Adam,

That is an incredible testimony.

My end-times background was strongly Pretrib. I was brought up strong Pre-trib/Premil. My father was a Pastor and I had no reason to question that position. I backslid as a teenager and came back about 12 yrs ago. I quickly discarded Pretrib as extra-biblical.

Re Premil, I started to have major questions about it 4 years ago and decided to intensely research the subject for myself. I had never heard or read an Amil sermon.

I was determined not to be indoctrinated by all the prevailing schools of thought on the subject but simply try to establish the truth for myself. I knew that if my premil position was correct I must find strong New Testament support since what is in shadow and type in the Old Testament is fully revealed in the New. Also, what is difficult or debatable in Revelation (and it is a complex book for even the greatest of theologians) will be fully expounded by Christ and the Apostles from Matthew Jude.

This is where I hit the rocks. I could not find ONE explicit reference between Matthew and Jude re a physical earthly temporal kingdom. Christ didnt teach it anywhere (not to the Jews or to the Gentiles). This alone shocked me!!! After all, outside of the New Heavens and the New Earth, this was to be the greatest age or greatest state. Why did He NOT describe it??? Rather every time the Jews attempted to promote such of a physical earthly concept Christ rebuked them or spoke of a spiritual, heavenly ETERNAL kingdom. The rest of the Apostles were the same. Rather ALL their teaching had a spiritual application and had a distinct finality to it. I was quickly becoming an A-mil. That still left me with one problem text - Revelation 20. I was always taught that Revelation was chronological. When I studied it for myself, I found that it wasnt, but rather it is a number of remarkably similar parallels. Compare the seven vials to the seven trumpets, both are speaking of the same judgements.

I then asked myself is 1000 years literal or symbolic. Also, how is the term 1000 used throughout Scripture? i.e. Is it used symbolically or not? Remember, Revelation is largely a symbolic book. Revelation 1:1 commences, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and SIGNIFIED IT BY HIS ANGEL UNTO HIS SERVANT JOHN.

I believe Revelation is the last of seven symbolic parallels outlining the great-protracted battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. The seven parallels all terminate with the utter destruction of the world and the wicked.

I am not a Partial Preterist (I am a Idealist) but have many things in common with them including the locating of the GT in AD70. Most Amils are Idealists today.

The Idealist believes Rev to be a number of figurative parallels embodying comparable symbolic visions revealing the overall battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. John had one vision after the other revealed to him, notwithstanding, that didn't in anyway mean they were chronological. The idealist believes that these visions are of a similar nature to that of Peter's symbolic vision re the advance of the Gospel to the Gentiles, or Jacob's ladder, and are therefore to be interpreted symbolically. They too believe it relates, like every other New Testament book, to the period running between the first and Second Advents. Significantly, the conclusion of each parallel terminates with a record of the glorious Second Advent, which includes the rescue of His saint and the final destruction of the wicked.

Paul