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1
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Luk 8:31,
Rev 1:18.
2
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
2Pe 2:4,
Jde 1:6,
Rev 12:9.
3
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and
I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received
his
mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
and
they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years
(καὶ ἔζησαν καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν μετὰ Χριστοῦ τά χίλια ἔτη).
Dan 7:9,22,
Dan 8:17,
Mat 19:28,
1Co 6:2,
2Ti 2:12,
Rev 6:11.
5
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This
is
the first resurrection.
6
Blessed and holy
is
he that hath part in the
first resurrection:
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Isa 61:6,
Rev 1:6,
Rev 21:7.
“For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, … who say
there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven;
do not imagine that they are Christians”
(Justin Martyr).
Chap. LXXX. 2. —
The opinion of Justin with regard to the reign of a thousand years. Several catholics reject it.
… For if you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit this
[truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
who say there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven;
do not imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he would rightly consider it, would not admit that the Sadducees, or similar sects of Genistæ, Meristæ, Galilæans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews (do not hear me impatiently when I tell you what I think), but are
[only]
called Jews and children of Abraham, worshipping God with the lips, as God Himself declared, but the heart was far from Him. But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that
there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem,
which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged,
[as]
the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.
“Those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem;
and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place”
(Justin Martyr).
Chap. LXXXI. —
He endeavours to prove this opinion from Isaiah and the Apocalypse.
For Isaiah spake thus concerning this space of a thousand years: 'For there shall be the new heaven and the new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, or come into their heart;
but they shall find joy and gladness in it, which things I create. For, behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy;
and I shall rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad over my people. And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, or the voice of crying. And there shall be no more there a person of immature years, or an old man who shall not fulfil his days. For the young man shall be an hundred years old;
but the sinner who dies an hundred years old, he shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and shall themselves inhabit them;
and they shall plant vines, and shall themselves eat the produce of them, and drink the wine. They shall not build, and others inhabit;
they shall not plant, and others eat. For according to the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people;
the works of their toil shall abound. Mine elect shall not toil fruitlessly, or beget children to be cursed;
for they shall be a seed righteous and blessed by the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will hear;
while they are still speaking, I shall say, What is it?
Then shall the wolves and the lambs feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent
[shall eat]
earth as bread. They shall not hurt or maltreat each other on the holy mountain, saith the Lord.' Now we have understood that the expression used among these words, 'According to the days of the tree
[of life]
shall be the days of my people;
the works of their toil shall abound,' obscurely predicts a thousand years. For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, 'The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,' is connected with this subject. And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem;
and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place. Just as our Lord also said, 'They shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, but shall be equal to the angels, the children of the God of the resurrection'.
See also
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