📖 Ufunuo — Somo la Kina — Sehemu ya 14: Mitazamo ya Utawala wa Miaka Elfu — Mtazamo wa Bila Miaka Elfu (Amillennialism)📖 Revelation Intensive — Unit 14: The Millennial Views — Amillennialism

Somo: Ufunuo wa Yohana 20:1-6Text: Revelation 20:1-6

Mtazamo wa Bila Miaka Elfu Unashikilia NiniWhat Amillennialism Holds

Sehemu hii inaeleza mtazamo wa tatu kati ya mitazamo mitatu mikuu ya utawala wa miaka elfu, yaani mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu (amillennialism), na kozi hii inaendelea kuiweka mitazamo yote mitatu kando kwa kando, ikiwasilisha kila mmoja kwa nguvu zake kamili bila kupendelea yoyote. Kiambishi "a" kina maana ya "hakuna," na hivyo jina hili linaonyesha kwamba mtazamo huu hautarajii utawala halisi wa Kristo wa miaka elfu hapa duniani baada ya kurudi kwake. Badala yake, mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu unafundisha kwamba miaka elfu ya Ufunuo 20 ni ishara ya kipindi chote cha sasa, muda wote kati ya kuja kwa Kristo mara ya kwanza na mara ya pili. Katika kipindi hiki Kristo anatawala sasa kutoka mbinguni juu ya ufalme wake, roho za waaminifu waliokufa zinaishi na kutawala pamoja naye, na Shetani amezuiliwa asiyadanganye mataifa kwa namna ya kusimamisha kuenea kwa injili. Katika mtazamo huu hakuna ufalme wa pekee duniani kati ya kurudi kwa Kristo na hali ya milele. Kristo atakapokuja tena, kutakuwa na ufufuo mmoja wa jumla wa wenye haki na wa waovu, hukumu moja ya mwisho, na mara moja mbingu mpya na nchi mpya. Kwa hiyo mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu unasoma Ufunuo 20 kama unaoeleza kipindi cha kanisa ambamo waumini wanaishi sasa, badala ya kipindi cha wakati ujao duniani, na unaielewa miaka elfu kuwa hali halisi ya kiroho ya sasa badala ya utawala wa kisiasa unaokuja. Wafuasi wa mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu pia wanasisitiza jinsi kitabu hiki kilivyozungumza kwanza na wasomaji wake wa awali. Ufunuo uliandikiwa kanisa lililokuwa chini ya mateso makali, na kusudi lake la kwanza halikuwa kuchora ramani ya matukio ya maelfu ya miaka ijayo, bali kuwahakikishia waumini waliokuwa wakiteseka kwamba dhiki yao ilikuwa na mpaka, kwamba yule mnyama na ile chapa ya sura ya kumi na tatu vilikuwa na sura ya karne ya kwanza katika ibada ya kumwabudu mfalme wa Kirumi (Kaisari), na kwamba Kristo tayari anatawala na hakika atashinda. Kikisomwa kwa namna hii, miaka elfu ya kipindi cha sasa ndicho kipindi hasa ambamo kanisa linaloteswa linaishi na kutawala pamoja na Bwana wake aliyeketi kitini mwa enzi, na kitabu kinasikika kama neno la faraja na saburi badala ya kalenda ya wakati ujao wa mbali.This unit presents the third of the three main views of the millennium, amillennialism, and the course continues to hold the three views side by side, presenting each at full strength and favoring none. The prefix "a" means "no," and so the name signals that this view expects no literal, earthly thousand-year reign of Christ following His return. Instead, amillennialism teaches that the thousand years of Revelation 20 are a symbol of the entire present age, the whole span between the first and second comings of Christ. During this age Christ reigns now from heaven over His kingdom, the souls of the faithful who have died live and reign with Him, and Satan is restrained from deceiving the nations so as to stop the spread of the gospel. There is, in this view, no separate earthly kingdom between Christ's return and the eternal state. When Christ comes again, there is one general resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, one final judgment, and then immediately the new heaven and the new earth. Amillennialism therefore reads Revelation 20 as describing the church age in which believers now live, rather than a future period on earth, and it understands the millennium as a present spiritual reality rather than a coming political one. Amillennialists also emphasize how the book first spoke to its original readers. Revelation was written to a church under heavy persecution, and its first purpose was not to chart events thousands of years away but to assure suffering believers that their tribulation was bounded, that the beast and the mark of chapter thirteen wore a first-century face in the Roman emperor cult, and that Christ already reigns and will surely triumph. Read in this way, the thousand years of the present age are the very age in which the persecuted church lives and reigns with her enthroned Lord, and the book is heard as a word of comfort and endurance rather than a calendar of the distant future.

Mpangilio wa MatukioThe Order of Events

Mpangilio wa matukio kwa mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu ndio rahisi kuliko yote matatu. Kipindi cha sasa cha kanisa chenyewe ndicho utawala wa miaka elfu, wakati ambapo Kristo anatawala kutoka mbinguni, injili inakwenda kwa mataifa, na watakatifu waliotangulia wanatawala pamoja na Kristo. Katika kipindi chote hiki, wafuasi wa mtazamo huu wanashikilia, ufalme unakua na injili inaenea, lakini uovu pia unaendelea na hata kuongezeka, kwa maana ngano na magugu hukua pamoja hadi mavuno, na vyote viwili hukomaa kuelekea mwisho. Hakuna kipindi cha dhahabu duniani kinachotarajiwa kabla ya kurudi kwa Kristo, kama katika mmojawapo wa mitazamo mingine, wala utawala wa duniani wa kukifuata, kama katika ule mwingine. Mwishoni mwa kipindi Shetani anafunguliwa kwa muda mfupi katika shambulio la mwisho, ambalo ndilo kufunguliwa kwake kwa muda mfupi kunakotajwa katika Ufunuo 20. Kisha Kristo anarudi, mara moja na kwa kuonekana. Katika kuja kwake huko mara moja wafu wanafufuliwa, wenye haki na waovu pamoja, katika ufufuo mmoja wa jumla; wote wanasimama mbele ya kiti kikubwa cheupe cha enzi kwa ajili ya hukumu moja ya mwisho; kisha Mungu analeta mbingu mpya na nchi mpya mara moja. Hivyo tukio lote linazunguka juu ya kurudi kumoja, ufufuo mmoja, na hukumu moja, bila utawala wowote wa miaka elfu duniani kabla au baada.The amillennial order is the simplest of the three. The present church age is itself the millennium, the time in which Christ reigns from heaven, the gospel goes to the nations, and the departed saints reign with Christ. Throughout this age, amillennialists hold, the kingdom grows and the gospel spreads, but evil also continues and even intensifies, for the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest, and both ripen toward the end. There is no earthly golden age to be expected before the return, as in one of the other views, nor an earthly reign to follow it, as in the other. At the close of the age Satan is loosed for a little while in a final assault, which is the brief loosing of Revelation 20. Then Christ returns, once and visibly. At His single coming the dead are raised, the righteous and the wicked together, in one general resurrection; all stand before the great white throne for one final judgment; and then God brings in the new heaven and the new earth at once. So the whole drama turns on one return, one resurrection, and one judgment, without any thousand-year reign on the earth before or after.

Hoja za Kibiblia za Mtazamo wa Bila Miaka ElfuThe Biblical Case for Amillennialism

Wafuasi wa mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu wanajenga hoja yao kutoka Agano Jipya kwa upana wake pamoja na kitabu cha Ufunuo. Wanahoji kwamba "ufufuo wa kwanza" wa Ufunuo 20 ni kufufuka kwa kiroho badala ya kwa mwili. Baadhi wanauchukua kuwa kuzaliwa upya, kwa kuwa Maandiko yanazungumza juu ya waumini kuwa tayari wamefufuliwa pamoja na Kristo na kuhuishwa pamoja naye wakati bado wanaishi duniani (Yohana 5:24-25; Waefeso 2:1-6); wengine wanauchukua kuwa kuingia kwa roho ya muumini katika uzima na kutawala pamoja na Kristo wakati wa kifo. Kuhusu kufungwa kwa Shetani wanarejea ushindi wa kuja kwa Kristo mara ya kwanza, wakati yule mtu mwenye nguvu alipofungwa, Shetani alipoanguka kama umeme, na mkuu wa ulimwengu huu alipotupwa nje (Mathayo 12:29; Luka 10:18; Yohana 12:31), ili mataifa aliyokuwa ameyashikilia gizani sasa yaisikie injili. Wanasisitiza kwamba sehemu nyingine ya Agano Jipya inaonyesha kuja kwa Kristo mara ya pili kama tukio moja linaloleta ufufuo wa wote, hukumu ya mwisho, na uumbaji mpya pamoja, si kwa hatua zilizotenganishwa na miaka elfu (Yohana 5:28-29; 2 Petro 3:10-13). Na wanaelekeza kwenye maandiko mengi yanayomwonyesha Kristo tayari ameketi kitini mwa enzi na anatawala sasa, hata atakapoweka adui zake wote chini ya miguu yake (Matendo 2:32-36; 1 Wakorintho 15:25; Waefeso 1:20-22).Amillennialists build their case from the wider New Testament as well as from Revelation. They argue that the "first resurrection" of Revelation 20 is a spiritual rather than a bodily rising. Some take it as the new birth, since Scripture speaks of believers as already raised with Christ and made alive together with Him while they live on earth (John 5:24-25; Ephesians 2:1-6); others take it as the entrance of the believer's soul into life and reign with Christ at death. They appeal for the binding of Satan to the victory of Christ's first coming, when the strong man was bound, Satan fell like lightning, and the ruler of this world was cast out (Matthew 12:29; Luke 10:18; John 12:31), so that the nations he once held in darkness now hear the gospel. They stress that the rest of the New Testament presents the second coming as a single event that brings the resurrection of all, the final judgment, and the new creation together, not in stages separated by a thousand years (John 5:28-29; 2 Peter 3:10-13). And they point to the many texts that show Christ already enthroned and reigning now, until He has put all His enemies under His feet (Acts 2:32-36; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Ephesians 1:20-22).

Jinsi Mtazamo wa Bila Miaka Elfu Unavyosoma Ufunuo 20How Amillennialism Reads Revelation 20

Ufunguo wa usomaji wa mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu ni kwamba kitabu cha Ufunuo mara nyingi hurudi juu ya eneo lile lile, kikionyesha kipindi kile kile tena na tena kutoka pembe mpya, kama kinavyofanya kwa mihuri, baragumu, na vitasa. Kwa kanuni hii, iitwayo urudiaji (recapitulation), sura ya ishirini haifuati sura ya kumi na tisa kwa wakati bali inarudi mwanzoni mwa kipindi cha sasa na kukitazama upya. Miaka elfu inachukuliwa kuwa namba ya kiishara, inayoashiria kipindi kirefu na kamili badala ya muda halisi wa miaka elfu moja kamili ya kalenda. Kufungwa kwa Shetani ni kuzuiliwa kwake, kwa uweza wa kuja kwa Kristo mara ya kwanza, asiyadanganye mataifa kwa namna ya kuzuia injili isiwafikie; amefungwa kwa kusudi hilo, ingawa bado yu hai na anatenda kwa njia nyingine. Ufufuo wa kwanza ni uzima wa kiroho na utawala wa waumini, iwe katika kuzaliwa upya au katika maisha ya roho pamoja na Kristo baada ya kifo. Mwishoni mwa kipindi Shetani anafunguliwa kwa muda mfupi, kisha kunakuja kurudi kwa Kristo na hukumu moja ya mistari ya mwisho ya sura hiyo. Hivyo Ufunuo 20, ukisomwa kwa namna hii, unaonyesha kipindi cha sasa na si ufalme wa duniani wa wakati ujao.The key to the amillennial reading is that Revelation often circles back over the same ground, showing the same period again and again from new angles, as it does with the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. On this principle, called recapitulation, chapter twenty does not follow chapter nineteen in time but returns to the beginning of the present age and views it afresh. The thousand years are taken as a symbolic number, signifying a long and complete period rather than a literal span of exactly one thousand calendar years. The binding of Satan is his restraint, by the power of Christ's first coming, from deceiving the nations so as to prevent the gospel from going out to them; he is bound for that purpose, though still active in other ways. The first resurrection is the spiritual life and reign of believers, whether in regeneration or in the life of the soul with Christ after death. At the end of the age Satan is loosed briefly, and then come the return of Christ and the one judgment of the closing verses of the chapter. So Revelation 20, read this way, pictures the present age and not a future earthly kingdom.

Watetezi na HistoriaProponents and History

Mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu una historia ndefu kuliko yote kama mtazamo wa walio wengi katika kanisa kwa sehemu kubwa ya historia yake. Mtu muhimu kuliko wote alikuwa Augustino, ambaye kazi yake The City of God (Mji wa Mungu) ilieleza usomaji kwamba miaka elfu ni kipindi cha sasa na kwamba utawala wa watakatifu ni wa kiroho. Chini ya ushawishi wake kanisa kwa kiasi kikubwa liligeuka kutoka kwenye matarajio ya awali ya utawala wa duniani, na mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu ukawa mtazamo uliotawala kanisa la zama za kati kwa miaka elfu. Wanamatengenezo, akiwemo Luther na Calvin, walisimama kwa upana katika mapokeo haya, ingawa istilahi za kitaalamu zilikuja baadaye. Mtazamo huu bado ni wa kawaida katika teolojia ya Kikatoliki, ya Kilutheri, na sehemu kubwa ya teolojia ya Kireformed hadi leo. Katika nyakati za kisasa umefafanuliwa kwa uangalifu na wasomi kama Geerhardus Vos, Louis Berkhof, Anthony Hoekema, na William Hendriksen, ambaye wa mwisho wao alieleza kwa undani usomaji wa urudiaji wa kitabu cha Ufunuo. Kwa hiyo mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu si jambo jipya la hivi karibuni bali ni usomaji wa kale na unaoshikiliwa na wengi katika kanisa, uliotetewa na wengi wa walimu wake wanaoheshimiwa zaidi katika karne zote.Amillennialism has the longest record as the majority view of the church through most of its history. The decisive figure was Augustine, whose work The City of God set out the reading that the thousand years are the present age and that the reign of the saints is spiritual. Under his influence the church largely turned away from the earlier expectation of an earthly reign, and amillennialism became the dominant view of the medieval church for a thousand years. The Reformers, including Luther and Calvin, stood broadly in this tradition, though the technical terms came later. The view remains common in Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and much of Reformed theology to this day. In modern times it has been carefully expounded by scholars such as Geerhardus Vos, Louis Berkhof, Anthony Hoekema, and William Hendriksen, the last of whom set out the recapitulation reading of Revelation in detail. So amillennialism is not a recent novelty but the ancient and widely held reading of the church, defended by many of its most respected teachers across the centuries.

Pingamizi Zinazotolewa na WengineObjections Raised by Others

Wale wanaoshikilia mitazamo mingine wanatoa pingamizi nzito, na haki inadai zipewe uzito wake kamili. Pingamizi kuu linahusu ufufuo wa kwanza. Katika Ufunuo 20 neno lile lile linatumika kwa wale "wakawa hai, wakatawala pamoja na Kristo" na kwa "wafu waliosalia" ambao "hawakuwa hai hata itimie ile miaka elfu"; na kwa kuwa la pili linamaanisha waziwazi ufufuo wa mwili, wakosoaji wanahoji kwamba la kwanza linapaswa kumaanisha ufufuo wa mwili pia, hivi kwamba kuchukua mmoja kuwa wa kiroho na mwingine kuwa wa mwili ni kutokuwa thabiti. Pili, wanahoji kwamba kusoma sura ya kumi na tisa na ya ishirini kwa mfululizo ndio usomaji wa kawaida, na kwamba urudiaji, hata kama ni wa kawaida mahali pengine, hapa unadhaniwa tu badala ya kuthibitishwa. Tatu, wanaona kwamba Shetani anaonekana kuwa hai sana na mwenye nguvu katika kipindi cha sasa, akizunguka-zunguka kama simba angurumaye na kupofusha fikira za wasioamini, jambo ambalo linaonekana vigumu kupatana na kufungwa kwake. Nne, wanauhoji usomaji wa kimafumbo wa miaka elfu na kuuliza kwa nini kifungu hicho kisichukuliwe kihalisi. Baadhi wanaongeza kwamba mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu hautendei haki kamili ahadi za Agano la Kale za ufalme wa duniani wala mustakabali wa Israeli. Wafuasi wa mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu wanajibu kwamba ufufuo wa kwanza umeoanishwa na mauti ya pili na hivyo ni wa mpango wa kiroho, kwamba urudiaji ni sifa halisi ya kitabu hiki, na kwamba kufungwa kwa Shetani kumewekewa mpaka katika kuyadanganya mataifa.Those who hold the other views raise serious objections, and fairness requires that they be given their full weight. The chief objection concerns the first resurrection. In Revelation 20 the same word is used for those who "lived and reigned with Christ" and for "the rest of the dead" who "did not live again until the thousand years were finished"; and since the second plainly means a bodily resurrection, critics argue that the first should mean a bodily resurrection too, so that taking one as spiritual and the other as bodily is inconsistent. Second, they argue that reading chapters nineteen and twenty in sequence is the natural reading, and that recapitulation, however common elsewhere, must here be assumed rather than proved. Third, they observe that Satan appears very active and powerful in the present age, prowling like a roaring lion and blinding the minds of unbelievers, which seems hard to square with his being bound. Fourth, they question the figurative reading of the thousand years and ask why the passage should not be taken literally. Some add that amillennialism does not do full justice to the Old Testament promises of an earthly kingdom or to the future of Israel. Amillennialists reply that the first resurrection is paired with the second death and so belongs to the spiritual order, that recapitulation is a genuine feature of the book, and that Satan's binding is limited to the deceiving of the nations.

Muhtasari na Neno la Haki kwa Pande ZoteSummary and an Even-Handed Word

Nguvu inayodaiwa kwa mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu ni kwamba unaendana na mtindo wa sehemu nyingine ya Agano Jipya, ambayo inaweka ufufuo, hukumu, na uumbaji mpya katika kuja kumoja; kwamba unachukua kwa uzito ishara na muundo wa kurudiarudia wa kitabu cha Ufunuo; na kwamba umekuwa usomaji wa walio wengi katika kanisa kwa sehemu kubwa ya historia yake. Dai lake kuu ni kwamba miaka elfu ni kipindi cha sasa, kwamba Kristo anatawala sasa, na kwamba hakuna utawala wa miaka elfu duniani kabla au baada ya kurudi kwake mara moja. Wakristo wanyofu, wacha Mungu, na wenye imani sahihi wameshikilia mtazamo huu, miongoni mwao wengi wa wanatheolojia wakuu wa kanisa, na kozi hii inauwasilisha kwa nguvu zake kamili bila kuuidhinisha, kama ilivyowasilisha ile mingine miwili. Hii inakamilisha mitazamo mitatu. Mtazamo wa baada ya miaka elfu (postmillennialism) unatazamia kipindi cha dhahabu cha ushindi wa injili kabla Kristo hajarudi; mtazamo wa kabla ya miaka elfu unatazamia utawala halisi duniani baada ya kurudi kwake; mtazamo wa bila miaka elfu unaielewa miaka elfu kuwa kipindi cha sasa, Kristo akitawala sasa. Kozi hii haipendelei yoyote kati ya mitatu na inawahimiza wanafunzi kujifunza Maandiko na kuipima mitazamo hii mbele za Mungu. Kile ambacho mitazamo yote mitatu inakiri pamoja, na kilicho muhimu juu ya kila tofauti, ni kwamba Bwana Yesu Kristo hakika atarudi kwa utukufu, atawafufua wafu, ataihukumu dunia kwa haki, na kutawala milele pamoja na watu wake katika uumbaji mpya.The strength claimed for amillennialism is that it fits the pattern of the rest of the New Testament, which sets the resurrection, the judgment, and the new creation at one coming; that it takes seriously the symbolism and the recapitulating structure of Revelation; and that it has been the church's majority reading for most of its history. Its central claim is that the thousand years are the present age, that Christ reigns now, and that there is no earthly millennium before or after His single return. Sincere, godly, orthodox Christians have held this view, among them many of the church's greatest theologians, and the course presents it at full strength without endorsing it, just as it has presented the other two. This completes the three views. Postmillennialism looks for a golden age of gospel triumph before Christ returns; premillennialism looks for a literal earthly reign after He returns; amillennialism understands the thousand years as the present age, with Christ reigning now. The course favors none of the three and urges students to study the Scriptures and weigh the views before God. What all three confess together, and what matters above every difference, is that the Lord Jesus Christ will surely return in glory, raise the dead, judge the world in righteousness, and reign forever with His people in the new creation.

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