What does 2000 Mean?

Newsletter article for December 1999

© 1999 Rev. Paul A. Wolff

Well, here we are only one month away from the new millennium, or are we 13 months away? What is a millennium anyway, and what is so special about this one (if anything)? Is 2000 going to be the end? Should I be afraid? If so, then what exactly should I be afraid of? If not, then what's all the fuss about?

Like the paragraph above, much of the discussion about the new millennium and/or Y2K leaves a person with more questions than answers, and more to fear than to have our fears relieved. At the risk of making this debate more confusing I will try to give a brief explanation of this millennium business that will help us approach the year two thousand with eagerness, rather than with fear.

First let's consider the number 2000. Remember that next year is properly called 2000 A.D. which means: The year of our Lord, 2000. Next year is the 2000th year since the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Few today know and fewer care that A.D. stands for Anno Domini, Latin for "the year of our Lord."

You may also have heard that 2000 is not really the first year of the new millennium but the last year of the second millennium. The argument goes that since there never was a year zero that 2001 is the first year of the third millennium. This is a reasonable argument, based on mathematics and the way we count whole numbers, beginning with one, rather than zero. But since 2000 counts the years since Christ's birth I now believe that we should count it differently. Think of your own birthday. You celebrate your first birthday after you have completed your first year of life. There is a "year zero" in your life. Therefore since we are counting the years since Christ's birth, December 25, 2000 will be His 2,000th birthday, and the beginning of the third millennium.

One concern people have is that when some people hear talk about the "end of the millennium" their brains mysteriously turn off after the first word of that phrase, and they only hear that this is the "end." This makes people anxious because they are not properly prepared for Christ to return, so they are afraid.

Jesus may return in 2000. He told St. John in Revelation 22:20, "I am coming soon." Jesus could return at any time, whether it is 1999, or 2000, or 2999, or 10999. The 1,000 years which Revelation 20 speaks about is symbolic of a long period of time. If it were a literal 1,000 years then Jesus would have returned in 1033, which was 1,000 years after He ascended to heaven. Since we are still waiting for His return in 1999 then Revelation 20 speaks symbolically of many, many years, because we know that God doesn't lie.

Jesus will return on the very day when God the Father determines it is the right time. He will not come back too soon, or too late. How will we know when Christ will return? We won't know in advance, because Jesus says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." (Matthew 24:36) But when that day comes we will not mistake it for anything else. Jesus says, "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." So everyone on earth and under the earth and on the sea and under the sea will all see Jesus returning at the same time. "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:52)

Is this reason for fear? Yes and no. Yes, we have good reason to be afraid of the coming of Christ in His glory because He comes to judge all people. We all should fear this because we are sinners and have fallen short of God's standard of obedience (Romans 3:23). If Jesus wanted He could condemn every person who ever lived to an eternity of punishment for their sins. So yes, we have good reason to be afraid. But no, as Christians we have an even better reason to look forward to the final judgment with eager anticipation. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:17 & 16 "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." For "Whoever believes in [Jesus] shall not perish, but have eternal life." So we don't have to be afraid of the final judgment because Jesus promises to save everyone who trusts in Him as their savior from sin and death.

No matter what happens in the coming year, or in the coming 1,000 years we should not be like the unbelievers who are afraid of Christ's judgment. We love Christ because He has promised us that He has saved us from all our sin and He will not punish us for any of our sins. We don't have to worry that we will get caught on the wrong side when Jesus separates His faithful people from the unbelievers (Matthew 25). Jesus endured terrible suffering and death to make sure that we won't ever have to suffer for our sins. Since He Himself is the judge, He will personally make sure that none of His faithful people will be sent to punishment.

So we look forward to the last day when Jesus will fulfill all His promises to us, and bring us to eternal joy and happiness. Don't be dragged down by a sinful world that is fearful of the coming judgment, but trust in Christ Jesus to forgive all your sins so that you may eagerly look forward to meeting Jesus face to face, and eagerly receive His gracious judgment. All who love Jesus should pray that Jesus returns quickly to take us to the wonderful place which He has prepared for us. Meanwhile we should share the message of salvation with our family, friends, neighbors, and even with our enemies, so that they, too, may not fear the end, but may also know the forgiveness and salvation which comes to all who believe in Jesus Christ.

Selected to Escape Tribulation

Newsletter Article for November 1996

© 1996 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

As we approach the end of the Church Year the themes of the Sunday Morning Bible readings begin to focus on the end times, death, judgment, and heaven. This reminds me of a piece of junk mail I received while I was on vicarage. Through a window in the front of the envelope, printed in red, were the words “Escape Tribulation,” and beneath that was printed on the envelope (also in red) “Notification of Selection.” Well, I’m not the sort of person who gets a kick out of tribulation, and I did feel a little honored to be selected to escape it, so I opened the letter.

You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the letter was only an offer to subscribe to a magazine. The enclosed letter described the content of the magazine. Apparently the magazine attempts to take Biblical prophesies and apply them directly to present history. This is like taking an oversized square peg and trying to force it through an undersized round hole—even if you get it through you lose something valuable in the process.

This publication seems to claim to be a Christian publication. And they claim that their conclusions are based solely on the Bible, but something doesn’t ring true. Their attempt to make Biblical prophesies correlate to our present history only takes away from the true object of the Biblical prophesies, which is Jesus Christ. Also from the tone of the letter it seems that the underlying message of this magazine is to encourage fear and anxiety over current events. They want us to believe that we are headed toward destruction or tribulation. This is also anti-Christian because it denies that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

I don’t know what sort of a gospel they are preaching, but from their advertisement, it seems to be a “different gospel” than the one preached in the Bible. This “different gospel” is really no gospel at all (See Galatians 1:6-10). The Bible was written to show us that Jesus is our savior from sin, so that we know what God has done to save us. The Bible gives us hope and confidence in our salvation, it doesn’t lead us to fear and despair.

I have seen these sort of ideas before. I was working as a pizza delivery man back when the Persian Gulf War was going on. On the evening when the bombers began bombing Baghdad one of my co-workers got very excited, like this was the end of the world. He was particularly worried and remained glued to a radio, listening for news. He was pretty much useless for the job at hand, partly because he was enlisted in the reserves, and partly because he thought this was the end. I must admit that I benefited from this because I took nearly all the deliveries that night and made a ton of money. (I honestly tried to reassure my friend that this wasn’t the end of the world, but he didn’t want to listen to me.)

My friend had been told that because ancient Babylon is located in what is now Iraq that they would destroy Israel and the world would shortly come to an end. Of course, nothing like that happened. We defeated Iraq in such a lopsided victory, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Biblical times. To me the defeat of Iraq is closer to a metaphor for Christ’s victory over sin and evil, than any sign that evil is somehow going to be victorious.

The moral of this story is that there are still people who will pervert God’s word to try and make it say what they want it to say, and not what God intends. God doesn’t want us to be fearful about what the future holds, because the future is in His hands. If God wanted to make us fearful He would not have given us the Holy Scriptures, He would not have told us that He loves us, and He would not have sent Jesus to save us. It is the task of every Christian to keep the Second Commandment and uphold the truth of God’s word, and his name. The best way for us to do that is to study the Bible regularly so that we know what the truth is, and we won’t fall for lies.

No one knows when Jesus will return, and when it happens it will be “like the lightning which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other” (Luke 17:24), and it will happen “in the twinkling of an eye.” (1 Corinthians 15:52) Jesus made it a point not to tell us when, so that we will always be prepared. I don’t know what my friends were so worried about. When Jesus really returns we won’t mistake it for anything else, or he will wake us up with trumpets. In the meantime, there is work to be done. We should tell everyone about what Jesus has done for us so that when He returns His coming will be a joyful event for them, just as it is for us who believe, and not a fearful event.