Hello, John and Doves,As far as the Millennium goes, what you have written, Arlene, is pretty much what we know in a nutshell.As far as the Rapture goes, the Bride and the True Church are one. Only the Father knows who all comprise the Bride.It is written,37"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”The above verses have multiple meanings, I am sure.However, it seems that we will know who is in the Bride when she is raptured, but not before, imho.This is why it is also written,Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai!Blessings~Mike C.__________________________________________________Arlene (9 July 2012)
"Looking for answers on the Millennium...."
For John and all the Doves....
I was going through some of the areas in "Mike's Origins Resource" that I sent in last week. One or two were wonderful, but there is one that stopped me cold. It was on the Millennium. Do I believe that the Millennium will contain NO PEOPLE??? Absolutely not!!! There is too much in Ezekiel 39 and 40 which points to those 1000 years.
And actually, I don't know much about those years. I wondered what others thought, so I looked at around 10 opinions on the internet....and there were still no solid answers. Opinions are worth the paper they are written on unless the bible can back them up, at least in my opinion.
What I do think is that the purpose of the Millennium is the last test of man's inherent wickedness. In the Book of Job, the argument was between Satan and God that there was not a righteous man who would not turn from God when tested ! in all areas. But, Satan was allowed to work on Job in this testing. In the end, Job was rewarded seven-fold. However, "man" has not yet been tested in a world with perfect rule without interference from Satan. Would man again fail and prove there is no inherent righteousness in him? Yes, it would prove man would fail even in a world of perfect rule under Jesus Christ.....Satan will be released and still be able to deceive people at the end. So, God will prove that His judgment at the end is righteous beyond argument.
I would love to hear other opinions from various Doves on what the Millennium will be like....and its purpose. I could be wrong. And besides, there is nobody who is 100% accurate in everything. But, I do believe that the whole body of Christ, in parts, knows everything.
YsiC,
Arlene
PS And I also strongly believe in the pre-trib rapture of the "bride" (not the whole church)! which the links from Mike seems to ignore or deny.