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bring up the subject of the resurrection, and to the fact that they desire to stress the
soteriological aspect of it, I Cor. 15; I Thess. 4:13-18. Other passages clearly speak of the
resurrection of the righteous and that of the wicked in a single breath, Dan. 12:2; John 5:28,29;
Acts 24:15. We shall consider this matter further in the following chapter.
e. The Premillennial theory entangles itself in all kinds of insuperable difficulties with its
doctrine of the millennium. It is impossible to understand how a part of the old earth and of
sinful humanity can exist alongside of a part of the new earth and of a humanity that is
glorified. How can perfect saints in glorified bodies have communion with sinners in the flesh.
How can glorified saints live in this sin-laden atmosphere and amid scenes of death and decay?
How can the Lord of glory, the glorified Christ, establish His throne on earth as long as it has not
yet been renewed. The twenty-first chapter of Revelation informs us that God and the Church
of the redeemed will take up their dwellingplace on earth after heaven and earth have been
renewed; how then can it be maintained that Christ and the saints will dwell there a thousand
years before this renewal. How will sinners and saints in the flesh be able to stand in the
presence of the glorified Christ, seeing that even Paul and John were completely overwhelmed
by the vision of Him, Acts 26:12-14; Rev. 1:17? Beet truly says: “We cannot conceive mingled
together on the same planet some who have yet to die and others who have passed through
death and will die no more. Such confusion of the present age with the age to come is in the
last degree unlikely.”[The Last Things, p. 88.] And Brown calls out: “What a mongrel state of
things is this! What an abhorred mixture of things totally inconsistent with each other!”[The
Second Advent, p. 384.]
f. The only Scriptural basis for this theory is Rev. 20:1-6, after an Old Testament content has
been poured into it. This is a very precarious basis for various reasons. (1) This passage occurs in
a highly symbolical book and is admittedly very obscure, as may be inferred from the different
interpretations of it. (2) The literal interpretation of this passage, as given by the
Premillenarians, leads to a view that finds no support elsewhere in Scripture, but is even
contradicted by the rest of the New Testament. This is a fatal objection. Sound exegesis
requires that the obscure passages of Scripture be read in the light of the clearer ones, and not
vice versa. (3) Even the literal interpretation of the Premillenarians is not consistently literal, for
it makes the chain in verse 1 and consequently also the binding of verse 2 figurative, often
conceives of the thousand years as a long but undefined period, and changes the souls of verse
4 into resurrection saints. (4) The passage, strictly speaking, does not say that the classes
referred to (the martyr saints and those who did not worship the beast) were raised up from
the dead, but simply that they lived and reigned with Christ. And this living and reigning with
Christ is said to constitute the first resurrection. (5) There is absolutely no indication in these
verses that Christ and His saints are seen ruling on the earth. In the light of such passages as