fate of the beast are tied together. When Satan was banished to the pit, so also was the beast. When Satan is released so also is the beast. This therefore correlates with Satan's little season.
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