Joseph W. Tkach
Thank you again for your prayers and support, dear friends and fellow servants of Jesus Christ. I know that I am often in your prayers, just as you are in mine. We all make our requests known to our Father and look to Jesus Christ to direct and bless our work. And what a marvelous work he is doing among us! God has shown such love and mercy to us to forgive us our sins, and also to forgive us for our wrong teachings as a Church. How everlastingly grateful we will all be to our Lord and Savior, who did not leave us in our errors!
I have asked my son to write a few words to you, especially on the subject of the Millennium, to clarify a few things, since the Feast of Tabernacles is approaching.
I love you all.
Your servant in Christ our Lord,
Joseph
W. Tkach
As reflected in the August co-worker letter, my dad was very encouraged by his visit to Ambassador University for freshman orientation. He finds it distressing, of course, not to be able to be more involved in his work right now, but he continually expresses to a number of us in Pasadena his excitement and thankfulness to God about the spiritual growth and direction of the Church, a feeling we all share.
On the subject of Ambassador, I hope we will all remember the faculty and students in our prayers. They need God s guidance and blessing in handling the unique situations they face this year, and for the long-term benefit the university can give the Church and its members.
Church finances seem to be stabilizing somewhat, and our expenses are now near our income--due primarily to reductions in our expenses. Steady, stable income is very important, of course, and greatly needed, so we ask you to pray about the annual festival offerings as well as our regular income.
Christians do have a responsibility to use their resources to serve God, and this is done primarily, in the collective sense, through the Church. Most contributions are used to directly benefit the membership--providing meeting facilities, literature, training and paying ministerial expenses. Most members realize that the level of service the Church can provide depends largely on the level of contributions.
In this letter, I want to turn our attention to the fall festival season.
My dad wants me to bring to your attention a mistake many of us have made, himself and myself included. Sometimes we have talked as if the Millennium of Revelation 20 were the same thing as the kingdom of God. God's kingdom, of course, includes much more (both in space and in time) than a mere 1,000 years.
God's kingdom has always existed in heaven, of course, and the holy angels are loyal subjects of the kingdom. The kingdom existed when Jesus was on earth (Luke 17:21), it exists even now (Colossians 1:13 says that we, along with all saints, are already in the kingdom), it will be expanded to incorporate all things after Christ returns and it will exist forever and ever.
(In fact, it is probably better stated that all rebellious elements of the kingdom will be, one way or another, brought into subjection, since nothing is actually not under God s ultimate authority; it is just that parts of the kingdom are currently in rebellion against God.)
The Millennium, regardless of how it is interpreted, is simply one temporary phase of the human experience of God's kingdom--one of the places and ages and ways in which he rules. I think we all know this by now, but I hope a brief reminder will help us avoid confusing the terms.
Hand in hand with this is the fact that the Millennium is not the gospel. The Millennium, 1,000 years of saints reigning with Christ, is indeed good news, but it is not the good news.
When Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God, he did not focus on the Millennium. Rather, his main point was how people enter the kingdom--by repentance and forgiveness and through faith in him as Messiah and the Son of God.
Entering the kingdom is the same as entering into salvation, and the book of Acts shows that the gospel of the kingdom is the same thing as the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
The good news is that we can enter the kingdom. The gospel tells people how they can respond to God s invitation to be in his kingdom forever. The gospel is the same today as it has been for the past nearly 2,000 years, and as long as there are mortal humans, it will always be the same.
As another point, sometimes we have said that the Millennium is the fullness of the kingdom. I've probably said it myself, but it's not true. The fullness of the kingdom does not come until after the Millennium, with the new heavens and new earth. It is only then that the fullness of the kingdom will have come, when everyone who is going to be saved will have been saved and glorified.
That future age of glory, the new heavens and new earth, will be eternal. The Millennium of Revelation 20, no matter how it is interpreted, simply can't compare to eternity either in glory or in length. The Millennium is only a preparatory step toward the fullness of the kingdom. It is not the focus of the gospel.
Our fall festivals traditionally focus on the wonderful future God has promised those who love Jesus Christ, and this is good. We have multitudinous reasons to rejoice and praise our Savior for making it possible for us to enter that glory. We eagerly look forward to the return of Christ and the inheritance of the saints.
But our celebration should not focus on unprovable speculation about physical details of a physical Millennium. Rather, we should be celebrating the good news of eternal life in the kingdom of God--the fact that God has invited us to enter it, and that Jesus Christ has made it possible!
Let the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles be a celebration not merely of the millennial reign of Christ and the saints, but primarily of the fullness of the kingdom, focusing our attention on the glorious new heavens and new earth God has promised.
The good news is that God is right now calling many to enter that kingdom--a cause for great celebration!
Let's remember that the apostles interpreted numerous promises given to Israel through the prophets as having been fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets (Acts 3:18-26, New Revised Standard).
And Peter expressly wrote that what we, as Christians, are looking forward to is the new heavens and new earth "in accordance with his promise" (2 Peter 3:11-14 New Revised Standard).
The Millennium, which is mentioned only in Revelation 20, is simply not the focus of the gospel or the preaching of the apostles. They focused on reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ, which would lead to an inheritance of immortality at his second coming, and contrasted that with the ultimate destruction of the enemies of God.
And let our celebration on the Last Great Day remind us that our merciful Lord who died for all will indeed judge all humans fairly and justly, even those who never heard the gospel in their lifetimes. He will make fair provision for them as the Righteous Judge of all, as described in Revelation 20:11-15.
Let s not get hung up on when and in what order all these events take place. There are various ways the time order could be interpreted. That's not the point of the promises. Let s rejoice in the wonderful assurance of salvation and immortality that God has given us in Christ through his Spirit, and celebrate the glorious plan of salvation our Father has revealed in his Son (Ephesians 3:8-11).
God has a wonderful plan for us--redemption and salvation, reconciliation with God, eternal life through Jesus Christ. On the annual festivals, we celebrate what God has done for humanity through our Savior, and we look forward in hope to his second coming and our inheritance of immortality with him. Salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is "the reason for the season."
As my dad wrote a year ago (Sept. 5, 1994, Worldwide News): "I find it tremendously exciting to think about these amazing future blessings, and I hope that you share in my enthusiasm.
I ask you to help make the Feast "a time for celebration and rejoicing in our spiritual blessings, in the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
"Our promised spiritual inheritance, of which we already have a foretaste, is a much greater and glorious blessing than the promised land was to the Israelites--and it is also an infinitely greater blessing than the physical abundance described by the Old Testament prophets. In Jesus the Messiah, all things are fulfilled, and we can certainly say, as well, filled to the fullest and overflowing.
"Notice that the book of Revelation has only a few verses about the Millennium, and there is no description of physical blessings. Far more attention is given to the new heaven and new earth.
"Like John, we need to see beyond the Millennium. The physical Millennium will be temporary, but the spiritual kingdom of God lasts forever. As the spiritual people of God, we need to have a spiritual focus. We ought to let the physical point us to the spiritual and the eternal."
As we keep the Feast, let's rejoice that we have been chosen as part of God s spiritual harvest. Festival messages should have a more spiritual focus than we have tended to give them in the past. That's also why I want the music at the Feast to be joyful, ringing with praise and thanksgiving to God for the salvation he gives not only to us, but to all through the reign of Jesus Christ.
For some Worldwide News readers, this will be the last Personal that will arrive before the Feast, so let me close by wishing everyone, on behalf of my dad and myself and all of us in Pasadena, the most meaningful and happy Feast ever.
Come before the Lord with rejoicing, and with songs of praise. Worship him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength--and please don't forget the offering!
With love and joy, in Christ's name,
Joseph Tkach Jr.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1995