In his vision of the end of evil in Revelation 20-21, John self-consciously elaborates on the pattern laid out by the prophet Isaiah. According to Isaiah 24:21-23, the "host of heaven" will be captured and shut up in a pit/prison for "many days". After this period of incarceration they will be punished, at which point the sun and the moon will flee as YHWH comes to reign in Zion. Isaiah then continues with a beautiful description of the age to come in chapter 25: YHWH makes a great feast for his people, death is swallowed up forever, and all tears are wiped away. Note: for Isaiah, it is only after the "many days" of imprisonment that the earth is restored and the kingdom of God is established—and John follows this pattern very closely. Therefore, to describe the millennium as an Edenic paradise, as chiliast interpreters since Justin Martyr have done, is to ascribe to it properties which the biblical authors purposefully reserve for the age to come.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 16:40:27 +0000
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