DEAR MR MACLEAN,—My father has received your letter some time ago, stating that you ordered for me a small book on the Book of Revelation, subject to a talk I had with you on the Second Advent of Christ the last time you called. This book has now arrived, and I have read it. In my estimation it is a very literal interpretation of such a spiritual book as that of Revelation. I might do well to quote the passage from Revelation on which the theory is based. It is the following from the twentieth chapter:—”And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and the Word of God; and whosoever had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, neither had they received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection, on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev. xx. 4-6).
- This letter was written by a young lad, Lachlan Maclean. Upper Breakish, Skye, who passed away at the age of 19 years. Lachlan seems to have been awakened to concern when he was 15 years, and showed afterwards till the day of his death that he had his face set Sionwards. On his death-bed he said: “Lord, I am sorry that I was unable to witness for thee in public, but now, Lord, give me strength for a few minutes that I may witness for thee before these people.” He then addressed those at his bedside. He passed to his rest, 6th October, 1924. The above letter, written when he was 18, shows remarkable clearness of statement in one so young.—EDITOR.
Now, the substance of the pre-millennarian interpretation of this passage may be stated as embracing the following points: (1) That the passage is confirmatory of the view that Christ will one day reign personally upon the earth; (2) That at that time there will be a literal resurrection from their graves of all the saints that will then be dead; (3) That these saints (with those who are alive and ready) will, in a glorified state, personally sit upon thrones and reign with Christ over the earth a thousand years; and (4) That “the rest of the dead,” that is the wicked, will be raised from their graves after the millennium. The first resurrection is understood in a literal or bodily sense.
The other interpretation, which, we hold, is in strict accordance with the Word of God in general, takes the passage in a figurative sense. The Book of Revelation is largely a figurative and symbolical book, and it must be studied carefully in this light, otherwise the most absurd conclusions will be reached. The following points in this connection are to be noted: (1) That there is nothing in the passage that asserts or confirms the view that Christ is coming personally to reign upon the earth; (2) That the “first resurrection” is to be understood in a figurative and spiritual sense, and that it is here predicted that there will be a spiritual resurrection of those who were witnesses for Christ during past outstanding days of trial and persecution, a resurrection in the person of their successors whom God will raise up, and who will possess similar Christian attainments; (3) That these saints will be kings and priests and sit upon “thrones,” in the sense that they will occupy the position of Christian authority and power, and thus exert a reigning and prevailing influence with Christ over the world during the thousand years; and (4) that the wicked, in their representatives, will “live again” for a season to new power after the millennium.
Let us now closely examine the passage to see if the latter interpretation is the more thoroughly consistent and satisfactory. First, let us observe that there is nothing stated to the effect that Christ is coming personally from heaven to earth to reign. Certainly the reign of Christ is mentioned, but then our pre-millennarian friends seem to forget the fact that He is already on the throne, and has been on it since His ascension on high, and further, that He does not need to leave the throne to exert the gracious reigning and prevailing influence, which He will exercise during the millennial period. There is nothing specifically in the passage, or in its immediate context, as to any personal advent to the earth at all. The saints can spiritually reign over the earth with Christ, though He is personally in heaven. In fact it is explicitly stated in God’s Word as to His personal exaltation to the Father’s right hand, that He shall reign there till all His enemies are made His footstool, and this complete victory is not accomplished at the millennium, but at the last day. Secondly, let it be noticed that it is only a particular class of the saints that are said “to live and reign with Christ” during the thousand years, and that this entirely excludes the premillennial view that all the saints are to rise bodily from the dead (who will then be in their graves) and reign with Him. If the passage is to be understood in a literal sense, then it is only some Christians—the martyrs who were “beheaded” “for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God,” and those who have refused to serve “the beast,” namely, the Papal power, during its domination, who will then reign with Christ. God’s Word clearly teaches that, when Christ does come personally the second time to judge the world, and to be glorified in His saints, “the dead in Christ”—plainly all the dead in Christ—will rise. Thus the present passage cannot refer to the time of Christ’s second personal advent at all. The resurrection referred to must be of a different order, and at a different season altogether.
It may be seen, then, that the passage lends itself with far greater ease to the idea of a figurative and spiritual resurrection. The slain witnesses are to live again in their successors, who will possess the same measure of the Holy Spirit; and they will live, not to be down-trodden, as those who went before them, but to triumph and reign on the earth. Thus the slain witnesses, the martyrs, will obtain the victory over their foes, the foes of Christ’s cause and truth, during the promised period. This view of the matter is manifestly confirmed by the statement made in the sixth verse: “Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; on such the second death has no power.” If the first resurrection were a mere literal or bodily one, we do not see the force of the connection emphasised, that on the subject of it “the second death has no power.” The wicked are capable of bodily resurrection, and will experience the same, but that does not secure immunity from the “second” or eternal death. But, if the resurrection is understood in a figurative or spiritual sense, then the connection is clear. It is they who are raised from spiritual death who are among the blessed and holy that shall escape the “second death.”
Let us remark secondly, that to take the statement that “the rest of the dead,” namely, the wicked, “lived not again until the thousand years were finished,” as referring to the bodily and final resurrection, is not consistent with the general accounts given in the Scriptures of said resurrection. These accounts describe the final resurrection of the righteous and the wicked as practically simultaneous. There is not a thousand years between the resurrection of the two parties. Though “the dead in Christ rise first,” it is the same voice at the same time that raises both. The right interpretation appears to be that already alluded to, namely, that the wicked will “live again,” in the person of their representatives, to new power and activity when the thousand years were finished. This is in entire harmony with the events which are immediately afterwards narrated in the chapter. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, etc. Satan is to get freedom for a season, and shall enable the wicked to arise after the millennium. They are living again in their malign activities, but their time will be short.
In conclusion, I consider that the passage upon which our pre-millennarian friends principally base their theory affords no real support to it whatsoever. They insist upon the literal interpretation of a portion of a book that is eminently figurative and symbolic in its character and description—a procedure in this case for which they supply no adequate warrant—such people seem to me to be determined to make the Scriptures suit their fancy.—Trusting this may find you in good health, I am, yours faithfully—LACHLAN MACLEAN.
No Enthusiast.
Because I am in earnest, men call me an enthusiast; but I am not; mine are the words of truth and soberness. When I first went into Gloucestershire, and was walking on a hill, I saw a gravel-pit fall in, and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help, so loud that I was heard in the town below, at a distance of a mile; help came, and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then; and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall upon poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrecoverably in an eternal mass of woe, and call aloud on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now? No, sinner, I am not an enthusiast in so doing; I call on thee aloud to flee for refuge, to the hope set before thee in the Gospel of Christ Jesus.—Rowland Hill.