Reference: Millenarians
Watsons
MILLENARIANS are those who believe, according to an ancient tradition in the church, grounded on some doubtful texts in the book of Revelation and other scriptures, that our Saviour shall reign a thousand years with the faithful upon earth after the first resurrection, before the full completion of final happiness; and their name, taken from the Latin word mille, "a thousand," has a direct allusion to the duration of this spiritual empire, which is styled the millennium. A millennium, or a future paradisaical state of the earth, is viewed by some as a doctrine not of Christian, but of Jewish, origin. The tradition which fixes the duration of the world, in its present imperfect state, to six thousand years, and announces the approach of a Sabbath of one thousand years of universal peace and plenty, to be ushered in by the glorious advent of the Messiah, has been traced up to Elias, a rabbinical writer, who flourished about two centuries before the birth of Christ. It certainly obtained among the Chaldeans from the earliest times; and it is countenanced by Barnabas, Irenaeus, and other primitive writers, and also by the Jews at the present day. But though the theory may not be very improbable, yet, as it has not the sanction of Scripture to support it, we are not bound to respect it any farther than as a doubtful tradition. The Jews understood several passages of the prophets, as Zec 14:16, &c, of the millennium; in which, according to their carnal apprehensions, the Messiah is to reign on earth, and to bring all nations within the pale, and under subjection to the ordinances, of the Jewish church.
Justin Martyr, the most ancient of the fathers, was a great supporter of the doctrine of the millennium, or that our Saviour shall reign with the faithful upon earth, after the resurrection, for a thousand years; which he declares was the belief of all orthodox Christians. But this opinion is not generally followed; for, though there has been, perhaps, no age of the church in which this doctrine was not admitted by one or more divines of the first eminence, it yet appears, from the writings of Eusebius, Irenaeus, and others among the ancients, as well as from the histories of Dupin, Mosheim, and other moderns, that it was never adopted by the whole church, nor formed an article in the established creed in any nation. Origen, the most learned of the fathers, and Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, usually, for his immense erudition, surnamed the Great, both opposed the doctrine that prevailed on the subject in their day; and Dr. Whitby, in his learned treatise on the subject, proves, first, that the millennium was never generally received in the church of Christ; and, secondly, that there is no just ground to think it was derived from the Apostles.
On the other hand, Dr. T. Burner and others maintain that it was very generally admitted till the Nicene council, in 325, or till the fourth century. The doctor supposes Dionysius of Alexandria, who wrote against Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, before the middle of the third century, to have been the first that attacked this doctrine; but Origen had previously assailed it in many of his fictitious additions. The truth seems to be, as one well remarks, "that a spiritual reign of Christ was believed by all who carefully examined the Scriptures, though the popular notions of the millennium were often rejected; and ancient as well as modern writers assailed the extravagant superstructure, not the Scriptural foundation or the doctrine." During the interregnum in England, in the time of Cromwell, there arose a set of enthusiasts sometimes called Millenarians, but more frequently Fifth Monarchy Men, who expected the sudden appearance of Christ, to establish on earth a new monarchy or kingdom. In consequence of this, some of them aimed at the subversion of all human government. In ancient history we read of four great monarchies; the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and the Roman; and these men, believing that this new spiritual kingdom of Christ was to be the fifth, obtained the name by which they were called. They claimed to be the saints of God, and to have the dominion of saints, Da 7:27; expecting that, when Christ was come into this kingdom, to begin his reign on earth, they, as his deputies, were to govern all things under him. They went so far as to give up their own Christian names, and assume others from Scripture, like the Manicheans of old.
The opinions of the moderns on this subject may be reduced to two: 1. Some believe that Christ will reign personally on the earth, and that the prophecies of the millennium point to a resurrection of martyrs and other just men, to reign with him a thousand years in a visible kingdom. 2. Others are inclined to believe that, by the reign of Christ and the saints for a thousand years on earth, "nothing more is meant than that, before the general judgment, the Jews shall be converted, genuine Christianity be diffused through all nations, and mankind enjoy that peace and happiness which the faith and precepts of the Gospel are calculated to confer on all by whom they are sincerely embraced." The state of the Christian church, say they, will be, for a thousand years before the general judgment, so pure and so widely extended, that, when compared with the state of the world in the ages preceding, it may, in the language of Scripture, be called a resurrection from the dead. In support of this interpretation, they quote two passages from St. Paul, in which a conversion from Paganism to Christianity, and a reformation of life is called a "resurrection from the dead," Ro 6:13; Eph 5:14. There is, indeed, an order in the resurrection, 1Co 15:24; but we no where observe mention made of a first and second resurrection at the distance of a thousand years from each other: yet, were the millenarian hypothesis well founded, the words should rather have run thus: "Christ, the first-fruits, then the martyrs at his coming, and a thousand years afterward the residue of mankind,
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And I gave my dwelling in the midst of you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I walked in the midst of you, and I was to you for God, and ye shall be to me for a people.
All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall turn back to Jehovah: and all the families of the nations shall worship before thee.
And all kings shall worship to him: all nations shall serve him.
And he judged between the nations, and he will decide for many peoples: and they shall beat down their swords to plough-shares and their spears to pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall no more learn war.
The wolf dwelt with the lamb; and the panther will lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the falling together, and a little boy leading with them. And the heifer and the bear shall feed together, and their young shall lie down; and the lion shall eat straw as the ox. read more. And the suckling was delighted upon the hole of the asp, and upon the viper's deu the weaned directed his hand. They shall not do evil, and they shall not destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters covering to the sea.
They shall not do evil, and they shall not destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters covering to the sea. And there was in that day a root of Jesse which stood for a signal of the peoples; to him shall the nations seek, and his rest was glory.
And there was in that day a root of Jesse which stood for a signal of the peoples; to him shall the nations seek, and his rest was glory. And it was in that day Jehovah shall add the second time his hand to gain the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assur and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea., read more. And he lifted up a signal to the nations, and he gathered the outcasts of Israel, and he will collect the dispersed of Judah from the four wings of the earth.
Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob shall be expiated; and this all the fruit to remove his sin; in his setting all the stones of the altar as stones of lime broken in pieces, the statues and images shall not stand up.
Until the spirit shall be poured upon us from on high, and the desert be for Carmel, and Carmel be reckoned for a forest. And judgment dwelling in the desert, and justice shall sit in Carmel. read more. And the work of justice was peace, and the service of justice, rest and confidence, even to forever. And my people shall sit in a dwelling of peace, and in habitations of trust and in quiet resting places. And the hail hailing upon the forest; and the city shall be made low in lowness.
Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for the uncircumcised shall no more add to come into thee, and the unclean.
In justice shalt thou be prepared: go far off from violence; for thou shalt not be afraid: and from terror, for it shall not draw near to thee.
And be redeeming came to Zion, and they turning away. transgression in Jacob, says Jehovah.
And be redeeming came to Zion, and they turning away. transgression in Jacob, says Jehovah. And I, this my covenant with them, said Jehovah: my spirit which is upon thee, and my word which I put in thy mouth shall not depart from thy mouth, and from the mouth of thy seed, from the mouth of thy seed's seed, said Jehovah, from now and even forever.
And I, this my covenant with them, said Jehovah: my spirit which is upon thee, and my word which I put in thy mouth shall not depart from thy mouth, and from the mouth of thy seed, from the mouth of thy seed's seed, said Jehovah, from now and even forever.
Instead of brass I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of woods, brass, and instead of stones, iron: and I set thine overseers peace, and thy rulers justice. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, desolation and breaking in thy bounds: and thou calledst thy walls Salvation, and thy gates, Praise.
And thy people all of them just: forever shall they inherit the land, watching his planting, the work of my hand for glory.
And my spirit I will, give in the midst of you, and I made that ye shall go in my laws, and my judgments shall ye watch and do.
And he will say to me, Son of man, these bones all the house of Israel: behold them saying, Our bones were dried up, and our hope perished, and we were cut off to us. For this, prophesy and say to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I opened your graves and brought you up from your graves, O my people, and I brought you to the land of Israel. read more. And ye knew that I was Jehovah in my opening your graves and in my bringing you up from your graves, O my People And And I gave my spirit in you, and ye lived, and I caused you to rest upon your land: and ye knew that I Jehovah spake, and I did, says the Lord Jehovah. And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, And thou son of man, take to thee one tree and write upon it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his company: and take one tree and write upon it, For Joseph, the tree of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his company: And draw them near one to one to thee, for one tree; and they were for one in thine hand. And when the sons of thy people shall say to thee, saying, Wilt thou not announce to us what these to thee? Speak to them, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Behold I take the tree of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his company, and I gave them upon him with the tree of Judah, and ye made them for one tree, and they were one in my hand. And the trees which thou shalt write upon them were in thy hand before their eyes. And speak to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they went there, and I gathered them from round about, and I brought them to their land: And I made them for one nation in the land in the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be to them all for king: and they shall no more be for two nations, and they shall no more be divided into two kingdoms at all. And they shall no more be defiled with their blocks and with their abominable things, and in all their transgressions: and I saved them from all their dwellings where they sinned in them, and I cleansed them: and they were to me for a people, and I will be to them for God. And my servant David a king over them; and one shepherd shall be to all of them: and in my judgments they shall go and they shall watch my laws and do them. And they shall dwell upon the land which I gave to my servant to Jacob which your fathers dwelt upon it, and they shall dwell upon it, they and their sons and their sons' sons, even to forever: and David my servant a prince to them forever. And I cut out to them a covenant of peace; it shall be an eternal covenant with them: and I gave them, and I multiplied them, and I gave my holy place in the midst of them forever. And my dwelling was with them, and I was to them for God, and they shall be to me for a people. And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah consecrating Israel in my holy place, being in the midst of them forever.
And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God in my carrying them captive to the nations: and I collected them into their land, and I will no more leave from them there. And I will no more bide my face from them, for I poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah.
And the holy ones of the Most High shall take the kingdom and shall possess the kingdom even to forever, and even to forever of forever.
And the tribunal sat, and they shall take away his power to cut off and to destroy even to the end. And the kingdom and the power, and the greatness of the kingdom under All the heavens was given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High his kingdom an eternal kingdom, and all powers shall serve to him, and shall hear.
And the kingdom and the power, and the greatness of the kingdom under All the heavens was given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High his kingdom an eternal kingdom, and all powers shall serve to him, and shall hear.
And the kingdom and the power, and the greatness of the kingdom under All the heavens was given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High his kingdom an eternal kingdom, and all powers shall serve to him, and shall hear.
And he will say to me, Even to evening morning, two thousand and three hundred; and the holy place was justified
Happy he waiting, and he shall reach to the thousand three hundred and thirty and five days.
And I cut out for them a covenant in that day with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the earth: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and I caused them to lie down confidently.
And he judged between many peoples, and he admonished to strong nations even to far off; and they beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-knives: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall no more learn war.
For the earth shall be filled to know the glory of Jehovah as the waters shall cover over the sea?
And I poured out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications: and they looked to me whom they pierced, and they mourned for him as mourning for the only begotten, and being embittered for him as being embittered for the first-born.
And every one being left of all the nations coming against Jerusalem, and they went up from year to year to worship to the king, Jehovah of armies, to keep a festival, the festival of booths.
In that day shall be upon the bells of the horse, Holiness to Jehovah; and it was the pots in the house of Jehovah as vases before the face of the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah was holiness to Jehovah of armies: and all sacrificing came and took of them, and boiled in them: and the Canaanite shall be no more in the house of Jehovah in that day.
And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah was holiness to Jehovah of armies: and all sacrificing came and took of them, and boiled in them: and the Canaanite shall be no more in the house of Jehovah in that day.
Happy the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
And if ye will receive, this is Elias he about to come.
For where two or three are assembled in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Teaching them to keep all things whatever I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all the days, even to the end of time. Amen.
And he shall come before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the intelligence of the just; to prepare a people having been put in order for the Lord.
Praising God, and having favor with the whole people. And in the day the Lord added the saved to the church.
And great fear was upon the whole church, and upon all having heard these things.
And of them remaining none dared join them: but the people magnified them.
Neither present ye your members weapons of injustice to sin: but present yourselves to God, as living from the dead, and your members weapons of justice to God.
What then What Israel seeks for, this be attained not; but the selection attained, and the rest were hardened.
I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? It may not be: but by their fall salvation to the nations, to make them jealous. And if their fall the riches of the world, and their disaster the riches of the nations; how much more their fulness?
For if their rejection the reconciliation of the world, what the reception, but life from the dead?
And if certain of the young shoots were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in them, and wert a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
And so all Israel shall be saved: as has been written, The Deliverer shall come out of Sion, and turn away profanation from Jacob. And this the covenant to them with me, when I take away their sins.
Then the end, when he should deliver up the kingdom to God, and the Father; when he should leave unemployed every beginning and every authority and power.
And what agreement to the temple of God with images? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God said, That I will dwell in them, and will go round about; and will be their God, and they shall be a people to me. Therefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you.
Wherefore he says, Awake, who sleeping, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten thee.
For the Lord himself in the word of command, in the voice of the archangel, shall descend from heaven: and the dead in Christ shall be raised first:
And inasmuch as it is reserved to men once to die, and after this the judgment: So Christ, once offered to have borne the sins of many, of the second time, without sin, shall be seen to them expecting him for salvation.
And ye a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for acquisition; so that ye should proclaim the excellencies of him having called you out of darkness into his wonderful light:
And let not this one thing be unknown to you, dearly beloved, that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
And madest us kings and priests to our God: and we shall reign upon the earth.
And the court-yard that without the temple throw out, and thou mayest not measure it: for it was given to the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-two months.
And the seventh angel sounded the trumpet; and great voices were in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world were our Lord's, and his Christ's; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
And he seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And he cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and affixed a seal above him, that he should no more deceive the nations, until the thousand years be finished: and after these things he must be loosed a little time. read more. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given them: and the souls of them beheaded with an axe for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who worshipped not the wild beast, nor his image, and took not the stamp upon their foreheads, and upon their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given them: and the souls of them beheaded with an axe for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who worshipped not the wild beast, nor his image, and took not the stamp upon their foreheads, and upon their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given them: and the souls of them beheaded with an axe for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who worshipped not the wild beast, nor his image, and took not the stamp upon their foreheads, and upon their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. And the rest of the dead returned not again to life even till the thousand years be finished. This the first rising up. read more. Happy and holy he having a part in the first rising up: over these has the second death no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.
Happy and holy he having a part in the first rising up: over these has the second death no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.
Happy and holy he having a part in the first rising up: over these has the second death no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.
And I heard a great voice from heaven saying, Behold the tent of God with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God.