Chiliasm (3)

How different it is with those who refused to listen, who gave no heed to that great salvation. Of them we read, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Thus they do not live again! No, it does not mean that they cease to exist. Dead is not dead. But it means that they, at their death, do not inherit life, but sink away in eternal death. And soon, at the last day, when Christ returns, thus at the end of the thousand years, they will not then receive life either. Certainly, then their bodies will rise from the grave, but only to be cast with both body and soul into the lake of fire, which is to die the second death. For that second death is a going lost with body and soul to all eternity.

Thus only God's true children have a portion in the first resurrection. The first resurrection is the awakening of the blessed in eternal rest, to be forever with the Lord. By the first resurrection is meant that of which the Heidelberg Catechism speaks in answer 57. There we read: “My soul after this life shall be immediately taken up to Christ its Head.” And the second resurrection: “But also, that this my body, being raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul, and made like unto the glorious body of Christ.”

The first resurrection is thus the resurrection of the soul, which at the death of the body is immediately in extreme joy. He who may have a part in this resurrection does not come into condemnation, but inherits eternal life. And one day he will not enjoy felicity just with the soul, but also with the body, which is the second resurrection. If someone is to share in the eternal blessedness with body and soul, then he must have a part in the first resurrection. And if he is to have a part in the first resurrection, he must here already by regenerating grace have been made alive from the dead. We cannot get by with less. Except a man be born again, he will not see the kingdom of God.

Here in this life we must exchange the temporal with the eternal. It is something which involves us; it does not happen without our being aware of it. Those who have a part in the first resurrection learn to know themselves as lying in the midst of death, but they also learn to seek life outside of themselves in Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Blessed are those who were so wrought upon by God's Spirit. Their strife may be severe, but that which God has wrought shall rejoice to His honor. They are kept by the power of God through faith unto the salvation which shall be revealed unto them.

Then let the prince of darkness make things difficult for them by persecuting and oppressing them; they need not fear him. If he kill their bodies, at that same moment they are home. It can then be said of them, “The Lord sustains thee, and has dealt most graciously with thee.” “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” He is blessed, because here on earth he could not be robbed of his treasure, and in heaven, being withdrawn from all assaults and oppressions, he enjoys a fullness of heavenly bliss! He is holy, for the Holy Ghost has here already consecrated him to the Lord, protected him from apostasy, and causes him to mortify all sins at the entrance into glory. And what is most precious, the second death has no power over him!

They must pass through the first death, the mortification of the body of death, but for them this is at the same time the gate to eternal life. However, the second death, the everlasting wretchedness after the last judgment, cannot hurt them. Indeed, they are no longer subject to the night of death. That is how the book of Revelation speaks about the blessed, holy, heavenly life, which in its joyful glory opens to all who fail asleep in Jesus. Is not such a prospect full of comfort for all who engage in the fight of faith? What really comforts more — an imagined state of happiness on earth which is only temporary, as is desired by the chiliasts, or the glory of heaven, which begins immediately at death?

However, when the thousand years will have ended, Satan shall be loosed for a little season. This does not, of course, mean that a time will come during which Christ will not be King anymore, and Satan will be supreme above Him. No, just before the end of time, the devil will be given opportunity once more to mobilize all his powers of hell against the Lord Jesus Christ. That opportunity will be so enormous that it will be as if the devil is untied, and then he will be able to employ all his force to combat the gospel. In addition he will make use of the nations from the ends of the earth, uniting them to the terrible final battle against everything which still bears the name of Christian and still honors the service of God.

In Revelation the names of Gog and Magog are used. By these are meant those nations which until now lived separated, with little or no contact with the culture of this world, and which were hidden in the darkness of their paganism and obscurity. Hence it is added: “which are in the four quarters of the world.” We must beware of vain speculations. It is entirely without purpose to want to know who is meant by Gog and Magog. We must content ourselves with the solemn facts of the Holy Scriptures, which solemnly provide us with a clear picture of the enormous final battle at the end of time.

According to God's Word, we read first of the great apostasy setting in, making Christian nations dechristianized, estranging those Christian nations which have already increasingly departed from the Christian faith, and stirring up enmity against the gospel of the Christ of God. It will be an apostasy which during the last times will not limit itself to the few who break with all traditions of Christianity, but in its powerful current will sweep along the nations as a whole, so there can truly be spoken of a dechristianized world.

In the second phase, the antichristian power will arise out of the apostate world, which will concentrate itself in the appearance of the antichrist, the man of sin! Who l that antichrist will be, we do not know, but we do know that he will arise out of the formerly Christian, but now dechristianized, world. Antichrist supposes a knowledge and service of Christ. However, he is the servant of Satan, and he prepares the very final struggle of hell versus heaven. For after him comes the third phase. When in this Christian world he has destroyed everything which still maintains the Christian confession (as far as he is able, for God always protects His Church), when he has cast down and destroyed religion, morality, piety, and modesty, then the path is clear for the coming of Gog and Magog. Then the unruly nations of the earth will unite with the antichristian world to do battle against Christ's church.

Then the oppression of the confessors of the Name of God will be terrible; however, it is but for a little season. When the need is the greatest, “God shall arise and by His might put all His enemies to flight with shame and consternation.” Then the Lord shall return and deliver His oppressed Zion out of their great need, champion their cause openly and put them in the right, and finish off forever all their and His enemies.

After all that has been mentioned, it has certainly become clear that there is no basis in Scripture for a chiliastic expectation of a reign of peace for a thousand years. On the contrary, the signs of the times proclaim to us a time of great oppression. “The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7). When all that is still called religion is vague and superficial, we know the downfall of Christianity is near. When the chiliast objects that the manifold wickedness of our days entirely excludes the devil's being bound, we counter by saying that the increasing power of darkness spells to us his being let loose, and in the spiritual crisis of these times, which will certainly intensify, we see the affirmation of what is revealed to us in Revelation 20.

Satan may fancy that he will attain his goal, but before he realizes it, his Conqueror will appear on the clouds of heaven; the lake of fire and brimstone, which burns eternally, awaits him. That little season of glory is followed by an eternity of perdition. However, also that little season of dreadful oppression for the congregation is followed by an eternity of blessedness and glory. “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17).

That blessed future approaches rapidly, directly through all the tumult and dechristianizing of the world. “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.” Maranatha!

— Rev. J. van Haaren

(1933–1983)

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