Here comes the “Millennium!”

01 Mar Here comes the “Millennium!”

Posted at 10:44h in Pastor's Pen by

Dear HLPC family,

Lord willing, we only have three more weeks in our sermon series on the book of  Revelation.  This Sunday, we expect to be in chapter 20.  This is, without doubt, the most debated and controversial chapter of the entire book.  In this chapter we deal with the famous “millennium”—the one-thousand-year reign of Christ (Revelation 20:1-10).

Christians will often take to themselves labels regarding their belief in what the millennium means such as “pre-mill,” “post-mill,” or “a-mill.”  We’ll dive into what those terms mean this Sunday as we look at this chapter.

I think it’s helpful for us to be reminded that Revelation is a vision or dream with symbols.  When Pharoah had a dream of seven gaunt cows eating seven healthy ones, Joseph, with God’s help, interpreted those symbols to mean seven prosperous years followed by seven lean years.  Dreams are filled with symbols.  The symbols of Revelation can leave our heads spinning.  What does this mean?  This is Scripture.  It’s God-breathed.  We must take it seriously.  Yet we want to interpret it according to the type of Scripture it is.  For example, the gospels are clearly historical narrative—there’s    no symbolism in them.  We don’t read about the resurrection of Jesus and ask, “What does this mean?”  It means that Jesus rose from the dead and the tomb was empty!  But Revelation—like Ezekiel and Daniel—is clearly different as God gives His revelation in a vision.

I would appreciate your prayers for my preparation for this Sunday that God would grant me grace to be clear and faithful to His Word.  May He help us to understand and apply His Word and to be more faithful followers of the Lord Jesus.

Your Pastor,

Paul

Paul Bankson
pbankson@gmail.com

Paul was born and raised in Birmingham, AL and graduated from Auburn University in 1986 with a degree in Business Administration. It was at Auburn that he met his wife, Connie. They were married in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and moved to Jackson, MS where he attended Reformed Theological Seminary graduating with a Master of Divinity in 1991. Upon graduation, Paul served as a Campus Minister with RUF, the campus ministry of the PCA, at Tennessee-Martin where the Banksons lived for 5 years. They moved to Macon, GA in 1996 to work with RUF at Mercer University and then Paul joined the pastoral staff at First Presbyterian Church of Macon as an Assistant Pastor in 1999. In 2004, Paul and his family moved to Warner Robins where he served as a church planter and then organizing Pastor of Houston Lake Presbyterian Church. In December 2014 Paul completed a Doctor of Ministry degree through Reformed Theological Seminary of Orlando. Paul and Connie have three sons, Andrew (23), Stephen (20), and Matthew (15). Paul enjoys grilling, camping with his family, and Auburn sports (War Eagle!).