Some people claim that our Lord should not be referred to as “Jesus.” Instead, we should only use the name “Yeshua.” Some even go so far as to say that calling Him “Jesus” is blasphemous. Others go into great detail about how the name “Jesus” is unbiblical because the letter J is a modern invention and there was no letter J in Greek or Hebrew.
The revelation really begins in the last verse of Revelation chapter 11.
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Revelation 11:19
Before we continue we need to understand that God’s way (and the Hebrew way of thinking) is very different to what we are used to, which has been heavily influenced by Greek thought. God describes events as though they have already happened because He sees all of time; He is outside of time.
I use what is called the historical: spiritual view for interpreting Biblical eschatology. As part of that I follow what is known as amillennialism. That is that there is no literal 1000-year reign of Christ on Earth after some alleged 7-year Tribulation and Wrath of God. This is a view that was held by about half the early church up to 300 AD and then by most believers until about 1900 AD when pre-millennial interpretations became dominant.
So following this line of interpretation I want to look at the first 8 verses of Revelation chapter 20. The phrase “thousand years” is only found in these verses in the Bible. The word “millennium” is not found in the Bible.
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Revelation 20:1
The word “angel” comes from the Greek word “aggelos” (pronounced angelos) which means messenger. Only Jesus (the messenger here) has power to bind Satan in the bottomless pit, which is a metaphor for a spiritual prison of some sort. Read the following verses from Matthew.
Chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation opens with the first horse, a white horse. He is one of four horsemen who bring death on Earth. The other three horsemen are listed as being red, for war, black for famine, and pale for plagues. But here I want to look at the white horse. What is his significance?
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Revelation 6:2
I have heard it said many times that Jesus could not have been crucified on a Friday particularly if He was resurrected on the following Sunday. The following scripture is often quoted in support of this claim.
Matthew 12:40 (KJV) For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The logic is that if we count three full 24 hour day/night cycles, and given that He rose on a Sunday morning, He would have to have had died on the Thursday morning prior. Remember the Jewish counting of a 24-hour day starts at sundown and ends at the following sundown. That means that a Friday (the Preparation Day for the weekly Sabbath) starts at sundown Thursday and ends at sundown Friday when the Sabbath begins.
— a review of two cosmology papers presented at the International Conference on Creationism in 2018 (to be published in Journal of Creation)
In 2001 Jason Lisle (under the pen name Robert Newton) introduced the idea of Anisotropic Synchrony Convention (ASC) into the discussion amongst biblical creationists to solve the starlight travel-time problem.1 The ASC is a convention on clock synchronisation, or put another way, the conventionality of the simultaneity of distant events in spacetime.
This topic is relevant to the discussion of the creation of the stars in the universe on Day 4 of Creation week 6 thousand years ago. The ASC posits that an event occurs when an Earth observer sees, or could have seen, the event happen. And Lisle proposed that the ASC is the language used in the Bible. As such it leads to the initial simultaneous2 creation of all stars in the universe on Day 4, where, in principle, the event is timestamped3 as occurring when the starlight from all stars arrived on Earth for the first time. This means there is no light travel-time problem because the events were seen to occur (on Earth) simultaneously (or at least, within the period of one Earth day, that is, on Day 4). Therefore, there is no light travel-time problem.
In 2010 Lisle strengthened his original arguments with a discussion of the past light cone and Special Relativity.4 In that paper he introduced the ASC model, a model that uses the ASC. And his ASC model makes testable predictions.5
Lisle also carried further the notion of the one-way speed of light. Since the one-way speed of light cannot be measured it really has no physical meaning in the universe.6 Thus there is a free choice. And by Lisle’s choice of the ASC it follows that the incoming speed of light is infinite, and thus the outgoing speed must be ½ c (where c ≡ 299 792 458 m/s is the canonical isotropic—i.e. two-way—speed of light that we are very familiar with).7
Many people, biblical creationists included, have expressed disbelief, concern, and other emotions over the concept of the one-way speed of light being any different from the usually assumed isotropic speed c. Nevertheless it is important to note that concepts around the one-way speed of light are based on real physics.
The choice of a timing convention in no way affects any underlying physics. The physics is always the same no matter what convention one may choose.8 Einstein chose a value of the clock synchronisation parameter, known as the Reichenbach synchronization parameter (ε), in his equations for Special Relativity that defines the one-way speed of light as being equal to the two-way speed.9 Any value for the parameter ε between 0 and 1 may be chosen. Nature itself does not choose, nor impose any requirement on its value within this domain. The parameter represents our free choice of a timing convention. Hence we are free to choose any value of the Reichenbach synchronisation parameter ε, provided it is between 0 and 1. Einstein chose ε = ½ (ESC) and Lisle chose ε = 1 (ASC). Choosing a value for this parameter is in no way dissimilar to a choice of a different coordinate system. And regardless of which coordinate system one may choose the underlying physics is unaffected. What is different is only how we represent the physics in the different coordinate system. The equations of motion may be more complex in one coordinate system than in another but in all cases the physics is unaffected.10
Thus no amount of appealing to Maxwell’s equations (derived pre-Einstein)11 or any other well-known physics can refute the notion of free choice for the one-way speed of light, or more precisely, the conventionality thesis of distant simultaneity.
On this site the current highest trending article for views is my story on my battle with h. pylori infection. See graph below.
You will notice that there has been a monthly increase in the number of views. This is really amazing, and now it is getting more that 1100 views/month.
The second highest article averages around 500 views/month and has been fairly constant for the past year. See graph below.
That article is about the fact that the Bible describes the planet earth hanging on nothing and that it is a globe, not flat as many foolish Christians nowadays assert.
I have been told by many Bible commentators that the passage in Isaiah 65:17-25 refers to a Millennium period on Earth when Christ rules the nations directly before the Final Judgement of all men. They say that this is a period when nothing shall kill or hurt on Earth in the animal of human realms because God will directly be ruling the earth. Satan will be bound and have no influence on humans or the animal kingdom. Often the picture is shown of a lion and lamb sitting together. It portrays the idea of the Garden of Eden before the Curse.
I believed this idea for a long time. But is that really what these verses refer to? I held that view when I believed in the futurist eschatological view that the thousand-year period in Revelation chapter 20 was a reference to some sort of millennial rule of Christ on Earth before His Final Judgement on the unsaved. I no longer believe such ideas.
Now I believe the (so-called) Millennium is symbolic of the Church age — the period of time beginning with the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross and ending with the Final Judgement called the Great White Throne Judgement (Revelation 20:11-13). There are no others but the saved (in the new heaven and new earth) and the damned (sent to Hell). All are judged at the Great White Throne of God.
Now let’s look at these verses.
Some years ago I abandoned my former belief in the Futurist eschatology that most of the evangelical churches believe today. That was what is called the pre-millennial return of Christ and where the 70th ‘week’ of Daniel is pushed off into the distant future. I believed that as I was first taught that as a babe in Christ. But 35 + years later I really started to doubt it, and by about 2013 I discarded it entirely. Instead I studied the Historical interpretation, which seemed to be much better.
I began to accept the Historical: Continuing interpretation, but have to admit that it has its drawbacks. It needs a detailed knowledge of history for one thing, which the average believer does not have. Some of the key time line seems to not match, especially after Napoleon. (This interpretation is what the SDA church promotes).
I never believed in the alleged secret Rapture (also called the pre-Tribulation Rapture), but even the pre-millennial return of Christ has multiple returns of Christ before the Great White Throne Judgement (of Revelation chapter 20).
Anyway the Futurist doctrine was developed in the 17th century by a Jesuit, Ribera and later another Jesuit, Bellamine. It is obvious that this was an attempt to get the protestant churches eyes off the papacy, since the Reformers believed the papacy was the AntiChrist. After 1830 the teaching was added to by John N Darby, who promoted it into the evangelical churches. Nowadays it is widely believed.
Recently I have been listening to sermons by Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones on the books of Daniel and Revelation. As a result, I have now learned that even the Preterist interpretation–that all prophecy was fulfilled by the close of the 4th century–was also developed by a Jesuit in 1603. You gotta admire the Jesuits’ efforts to overturn the Reformation. I have also learned that there are 3 forms of the Historical interpretation.
Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones explains these in the following lectures and gives criticism as he sees it. He promotes Historical: Spiritual as the best interpretation.
In this blog you’ll find many Bible studies that follow the Historical: Continuing interpretation. I still believe a lot of it may be correct but many events could be explained by the same symbolic descriptions in the book of the Revelation. This much better supports the notion that God gave the final revelations to the Apostle John for the benefit of all believers throughout all ages.
I strongly recommend you take the time to listen to what he teaches. See below.
For the past 6 months I have been battling various health issues. The major one has been gastritis caused by a helicobacter pylori (h. pylori) bacterial infection in my stomach causing stomach erosions, much pain, loss of appetite, nausea and many other symptoms. This has been a difficult time of ups and downs in my health and I have not been able to research or write much on creation based issues. I have not yet got an ‘all-clear’ on the eradication of the bugs but I am hoping for that very soon, Lord willing!
During this time I have listened to many very good sermons (really Bible studies) by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones (which may be found at mljtrust.org).
The following three sermons cover the very important creation relevant verses found in Romans 8:18-23
Important deductions about evolution; the creation’s hope of deliverance; the grounds of this hope; the glory of Christ; of His people and of creation.
The manifestation of the sons of God; the glorification of the body; physical and spiritual perfection; our reserved inheritance; the creation’s share in our glory; Paradise regained.
The eternal state and the millennium; death and heaven; glorified bodies on a glorified earth; Satan’s final defeat; effects on our outlook in this world; groaning and waiting.
Bible Science Forum 