G5507
χίλιοι
chilioi
khil'-ee-oy
Plural of uncertain affinity; a thousand: - thousand.
Psa 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills
when we look at the word thousand in the above verse do you believe He does not own the cattle on all the hills...
I believe the word thousand in Rev 20:4 is used to imply a long period of time...
We ( self included) take parts of the Bible and decide this is literal this is not .
Hi Reba
Peaceful Sabbath
This is called amillennialism, right? I just got through talking to a guy who said this is the most popular view for Christians in the U.S.A. I must not be too popular because I am apparently in the minority. I seem to differentiate the prophetic time periods from the rhetorical statements like these:
"the cattle on a thousand hills."
"a thousand generations,"
"one man chase a thousand"
"One of you routs a thousand"
"a messenger, one out of a thousand"
"one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere"
"A thousand will flee at the threat of one"
"He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river"
"one upright man among a thousand,"
(but not one upright woman among them all?)
All but one of these mention "people" or "things", but not "time". Apocalyptic symbolism involving dragons, beasts and horns are one thing but I can't think of one example of symbolic prophetic "time" of any duration mentioned in the books of Daniel or Revelation. In the books of Daniel and Revelation there are 18 prophetic time periods. Here is the list:
1. Time, times and half a time (saints persecuted – Daniel 7:25)
2. 2,300 evenings and mornings (until temple restored – Daniel 8:14)
3. 70 weeks (determined upon the Jews, Messiah crucified – Daniel 9:24,25)
4. Time, times and half a time (when completed, power of the holy people – Daniel 12:7)
5. 1,290 days (from the end of the daily to the setting up of the abomination – Daniel 12:11)
6. 1,335 days (blessed is the one who waits for and reaches this day – Daniel 12:12)
7. Half hour of silence (at the opening of the 7th seal – Revelation 8:1)
8. 5 months (length of torture upon those not having the seal of God – Revelation 9:5)
9. Hour, day, month and year (event when war begins – Revelation 9:15)
10. 42 months (Gentiles trample holy city – Revelation 11:2)
11. 1,260 days (Two Witnesses empowered for this length of time – Revelation 11:3)
12. 3.5 days (bodies of Two Witnesses lie in the street – Revelation 11:11)
13. 1,260 days (woman fled into the desert – Revelation 12:6)
14. Time, times and half a time (woman fled into the desert – Revelation 12:14)
15. 42 months (persecution of saints – Revelation 13:5)
16. One hour (ten kings join with beast – Revelation 17:12)
17. One day, one hour (Babylon’s destruction begins – Revelation 18:8,19)
18. 1,000 years (Satan in the abyss – Revelation 20:2)
God sent visions to the prophets for the purpose of showing His people what would take place in the future.
“For the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets".
I guess that He also might have done it to show His Glory to unbelievers, proving to them that He is The Almighty One. Wouldn't we be undermining the purpose and the "spirit of prophecy" if we were to make the decision that one or more of these 18 prophetic time periods are figurative and the rest are literal ? At what point would we stop.? Does that mean that 40 days and 40 nights are figurative too? What I'm trying to say is that rhetorical statements in the Bible Like "the cattle on a thousand hills" or "a thousand generations" are not the same thing as when God gives a prophecy that has a specific time component. Can you imagine if Gabriel, instead of saying "70 weeks are determined", said "a big chunk of time are determined"? It would defeat the whole purpose for giving the prophecy.
When the genealogical records given in the Old Testament are added up and connected with some of the prophetic time periods found in Daniel and Revelation, the sum of every event found in the Bible totals about 7,000 years.
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."
This might be why the 1000 year time period was mentioned in Rev. 20, to help us figure out where we are in the chronology of Bible prophecy. The Lord might have been giving our generation a big clue here. Some estimate that we have just gone a bit past the 6000th year or sixth millennial day. If this is correct, the last millennial "day" might soon be coming around the mountain when it comes.
Did you know there are two different versions of She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain? One was about The Parousia.
Dave
She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain
From Wikipedia
It is a derivation of a "spiritual" song known as "When the Chariot Comes".
The song refers to the Second Coming of Christ and subsequent Rapture. The she refers to the chariot the returning Christ is imagined as driving.
O, who will drive the chariot When she comes?
O, who will drive the chariot When she comes?
O, who will drive the chariot, O, who will drive the chariot,
O, who will drive the chariot When she comes?
King Jesus, he'll be driver when she comes, When she comes . . . .
She'll be loaded with bright Angels When she comes . . . .
She will neither rock nor totter, When she comes . . . .
She will run so level and steady, When she comes . . . .
She will take us to the portals, When she comes . . . .
