- Jun 5, 2016
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Throughout history, there have been many arguments for and against Chiliasm. Just to lay all the cards on the table, I used to hold to Pre-tribulation Millennialism myself and was quite passionate about it, originally coming from a Charismatic/Pentecostal and non-denominational environment. However, after embracing Orthodox Lutheranism, I now hold to what I suppose you could call Amillennialism (though in my mind I consider the opposite of Chiliasm as just "default", seeing as it has been the dominant orthodox view)
Anyway, here's my question:
If we find in Scriptures that the number 1,000 can be and indeed have been used symbolically to mean "many" or "all" (eg Exodus 20:5-6, Psalm 50:10), and knowing that Revelation is a highly symbolical text, why should we understand the 1,000 years as literal and not symbolical? By the fact that Christ is now truly ruling at the right hand of the Father, what in the immediate context in Revelation and in its larger Biblical context indicates that 1,000 should be understood as a literal future 1,000 years reign?
There are many more questions and factors I could add, but I feel like a lot of doctrine hinges on this one interpretation. What do you reckon?
Anyway, here's my question:
If we find in Scriptures that the number 1,000 can be and indeed have been used symbolically to mean "many" or "all" (eg Exodus 20:5-6, Psalm 50:10), and knowing that Revelation is a highly symbolical text, why should we understand the 1,000 years as literal and not symbolical? By the fact that Christ is now truly ruling at the right hand of the Father, what in the immediate context in Revelation and in its larger Biblical context indicates that 1,000 should be understood as a literal future 1,000 years reign?
There are many more questions and factors I could add, but I feel like a lot of doctrine hinges on this one interpretation. What do you reckon?