Will There Be Poor In the Millennium?

A reader sent me an interesting question about poverty in the Millennium period:

The Sheep and the Goats discourse (Mt 25:32-46) seems to imply that there will be poor people who are sick and hungry. But how can that be if the Millennium will be a time of complete peace and abundance and health and longevity? Thank you for your time and may God bless you.

The above verse citation is a discourse of Jesus called the Sheep and the Goats or “The Judgment of the Nations.” (I already wrote an article on when the Sheep and Goats separation is that is a good background on the timing of it.)

If I have the timing right of judgment of the nations correct after the Millennium, then this means that what Jesus said here…

Matthew 25:35-36 (HCSB) — 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’

…relates to those saved during the Millennium (the ones saved before the Millennium will already be changed and ruling during the Millennium).

How do we answer this if the Millennium is going to be a utopia?

First, realize that you don’t have to have a population of poor people to fulfill the conditions described in the discourse. For example, accidents will still happen in the Millennium and create hardships like those described. If your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, you might just need a stranger to take you in and give you food and water. People can also end up isolated and cut off from basic resources due to inclement weather or major storms such as hurricanes or tornadoes.

Second, no matter how perfectly well set up the world will be and well-taught its people, there is still the matter of free will. God gives us complete free will and choice and will not take that away, even for our own good. As a result, we know some will choose to even resist God still in that time which will result in consequences. Zechariah mentions no rain falling no peoples in rebellion to the new rules (Zech 14:17-19). We also read in the Sheep and the Goats that some will end up written out of the Book of Life for this if they continue in their rebellion. But the much more common result of free will will just be bad or foolish choices due to lack of wisdom or simple need to learn from some personal trial and error.

For example, there still will be alcoholic beverages in the Millennium and with that people so predisposed to addiction to it needing to find out that drunkenness has a high potential cost. This by the way is the one scenario that I imagine behind Jesus mentioning being “naked” and needing help from a good Samaritan with clothing =).

I think all the above reasons were what Jesus had in mind when he said “the poor will always be with you” (Mt 26:11)—including in the Millennium.

Perhaps more potentially disturbing than Jesus’ description of people in destitute or needy conditions is the mention of being in “prison.” I think the same explanations give above for the destitution would apply to that. There would need to be prisons for drunkenness and other crimes. For example, anyone even accidentally killing someone would have to be held in prison until the authorities could investigate what happened and decide whether to grant bond, etc.

The Millennium will indeed be a utopia compared to today due to the righteous government and comprehensive education in proper living. But the free will and randomness to life that contributes to less than ideal situations today will still be present. But this is necessary for people to learn and grow fully in the flesh according to God’s glorious plan to develop sons that can judge and love as he does.

Why Animal Sacrifices? (Not For What Christians Think)

The following email brings up an important subject that is so misunderstand that I think you could ask 1,000 Christians to explain it and probably not get one who understands it correctly:

Tim,

Something that has bothered me recently. What do Jews use now for a “sin offering?”  Since there isn’t a temple or animal sacrifices and the bible makes it clear in the Old Testament that these offerings (sin, grain, guilt etc.) are to be observed as a permanent law for the People of Israel and it must be observed from generation to generation.

Thanks, Gail

The subject this email brings up is what exactly was the purpose of the animal sacrifices commanded in the Torah to Ancient Israel? If you read the Torah itself, it gives you the idea that the sacrifices made atonement for ones sins in the same way that Jesus’ death on the cross did. Under this assumption, Christians see Christ’ death as the (Passover) Lamb of God as fulfilling all the sacrifices and bringing about their obsolescence. The destruction of the temple 40 years after Christ died on Passover, 30 AD seems to prove this. God didn’t want them doing it anymore. Christians even go so far as to state that any attempt to resurrect sacrifices would be an affront to Christ and his work on the cross.

Of course, it does not help that most Christians are not very familiar with the Old Testament. Because there we have some very clear prophecies of the coming Millennial Temple and the animal sacrifices that will be done there. Complete with the return of Levitical priests to administer them (didn’t Christ do away with that, too, when he became the high priest?). Just turn to Ezekiel 40-48 for endless details on the temple activities of the Millennium.

Ezekiel 40:42 (NIV2011) — There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offerings, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit high. On them were placed the utensils for slaughtering the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices.

Jeremiah 33:15-18 also tells us that in the Millennium when Jesus “the Branch” is king, the Levites will make offerings again.

Jeremiah 33:15-18 (NIV2011) — 15 In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior. 17  For this is what the LORD says: David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, 18  nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.

All of this is literal as it makes sense literally fine.

So why does God bring the sacrifices back? The Book of Hebrews thankfully gives the answer. First, for what the sacrifices are not see the underlined verses:

Hebrews 10:1-2, 4 (HCSB) — 1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, once purified, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews plainly says the sacrifices never took away sin. That was not their purpose. What was their purpose then? Go to verse 3

Hebrews 10:3 — But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

The sacrifices were an object lesson. Ancient Israelites under the Torah had to regularly give up something of value, something that cost them, to comply with the law. To put it dumbly, sacrifices were a sacrifice. You learned the dear price of sin by seeing them done by the priests regularly and having to make some out of your own wealth yourself.

This then is the key to why the sacrifices can come back and are coming back when the Kingdom of Israel is restored again (Acts 1:6). In the Millennium, the people we glorified saints rule will still be in the flesh. They will be the same slow learning, forgetful, flawed people that we all are today; people in need of constant reminders and helpful object lessons. That’s what they will get again thanks to the restoration of the animal sacrifices. Because they typify the sacrifice that Jesus made, they actually glorify him, rather than denigrate or insult him.

Cheap and Fast Method To Screen In Celosia Windows

[ Note: Bible fans, please excuse this brief departure from Bible topics as I dedicate a blog post to help my fellow expats in Costa Rica to sleep better, mosquito-free. ]

Materials Needed

  • Screening (from EPA, either nylon or metal)

  • Styrofoam molding (from EPA, if you opt for nylon screen)

  • Scissors (I use hefty Cutco scissors, the famed cut-through-a-penny kind)

  • Measuring tape (optional, you can just lay the screen against the window and cut over it)

Introduction

There’s nothing worse than turning off the light, jumping into your comfy bed with the anticipation of much needed sleep and minutes later realizing…you are not alone. You hear the buzzing sound of a mosquito on the prowl somewhere near your bed. Arghh! You think, “Somebody forgot to close a window.” Yes, a window without proper screening.

Why do you live in a house that has windows without screens? Because you decided to move to Costa Rica where they are viewed as an unnecessary expense (I still don’t understand why). This leaves you with the choice of remembering to close the windows at sunset and thereby cutting off the fresh cool air while you sleep, or staying cool and hoping your mosquito repellents (either on your skin or plugged into the outlet) do the job. That is, unless you get fed up enough like I did and find some way to retrofit some screening on your presumably non-screen-friendly windows.

The windows I refer to are the standard ventana celosía or shutter windows like this that you see at least one of in most if not all homes in Costa Rica:

Notice in the picture the red lines highlighting gullies on either side of the window. These gullies are the key to getting screens in place over your windows—and they allow it to be done without nails, tape, or glue. Plus you will still be able to open and close your windows.

Once I noticed those gullies, I headed over to EPA (Costa Rica’s Home Depot) to see what they had for screening and for something to jam the screening into the gullies. It turns out they have both nylon and metal screening in rolls that are 91 cm wide. I don’t have the price offhand, but the nylon was cheaper, perhaps a couple hundred colones per meter and the metal about double that. I found that either worked well but with different advantages and disadvantages:

Nylon Screening from EPA (on a tile floor)

Nylon Screening: cheaper, easier to work with, requires anchoring material/stuffing to stay in the gullies

Metal Screening: less cheap, stiffer and harder to work with but edges roll up and stuff into the gully and stay there without any need for “stuffing”

 

Styrofoam molding from EPA

For jamming the nylon screening into the gullies, I found styrofoam trim concrete molding worked the best:

This styrofoam molding was found in the same isle as the screening I bought at EPA. It is also dirt cheap, just a couple hundred colones for one piece. One piece did many windows for me (and I never quite used the entire piece up).

Before you go to EPA, measure your windows to determine how many meters of 91 cm screening you need to cover them. You should add in several inches to your width of the window so you have extra material to stuff it into the gullies on either side (and to “bubble” out from the window so the window can open and close without ripping the screen). Sorry, I don’t have exact figures from what I did. My advice is to buy more screening than you think you need so you don’t have to go back to EPA. It’s so cheap, even if you bought double of what you thought you needed, you would not spend a lot.

Steps

When you are ready with all your screening material and your scissors to cut it (and the styrofoam if needed), here are the steps.

What you are aiming for is to cover the window from top to bottom with the screen bubbled out enough to allow the clearance of the slats when opened, as in this picture:

Finished window with nylon & styrofoam
  1. If you are using nylon, cut off several pieces of the styrofoam about one inch thick each. (They will look like little solid P’s if you were to lay them flat.)
  2. Open you celosia window full. This will help you to know how high to bubble the screen high over the window so that you can open and close it.
  3. Lay your screen against your window near the top and begin to roll its left top edge inward. If you are using metal, you need to roll the edge over a few times so it bunches up and thickens enough to stuff into the gully.

    For nylon you only need to curl it inward halfway in a semi-circle. This leaves an opening to then insert a styrofoam P (bottom of P first) into the gully. This P will naturally bubble the flimsy nylon out giving the needed clearance.

  4. Top: Once you have the top left corner in place, you can try to get the top secured. Many celosias have a fixed pane at the top that does not move. I have been able to loosen its metal frame and slide it down leaving a gap. I can then stuff the top of the screen into that gap and slide the glass back up into place (again, be careful to loosen the metal frame before attempting this so the glass does not break). If you secure the screen at the top this way, the rest of the installation will go much easier.
  5. Left side: Continue down the left side stuffing and inserting styrofoam as needed to keep the bubble clearance. I typically need one P at each corner and then two or three in the middle.
  6. Right side: Do the same for the right side.
  7. Bottom: For the bottom, I just curl the screen inward like I did for the sides and let it hang there. The thickness from the curling naturally closes any gap below the window that mosquitoes might enter by. No tape needed. However, at times when I did not cut the screen big enough to curl it as thick as needed, I’ll use some duct tape.
  8. Adjust: Once the screen is in place, you’ll want to check that you have left no gaps that mosquitoes can enter by and also that you have left a uniform “bubble” so that the window can open without the corners of the glass salts catching and ripping the screen. You’ll just have to open and close slowly looking for the problem areas and pull those areas out with your fingers. This may seem like a temporary fix, but in my experience once you get the window installed right with enough clearance, it stays that way and keeps working even opening and closing everyday.

That’s it. Your screen should take you only minutes per window but will last a lifetime.

Let me know your comments from your installations and any feedback to improve this tutorial.

Tim