The Millennium Is Not A Future Event!
Today let’s continue our series on “doctrine” as we make our way through the essentials of our faith.
And yes, it remains true. When you gain clarity — by getting a clearer picture in your head about the doctrines of our faith — you’re better able to receive and apply Christ’s teachings.
This, then, helps you grow and further build within yourself the character, and calm quiet confidence, of Christ.
And more and more transform your life through Scripture.
Helping you find real answers to your real questions for your real problems in life.
OK, now remember, in our last email we covered “The Passion”.
Today let’s think a little bit about Christ’s descent into Hell; which happened immediately after Christ’s Spirit left His body on the Cross.
This teaching about His descent into Hell has become the missing third of the gospel, as it is NO LONGER TAUGHT in the modern church.
Nevertheless, it remains a vital piece of the puzzle you need to understand IF you want to truly understand your faith.
You can do a deep dive into this middle third of the gospel in my book “The Pearl: The Captivating Story of the Wondrous Love of God”; you can get a copy at Amazon by clicking the linked book title.
To make it easy, let’s put this into the form of a little “creed”. Some “I believe” type statements.
Here we go:
That He (Jesus right after leaving the Cross upon “giving up the Ghost”) then descended into Hell where Satan held prisoner the soul’s of mankind;
And made war with Satan, that fallen angel who is the devil,
And locked him in the bottomless pit of Tartarus.
That He then broke down the gates of Hell,
And called forth the captive saints, fulfilling the Anastasis, or First Resurrection,
Implementing forever His Kingdom, initially through Paradise there in what had been the darkness of Hell, on that Good Friday afternoon.
I believe that He then celebrated on that Holy Saturday the Millennium with the risen saints, fulfilling the High Holy Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which always pointed to the day that man would celebrate sin being taken away and no longer held against the saints; all of which also brought to an end the Saturday Sabbath.
OK, that’s a little bit about what history knows as “The Harrowing of Hell”, AKA “The Plundering of Hell”.
As Origen said regarding this plundering of Hell by Christ, “Christ drew up and set free from the recesses of Hades, the souls that were held in captivity.” Origen, 185-254 AD
Or as Saint Athanasius said, “While the devil thought to kill one, he is deprived of all cast out of Hades, and sitting by the gates, sees all the fettered beings led forth by the courage of the Savior.” Saint Athanasius, 293-373 AD
And as Basil of Seleucia said, “That which happened to the visible tomb of Christ (i.e. its being emptied on His rising), the same happened to Hades the invisible.” Basil of Selecia, ?-460 AD
And one more, “The Lord descends to the infernal world, in order that even those, who were in perpetual abodes, should be set free from their perpetual bonds.” Saint Ambrose, 340-397 AD
So, you see, while this message has been lost in the modern church … it’s a message that has been known and taught by the Church since the beginning.
And, it’s a message that, without which, you’ll be forever lost and unable to defend yourself from being led astray.
The modern church’s end-times science-fiction fantasy-futurism is a prime example of this. Who would be led astray in such things regarding our future once they got the full story of the Kingdom of God? Including the Middle (or missing) Third of the Gospel!
OK, as with each of these newsletters walking you through the doctrines of our faith, there may be some new information here for many of you.
But, as always, don’t worry. If you have any questions about any of this let me know. All you have to do is respond to this email with your question and I’ll respond as quickly as possible.
Remember, as the Apostles Creed teaches, Christ did descend into Hell. And as Peter proclaims that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, the incredible celebration upon His descent is indeed the subject of Holy Saturday. And … in direct response to modern day fantasy-futurism … the fulfillment of the Millennium!
Alright, that’s it for today, and, as always, for those of you in our Making-It-Real subscription service, keep up your daily readings!
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God Bless!
Coach Paul
‘Feel, Do, and Be Better!‘