I have never studied for sermons the way I have had to study for my sermons on Revelation the past few months. The author John was obviously a master of the Hebrew Bible. He packed his communication to the church with hundreds of references to the Old Testament. Then there is the whirlwind of images: scrolls, seals, trumpets, horns, eyes, dragon, beast, woman, and on and on. And numbers: seven, twelve, 12,000, 144,000.
One particular number has attracted a lot of attention. Near the very end of the cycle of visions, in chapter 20, the number 1000 appears. The dragon/that ancient serpent/the devil/Satan (it really uses all these names) is bound and locked in the Abyss for 1000 years. During that time “the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus…came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” I am preaching through Revelation, but skipping some sections so we can end the book by the end of the year. I told my church I would write about the 1000 years instead of preaching on it.
After this thousand year reign, Satan is released from prison for a short time. What does he do then? What the devil always does, he deceives people and opposes God. He gathers an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore and marches on the camp of God’s people. But, as in every picture of the last battle, there is no battle. Fire falls from heaven and the devil is thrown into the lake of fire.
A question every reader asks: when does this 1000 year reign take place?
- Does it begin when Christ returns? That position is called “pre-millennial” because Christ returns before the 1000 years.
- Does it begin after Christ returns? That position is called “post-millennial” because Christ returns after.
A question some people ask after studying these positions: does it really matter? Well, the position people take on the millennium tends to go along with their view of the world.Post-millennialists tend to believe in Progress. The world will get better and better until the kingdom of God is established on earth. Then, finally, after 1000 glorious years, Christ will return.
Pre-millennialists tend to be more pessimistic. They see the world getting worse. Things will only turn around when Christ returns to set up his millennial kingdom.
Post-millennialists tend to be more activist, working to reform society. They were working towards the kingdom, after all. Pre-millennialists focus more on evangelism and teaching. The world can only be saved by Christ, not us. There aren’t many post-millennialists left; optimistic faith in progress was squeezed out by some world wars and other horrors. Some secular people still seem to have this optimistic faith in Progress, but not many go with the Christian version anymore.
Are you wondering if these are the only two options? Do you wonder if the 1000 years refers to an exact time period? Welcome to the third position, “a-millennialism.” Amillennialists don’t think there is a literal 1000-year time period in which the dragon gnaws his chains in prison while the beheaded saints reign with Christ. This requires a less literal, more symbolic of the passage. This makes sense, as so much of the book is obviously communicated through signs, symbols, and images.
I have come to appreciate the use of signs and symbols in Revelation. Communicating in plain speech has its benefits. Communicating in is signs and symbols, I am finding, gives people an easy way to refer to great realities. After studying the prostitute riding on the beast, a woman from Venezuela said, “That’s exactly what happened in Venezuela. Everyone slept with the prostitute. Everyone wanted a piece of that cake.” My son learned there are 200 million surveillance cameras in China and a system of “social credit.” “It’s terrible,” he said. “That is the beast,” we all agreed.
The author John uses numbers in symbolic ways too. The lamb that was slain has seven eyes and seven horns. John explains that the eyes represent the Spirit. But why seven? Because seven signified fullness, completeness, or perfection. John says the time of trouble of God’s people will last 1260 days, 42 months, or three and a half years. These are all the same, and are based on the prophet Daniel’s reference to “time, times, and half a time.” Three and a half, you might notice, is half of seven.
So what about 1000 years? If it’s not an exact time period, what does it mean? A good, long time. Does Christ return before or after that 1000 years? Amillennialists say neither. They (or should I say we, because I consider myself an amillennialist) interpret this difficult passage differently. The reign of Christ and the saints who have died began at Christ’s resurrection. That means Satan is currently bound, though not kept from influencing the world completely. This view requires seeing the book of Revelation not as one chronological sequence, but as a progressive spiral. The book takes us up to the very end several times, then loops back to cover the same ground from a different angle. Each progression takes the spiral a little further, giving us greater glimpses of the new creation each time. The heavenly reign of Christ and the saints has now lasted more than 1000 years, which is no problem, as we believe it represents an indefinite period of time.
What are the benefits of this interpretation? It fits well with the rest of the Bible, it gives confidence about those who have died, and it gives confidence to those of us who are still alive in this suffering world. Those who have died in Christ are currently with Christ and therefore reigning with Christ. They are alive. This is what I believe about my son Peter, my Aunt Margie, and dear sister Greetje from our church in Antwerp. They take part in the “first resurrection.” But these saints are still waiting, because God’s plan for the earth is not yet finished. They have died and gone to heaven, but heaven is not their final home. When Christ returns, there will be a resurrection, judgment, and a new heaven and a new earth. Rather than everyone going to heaven, heaven will come to earth and the two will be united. There will be no more separation between heaven and earth, but the dwelling of God will finally, once and for all, be with his people. This is what we see in Revelation 21. Rather than expecting a 1000-year period in the future, and then the end, since we are in the 1000 years now, Christ could bring the new creation at any moment.
There are difficulties with this interpretation, just as there are difficulties with the others. I am willing to die for Christ, but I am not willing to die for the amillennial point of view. It doesn’t matter how much I study, I will never have a perfect understanding of John’s complex layering of references and symbols. What God showed him was, it seems, too wonderful to put into words. And perhaps beyond our imagination or understanding.
In any case, we can conclude with the longing of the book of Revelation: “Come, Lord Jesus!”
thank you for sharing this viewpoint , it seems to resonate well when i read it
Glad to hear that. May the king come soon!
I’m a pan–millennialist– it will all pan out in the end.
I’m glad someone shared that joke!
Zeke, thanks for sharing this, and thanks for all the studying, thinking, and praying it must have taken to produce it. I’ve been a staunch “pan-millennialist” for years, but I gravitate toward amillennialism as well.
Greetings Zeke. Have you read The Lambs Supper by Scott Hahn? If not, maybe you should check it out.
FUTURE CHURCH POLICY..
The “Judgment Day” = is the “Kingdom.” Jesus stated in John 5:28-29 “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice” .…ACTS 24:15..“they that have done good, unto a resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto a resurrection of judgment.” i.e.(original meaning in early Greek MSS) >>>NOTE: the location of the dead is clearly stated to be the same before their disposition upon resurrection!
“ LIFE WHY?>>> Through the first human couple, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the sentence of death passed upon the entire human race. Genesis 2:7 “and man became a living soul/being.” Ezekiel 18:4 the word of God states: “the soul that sinneth it shall die.” >>>Adam and Eve were told by God where they would go; Genesis 3:19 “till thou return unto the ground;for out of it thou wast taken”…unto dust thou shalt return ” …
[Job 3:13-18 ” 13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; 15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: 16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.”…]
HOW? John 3:16 “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.”>>> 1 Cor. 15:22-23 “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”>>> Furthermore in 1 Tim. 2:4-6 it is explained; ”Who will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, in due time.”[ A perfect human life for another perfect human life (a corresponding price])>>> The first life defective and it’s posterity; the “last Adam, a quickening spirit.” The risen Lord Jesus who was “holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.” “The Word” or “Logos” who was made flesh, and in love and obedience to God his Father “poured out his soul unto death.”>>> Isaiah 53:12 Jesus stated in John 6:51 “and the bread I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” The ransom-price, the right to life, to be applied in due time. 1 John 2:2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the whole world.” The offer of justification to life as in Romans 5:18 “so by the righteousness of one, upon all men unto justification of life.” on the terms of Romans 10:10 “…believeth unto righteousness.” “…confession unto salvation.”
>>>If there is a first resurrection, then there is more than one implied also. 1 Cor. 15:38 “…a body as it hath pleased Him.” 1 Cor. 15:40 “the glory of the celestial is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another.” Romans 5:19 “For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners, so by the many be made righteous.”
WHEN? Acts 24:15.. Resurrection of the(“Just and Unjust”)! In Hebrews 11:3 the statement is made that “the worlds (ages) were framed by the word of God.” All human history is shaped by the justice, love, wisdom and power of God; in permitting evil for mans education, and the gift of his son for our redemption! Acts 17:31 “he hath appointed a day, he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained”.. Daniel 12:2 “Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake ” .. of death)..>>> 2 Peter 3:8 “one day with the Lord as a thousand years.”
JESUS also include in this resurrection: >>>Matt. 12:41-42 “the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment.” >>>Matt. 10:15 “more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.” (Literally)! Matt. 19:28 “the 12 tribes of Israel.” >>>Jeremiah 31:16 “from the land of the enemy.”These all having died in total or relative ignorance, and inherited weakness, prior to the millennial day of judgment! Jesus stated again in John 12: 47-48 “if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not-the word I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” A resurrection by judgments during the “times of restitution” >>>Acts 3:21. When the true “way of holiness” Isaiah 35:8 will be prepared for mankind! Isaiah 11:9 “shall not hurt or destroy.” >>>Isaiah 26:9 “when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness.” With Satan bound a 1,000 years! >>>1 Cor. 15:23 “every man in his own order.”
THE CALL OF OUR PRESENT AGE! John 6:44,65 Acts 15:14-18 “God did at the first visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” A spiritual church for his Son; the Christ. (the Spirit and the Bride) Rev. 22:17. Jesus said: “Deny self and follow me”>>> Matt. 16:24 “ sanctify them through thy truth” John 17:17 “ be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” Rev 2:10. The completion of this “first resurrection” ends this age!
>>>THEN-Rev. 21:2 “new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven” Acts 7:48 “God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” >>>Then the “millennial” reign of Christ actually begins! Psalm 102:18 “the people which SHALL BE CREATED”! ..You will be there !
(1Co 15:28).. “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”.
YOU WILL SEE THEM AGAIN !.. * Restore + Heal … You will be there ..
Isa 26:19 “Awake and sing in triumph, ye that dwell in dust; …
Isa 65:22…
” they shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
“But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Numbers 14:21
God shall wipe away all tears from off all faces.
Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17
All wars shall cease.
Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
All evil shall be suppressed.
Psalm 37:10; Revelation 20:2,3
God’s judgments shall teach righteousness to all.
Isaiah 26:9; 28:17
Nothing shall ever hurt nor destroy.
Isaiah 11:9
Truth shall triumph in the earth.
Psalm 85:11
God shall write His Law in the hearts of men.
Jeremiah 31:33
All shall know Him from the least to the greatest.
Jeremiah 31:34
Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God.
Habakuk 2:14
God shall pour out His spirit upon all flesh.
Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17
All iniquity shall be remembered no more.
Isaiah 55:7
All shall rejoice as sorrow and sighing flee away.
Isaiah 35:10
There shall be no more death, sorrow or pain.
Revelation 21:4,5
There shall be no more sickness.
Isaiah 33:24
The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isaiah 35:5
The earth shall yield her increase.
Psalm 67:6
The desert shall blossom as the rose.
Isaiah 35:1
The ransomed of the Lord shall return from death.
Isaiah 35:10
One shall not build and another inhabit, nor plant and another take, nor shall any labor in vain.
Isaiah 65:22,23
Every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree.
Micah 4:4
God shall multiply the fruitage of the earth.
Psalm 67:6; 85:12
There shall be showers of blessing.
Ezekiel 34:26
The earth shall become like a Garden of Eden.
Isaiah 51:3
Isa 26:19 ” Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing in triumph, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is the dew of the morning, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”..