Learn about the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth called the Millenium. Understand the binding of Satan and the ruling of saints. Also, look at other interpretations.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This is episode 27 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast entitled The Millennium, where we’ll discuss Revelation 20:1-10. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, Wes, we come at last to Revelation 20:1-10 and the topic of the millennium. This is one of the gnarliest, most challenging, most fascinating and convoluted topics I’ve ever studied in my life. And the strange thing is the more I study, the more confusing sometimes it gets. I began the sermon on this by saying this, after the second coming of Christ, one of two things will happen, either Christ will set up a thousand-year kingdom in which Satan is bound, righteousness and blessings flourish. People will experience lavishly, blessed, healthy and successful lives with Christ physically reigning on earth. But in which there will still be birth and death, there will still be sin in the hearts of the people. And which will end in one more battle with Satan and sinfully rebellious people resulting in the eternal state I’m about to describe.
Or Christ will judge all of his enemies at once at the time of his second coming, sending Satan, demons and all the reprobate, the unbelievers into the lake of fire. And the righteous will be glorified in resurrection bodies with no internal sin and no possibility of a future fall in a perfect world in which there is not the slightest hint of decay, the new heavens and new earth, the eternal state. Now the first view is called premillennialism. In other words, Jesus comes back, the second coming occurs before the millennium. The second view is called amillennialism, in which it’s not literally that there is no millennium, but the millennium is a figurative expression of the church age in which Satan is in some sense bound. We’ll get into the details. And the gospel spreads.
These are the two views, prevalent views. There’s also postmillennialism, which basically teaches that the gospel will so effectively spread through the world that it will little by little bring about the millennium, and then Jesus will return to a beautifully well-organized earth. That’s postmillennialism. That’s not been as popular in my lifetime, but it is somewhat making a comeback. But the dominant views in evangelicalism are either premillennialism, in which Jesus comes back before a literal thousand-year reign described here, and frankly only here, literally the word thousand years used in the sense is only here in Revelation 20. Or amillennialism, which is the next thing that will happen, is the second coming of Christ, end of the world, resurrection, all that, and then we go to the eternal state. Either view, you end up with the same eternal state. No matter what you believe about the millennium, we believe the same thing about the eternal state. So, we get to walk through the only verses that may teach a literal reign of Christ on earth, the millennium in Revelation 20:1-10.
Wes
Let me go ahead and read Revelation 20:1-10 and then we’ll walk through the details together.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plane of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the (beloved) city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Andy, why is it said that the angel was coming down from heaven? Where was he going and to do what?
Andy
So, the angel comes down from heaven, and we get this sense throughout the Book of Revelation of angels being involved in the unfolding events on earth. And so, the angel starts in heaven and comes down to deal with something on earth. And here, he has a key to the abyss, we’re told, and he has also a great chain. And so, he’s coming down specifically to capture the devil, Satan the ancient serpent. And if you’re ever wondering, if all the titles are used here, the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan, the same designations used in Revelation 12. So, we have no doubt. And his job, the angel coming down from heaven, his job is to seize the devil and bind him with a chain and lock him up in a place called the abyss, a pit. And so that’s what he’s called on to do.
Wes
What is the abyss or bottomless pit?
Andy
Yeah, abyss is just the transliteration of the Greek meaning no bottom, abusso. And so, it’s a bottomless pit. And it seems that in various places in the synoptic gospels, the demons are afraid that Jesus has come to torture or torment them before the appointed time. And abyss is mentioned in one of those passages. Also, Peter mentions, 2 Peter, that God had put some angels who sinned into a place of torment. “Tartarus” is used there and that’s also in Greek mythology a pit. So, it’s the language of a pit. So, there’s a place where really bad demons are really rebellious. All demons are bad and they’re rebellious. But particularly bad ones are locked up. And Satan is locked up in the abyss and bound. And we’re told specifically he’s bound in this pit for a thousand years so that he cannot deceive the nations. And so, this brings us right into the crux of the matter on amillennialism versus premillennialism.
Wes
Andy, you mentioned, amidst all of the details, and what we’re going to do our best to try to unpack here, that verse 2 gives us some remarkable clarity. We’re not left to wonder who this dragon is. There are all these different names used, but we’re told that this is the devil, Satan. How is it that such a powerful being as Satan can be bound so completely?
Andy
the thousand years is the time that Satan is bound and unable, we’re told, to deceive the nations anymore. …It’s a Satan-free planet.
Well, we know that he can because he’s frustrated by the hedge of protection around Job and all his possessions. He’s limited by the word of God. He is not permitted to tempt us beyond what we can bear. There’s a sense of a leash on the dragon. And so, he is able to be bound because he’s not omnipotent. God is, and God is able to make a chain spiritually that binds Satan and keeps him from roaming around. Now, we need to understand this binding of Satan, and this is where we go right to the difference between amillennialism and premillennialism. Basically, the thousand years is the time that Satan is bound and unable, we’re told, to deceive the nations anymore. That’s what the thousand years is. It’s a Satan-free planet. That’s all you get here in Revelation 20. And then you get some resurrection of some it seems, and the reigning of some, and you get nothing else.
So, all of the conceptions of an improved world in which there’s abundant prosperity and long life, unusually long life, rich agriculture, all of this comes from Old Testament prophets. It comes from Isaiah 65 and some other places where you have visions of lavish, lush blessing on earth. The wolf will live with the lamb and lie down with the calf and the lion and the yearling together. And the infant will play near the cobra’s nests and all that. So, you’ve got all this image of prosperity and security and safety. That all comes from the Old Testament, and they link it to the millennium. The millennium is the binding of Satan so he can’t deceive the nations. And that brings us to Matthew 12:29, and this is a key verse for all millennialism. Matthew 12:29 says, “How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man, then he can rob his house.”
So, it seems that Jesus has tied up the strong man or bound him and now is plundering his house. So that’s an A+++ verse for amillennialism. They’re saying, look, there isn’t any literal thousand-year reign. Satan is bound during this entire church age. The thousand years is just 10 cubed, is all it is. It’s a perfect number. And the idea is a long stretch of time in which Satan is unable to keep the elect from being converted, from being deceived. God is able to cut through the deception, Satan’s lies, and plunder the strong man’s house by binding him and binding his lies. And I find all that plausible. I understand why amillennialists say it’s a big deal that Jesus has bound the strong man so he can plunder his house.
The problem is the language in Revelation 20 seems much more restrictive than that. He’s not just limited in his ability to deceive the elect, it’s that he’s unable to move around, he’s unable to roam, he’s unable to do anything, and he’s not able to deceive the nations, anyone. He’s not able to do anything. He’s out of the picture. That goes much farther than what Jesus did. Jesus actually allowed Satan and demons to have a pretty significant measure of freedom. If you look at Job 1, he says to Satan, “Where have you come from?” From roaming to and fro over the earth and all of that? Well, they’re saying, well, that’s before Jesus.
But Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” Doesn’t sound like he’s locked up in some pit somewhere. The demons were afraid that Jesus would do that, and he didn’t do it. He let them go into the pigs. So, I find it difficult to see the binding that is described in this verse. An angel comes down, not Jesus, but an angel and binds Satan with a chain and throws him into the abusso, the bottomless place, and locks him up. And afterward, he’s released, set free to roam again. So, it’s hard for me to see in what sense that this is happening now as amillennialists claim. So, at any rate, therein lies some of the rub, there’s more rub to come.
Wes
Well, and it’s amazing just the level of detail in verse 3, “Threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.” So again, the verse in Matthew helps us, I think, understand how it might be that Christ is bound the strong man, but here we’ve got this seemingly expansive binding that’s taking place and squaring those is I think where we have the challenge.
Andy
Yeah, that’s where the problem comes. And let me say something big picture here, just hermeneutically with the New Testament and all of that, the biggest problem for me with premillennialism is the apostle Paul seems to know nothing about it at all. He talks about a rapture without the millennium. He talks about the resurrection and no millennium. He doesn’t ever mention it. You would think it would be mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter where in the final trumpet in the flash and twinkle of an eye, we receive our resurrection bodies. Or the rapture passage concerning the Lord’s coming, we tell you not to be alarmed by a report that seems to come from us that the day the Lord has already come, “For that day cannot come about,” he says, “Until the antichrist comes,” 2 Thessalonians 2, and then 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, he says, “For the dead in Christ will rise first. And after that, we who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.”
The Lord is coming back in 1 Thessalonians 4, that’s the rapture, and the resurrection seems to happen then. Where’s the millennium? Where’s the millennium in 1 Corinthians 15 in a “flash and twinkling of an eye” when we receive our resurrection bodies? It’s not even mentioned. John doesn’t mention is in Epistles. James doesn’t mention it, Peter doesn’t mention it. And so, it’s just very difficult to understand why those clearly eschatological passages would never mention the millennium. So, this is what I’ve said before, the millennium does very poorly everywhere else in the New Testament but very well here in Revelation 20:1-3. Amillennialism makes sense everywhere else, but it’s difficult to square with the details here in Revelation 20:1-3, the binding. But the reverse is true. Premillennialism does very, very well here and you just scratch your head why Paul never mentions it anywhere else.
Wes
Now, in verse 3, we’re also told the purpose of the binding is so that Satan might not deceive the nations any longer. In what way does Satan seek to deceive the nations?
Andy
Well, the fundamental deception is about God and his Christ, that there is no God. The atheism. He deceives the nations by all the religions of the world, including the final religion-that one world religion in which the antichrist there is deceiving the nations to receive the mark of the beast. And to worship the beast and to follow the false prophet in worshipping the beast. And so, he’s deceiving the nations in every generation with all the false philosophies and world religions, and he’s deceiving the nations in the end by the antichrist.
Wes
What happens to Satan at the end of the thousand years and what’s the significance of the statement, “He must be set free for a short time”?
Andy
Well, at the end of the thousand years, he is released. And he’s set free for a short time. And so, we’ll get back to that at the end in verse 7. A thousand years are over, Satan is released and he goes out and deceives the nations. We’ll walk through that.
Wes
What else did John see in his vision in verses 4-6? And how do these verses teach us about martyrs and help us to understand rapture and resurrection passages that we’ve been discussing some already.
Andy
So, it’s interesting, verses 4-6 are very difficult verses to interpret. So even those that believe in a literal millennium, premillennialists, have a hard time explaining the details here. So, let’s walk through them. Verse 4, “I saw thrones on which were seated, those who have been given authority to judge.” And so, Jesus regularly says to his apostles and to others, he’s going to give them authority. He says, “You have followed me. I’ll confer on you a kingdom just as my Father conferred one on me, and you’ll sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29). He says that. And so, this is already known. We also have the 24 elders seated on thrones earlier in Revelation 4. So, they’re given authority to judge. They’re given that right.
And so, these are almost certainly redeemed people, saints, and it says, “And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” So, you’ve got this limited or narrow, it seems, resurrection. We don’t know who’s on the thrones, just the ones who have been given authority to judge. We don’t know who they are. We also see the souls of those who have been beheaded, so martyred, during the reign of Antichrist. They come to life, and they reign with Christ for a thousand years.
So, it could be they’re one and the same. They were the ones that are given the right to judge. But it does cause you to scratch your head, are these the only redeemed people who receive resurrection bodies during the millennium? If so, where are the rest and when do they get their resurrection bodies? Think about it. If it’s a narrow group of specially honored martyrs who died during the reign of Antichrist, generally called the Great Tribulation. And they’re the only ones that are resurrected because they’re being specially honored as some scholars say for their courage and their service during the Great Tribulation. But the rest of the saints will later receive their resurrection bodies. They stay up in the celestial heavens with God, but they can no longer be said, “absent from the body present with the Lord,” because the Lord’s now on earth. So, they’re not with him on earth. And you have no verses that describe when they get their resurrection body if it’s not at the second coming, because guess what? That’s already happened, and they didn’t get their resurrection bodies yet.
It causes your head to spin here. And you’re like, “I don’t really know how this is working.” And so, some say, “Look, it’s not only the beheaded during the tribulation that receive their resurrection bodies, but everybody, all the saints get their resurrection bodies.” The problem is at that point, who are the saints that are on thrones judging and reigning and ruling? And they’re reigning with Christ for a thousand years? Who are they reigning over? And the answer generally for those that believe in the millennium is they’re reigning over the redeemed unresurrected saints.
So, you have two-tier system at this point of redeemed, resurrected saints and redeemed, unresurrected or unglorified saints who… And I said the essence of the millennium, if you’re asking, “What is the fundamental difference between the millennium and the eternal state?” It is the existence of birth and death and the possibility of sin (that’s the difference), that the redeemed people still sin, and they still die. Death has not been finally defeated yet. That’s what’s going on. That’s what makes the millennium different than the eternal state, is birth, aging and death and sin. So therefore, you have some resurrected saints reigning over those who are not resurrected and not glorified, but they’re still saints, they are part of the family of God, definitely second-class citizens at this point. They still err, they still make mistakes. They still say wrong things like we do.
As we try to get through this podcast, Wes, without making mistakes. I mean, that’s us. But the resurrected won’t be, they’ll be perfected. It’s just very hard to understand. Now let me stop and say all of that argues against the millennium because these verses are so hard to interpret. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Just because I can’t harmonize, I can’t connect the dots, doesn’t mean it won’t happen. All right? It’s very similar to Paul’s statement about the details about, “With what kind of body will the resurrected people come?” He says, “How foolish,” and then he goes into what is sown and what is raised, and he gives those paired up words showing the contrast between the corpse that is sown and the body that is raised. But why does he say how foolish? My interpretation of that is he’s saying what is foolish is thinking there cannot be a resurrection if I can’t figure out the details.
I would say the same thing about the millennium. Me thinking because I can’t work out the details of Revelation 20:4-6 that it can’t happen. I’m going to say in general, I don’t know whether the millennium will happen or not. We’ll say that at the end. It’s not going to affect the way you live your Christian life either way. But we still have to do our best with these verses. These are very difficult verses to harmonize with the other verses, especially for me, the rapture verse, because that’s when the dead in Christ rise first at the second coming. And then we who are still alive and are saints will be caught up with them. He doesn’t miss anybody. Everybody gets their resurrection body in 1 Thessalonians 4 at the second coming of Christ. Where’s the millennium in all that? How do you harmonize that with these verses? Very hard to do.
Wes
Yeah, that’s I think a helpful point for us to camp on for just a moment. How does resolving the resurrection issue affect the millennial question as we reflect on those passages? 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, and then how do we understand the blessing that comes at the end here of verse six for those receiving the first resurrection and not being faced with the second death?
Andy
All right, so he says, “Blessed and holy,” verse 6. “This is the first resurrection,” verse 5.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
So, it’s hard for me to picture what role saints in heaven would have at this point. It seems like all of the redeemed will get their resurrection body. Because if you don’t take part in the first resurrection, it’s implied that the second death does have power over you.
Now you could say it doesn’t say that. It just says those who have the first resurrection, the second death has no power over them. If there is a second resurrection, which these verses imply, there’s a first resurrection and a second resurrection, that it’s good to have either one. So, I don’t know who that would be. The second resurrection would be those who are not beheaded. I guess those would be saints like Luther and Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon and all that. They’re going to wait in heaven until a thousand years are over and then they get the second resurrection.
But it seems here like it’s quite possible that we’re looking at the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. All right? And Jesus said that, “The time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29). It seems like it makes more sense that the second resurrection is a resurrection to condemnation that Jesus talks about in John 5. So that’s at least possible as well.
Wes
Yeah. What are the statements that these will be priests of God and of Christ? What’s the significance of the statement they’ll reign with him? Does this teach the bodily reign of Christ on earth during the thousand years?
Andy
Well, that’s what the millennialists believe. That’s what it is. Jesus is physically reigning on earth in some location one place at one time. It’s hard because it seems like a step backward because that was one of the big problems. Jesus said is to your advantage that I go away. I was like, “Well, how would it be to our advantage?” “It’s because by the Spirit, all of you can have access to me continually.” So, there’s that sense, but it’s just a quandary.
In terms of them being priest with him and reigning with him, we’re already told in 1 Peter 2 that we are priests, a kingdom of priests, and we offer sacrifices of praise to God. So, animal sacrifice is over, but we offer praise for all eternity of hearts given to God. And our bodies, resurrection bodies in this case, given in service to him. And so, we are priests on his behalf and so we also reign with him. And so, I do believe that not all of the saints will have equal authority or power. I think some will reign over others, and they’ll have no problem with it. There’ll be no tyranny and there’ll be no rebellion. And so, I do have no problem at all with some saints put in positions of authority and power over other saints.
Wes
Now in verses 7-8, we get the conclusion of the thousand years or what happens after the thousand years. What happens, and what does this teach us about Satan?
Andy
All right, so when the thousand years are over, Satan is released. So, the essence of the thousand years is Satan bound. And then we get this difficult middle section, 4-6, in which we get thrones and resurrected people and honor and glory given to those that receive that privilege, whoever they are, during that thousand years. So, the amillennial view is that this is all spiritualized. The thousand years is the church age. The resurrection is a spiritual resurrection through faith in Christ. We were dead in our transgressions and sins, and God raised us from the dead, out of the uncircumcision of our souls. He raised us from our spiritual death into spiritual life. We’ve crossed over from death to life. This is the first resurrection. And then the second resurrection is bodily resurrection. That’s the amil position. And so those folks all reign with Christ, not just for a thousand years but forever and ever. They reign throughout the church age, and then they reign all into eternity. That’s the amil position.
And then they would say, Gog and Magog, this is openly taking imagery from Ezekiel 38 and 39, which is of a terrible battle focused on gentile powers coming from the north, pouring down on Jerusalem to destroy it. And to kill all of the followers of God. John uses, or the Holy Spirit uses through John the same image here, there’s kind of a one last final battle. Now amil folks say, “Yeah, that’s Armageddon. That’s the very thing we’re talking about.” So, we’re just going over the same ground again. Satan’s released in a way to just do his worst on planet earth. As described in various places in the Book of Revelation, he’s unleashed to do terrible damage and that will include a terrible final battle that leads to the second coming of Christ. That’s how they deal with that.
The premil folks who believe in a literal thousand-year reign say there’s going to be one final rebellion when Satan’s released. He’ll be able to get some of the people who are living under Jesus’ literal physical reign. And sin will have one more terrible battle stirred up by Satan, and Jesus will win that battle. But very little is said about that battle. It’s just Gog and Magog and they sweep in, and they surround the camp of God, Jerusalem, the city he loves, that’s Jerusalem. And fire comes down from heaven and that’s it. So, it’s just a quick final battle and then comes the end.
Wes
How does this passage end? And what final thoughts do you have for us as we examine such a difficult passage that’s been the topic of discussions for all of church history?
Andy
Yeah. All right, so in verse 10 it says, “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They’ll be tormented day and night, forever and ever.” So, this is eternal conscious torment. Jesus says in Matthew 25:41, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” So that’s devil and demons. And so, the demons aren’t mentioned here at all, but I think when it says the devil, it implies the demons as well. And I think either they’re already thrown in or they’re all thrown in with him into the lake of fire.
And so, the humans, the reprobate, the wicked, the unbelievers who join in rebellion, Satan’s rebellion against God, are spending eternity in the lake of fire. The beast and the false prophet, we’re told in this passage, are already there. At any rate, all of the wicked enemies of God, both human and demonic, satanic, all of them will spend eternity in the lake of fire, eternal conscious torment. So, it ends in them being punished in hell.
So final thoughts on this. This is an incredibly challenging passage, very difficult. And this is the whole thing. I began a sermon on the abomination of desolation some time ago by saying, I am amazed and astonished at the Bible, both in its simplicity and its complexity. Simplicity, because those things necessary for salvation are so simple and clearly taught that a child could understand them. But the Bible is so complex that you could spend the rest of your life studying it. And this is a very good example of a topic that is extremely difficult finally to resolve.
If we’re being faithful to the apocalyptic genre of the Book of Revelation, there’s lots of symbolic imagery. There are a lot of difficult images that are hard to make literal and physical, like Jesus’ sword coming out of his mouth, things like that. And so, you try your best to interpret it and harmonize it. We’re always reasonably harmonizing every passage of scripture with everything else we’ve learned because it comes from one mind, and God never contradicts himself. So, it is reasonable to try to harmonize the conception of the millennium with the teachings of Paul on the rapture and the second coming and the resurrection of the dead and all of these things. We try to harmonize them, and it’s very difficult to do.
there are many basic Christian duties that we do every single day. So that would be evangelism, prayer, growth in holiness, marriage, parenting, church life
And as a result, I think that what we need to do is realize there are many basic Christian duties that we do every single day. So that would be evangelism, prayer, growth in holiness, marriage, parenting, church life, all of the things that God’s called on us to do. Those things don’t change. We don’t do them any differently at all no matter what we think about the millennium. Furthermore, I think we should spend a lot more time thinking about the eternal state than we do the millennium. I wrote a book on the eternal state. I didn’t touch on the Millennium at all. I wasn’t concerned about it. I wanted to talk about where we’re going to spend eternity, not where we’re going to spend a thousand years. A thousand years is a long time. Eternity is infinite time.
So, I think it’s best to try to study and understand, and I commend my book about that, which is The Glory Now Revealed. And so read about that. But in the end, it doesn’t affect how we live our Christian lives or do missions or do holiness, no. But these verses are in the Bible, and we need to work hard at them. So, I don’t like it when people talk about, they make this joke sometimes, I’ve heard it before. There’s amillennialism, there’s premillennialism, there’s postmillennialism. And some say, “Well, there’s ‘pan-millennialism,'” which is, it’s all going to pan out in the end. And I consider that, all right, it’s a joke. We can kind of joke at it. But I don’t want to be lazy. I want to take every word from God and do my best with it.
And so, when I preach this chapter, I preached it from both perspectives because that’s how hard it is for me to choose between the two. And so, I’ll keep thinking about it and I don’t finally resolve it. I don’t disrespect anybody who believes in a literal thousand-year reign. And I don’t disrespect amillennial views either. I’ll say one final thing, a couple of arguments for premillennialism is the sequence of Revelation 19, 20 and 21. Revelation 19, definitely the second coming of Christ, Revelation 21 and 22, definitely the eternal state.
In between, we have this thousand years. So, it seems to point toward premillennialism. Also, as we see step by step by step, the unfolding history of wickedness and evil from Adam’s sin until the eternal state, I think what we see is a progression of God’s grace and graciousness from Adam to Moses, all that, the call of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
There’s ever-increasing grace and light and clarity shown. And then Moses and then the prophets more and more, the old covenant. And then how much more the new covenant brought in by Christ and the entire church age. All of that. And what we see is sin’s stubbornness. In every era, it is extremely difficult to kill. Even in this present church age with all the advantages we have, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the whole history of Jesus, we still sin. Paul says in Romans 7, the very thing I hate, I do. And then I think a kind of a fitting end to that stair step is a final phase of a thousand years of Christ literally reigning on earth and life greatly enhanced.
Isaiah 65 talks about people dying at age 100 will be thought to be young for having died at that age. So that hints at a greatly enhanced experience of life. And still, it ends up in rebellion against Jesus and against God. And so, I think what that teaches me is we got the very thing we asked for at the tree, an education in evil, and it’s incredibly wicked and stubborn and difficult to deal with. So that’s what I get out of it. But in the end, I cannot finally resolve amillennialism or premillennialism. I just want to serve God faithfully and keep studying.
Wes
This has been episode 27 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 28 entitled Judgment Day, where we’ll discuss Revelation 20:11-15. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This is episode 27 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast entitled The Millennium, where we’ll discuss Revelation 20:1-10. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, Wes, we come at last to Revelation 20:1-10 and the topic of the millennium. This is one of the gnarliest, most challenging, most fascinating and convoluted topics I’ve ever studied in my life. And the strange thing is the more I study, the more confusing sometimes it gets. I began the sermon on this by saying this, after the second coming of Christ, one of two things will happen, either Christ will set up a thousand-year kingdom in which Satan is bound, righteousness and blessings flourish. People will experience lavishly, blessed, healthy and successful lives with Christ physically reigning on earth. But in which there will still be birth and death, there will still be sin in the hearts of the people. And which will end in one more battle with Satan and sinfully rebellious people resulting in the eternal state I’m about to describe.
Or Christ will judge all of his enemies at once at the time of his second coming, sending Satan, demons and all the reprobate, the unbelievers into the lake of fire. And the righteous will be glorified in resurrection bodies with no internal sin and no possibility of a future fall in a perfect world in which there is not the slightest hint of decay, the new heavens and new earth, the eternal state. Now the first view is called premillennialism. In other words, Jesus comes back, the second coming occurs before the millennium. The second view is called amillennialism, in which it’s not literally that there is no millennium, but the millennium is a figurative expression of the church age in which Satan is in some sense bound. We’ll get into the details. And the gospel spreads.
These are the two views, prevalent views. There’s also postmillennialism, which basically teaches that the gospel will so effectively spread through the world that it will little by little bring about the millennium, and then Jesus will return to a beautifully well-organized earth. That’s postmillennialism. That’s not been as popular in my lifetime, but it is somewhat making a comeback. But the dominant views in evangelicalism are either premillennialism, in which Jesus comes back before a literal thousand-year reign described here, and frankly only here, literally the word thousand years used in the sense is only here in Revelation 20. Or amillennialism, which is the next thing that will happen, is the second coming of Christ, end of the world, resurrection, all that, and then we go to the eternal state. Either view, you end up with the same eternal state. No matter what you believe about the millennium, we believe the same thing about the eternal state. So, we get to walk through the only verses that may teach a literal reign of Christ on earth, the millennium in Revelation 20:1-10.
Wes
Let me go ahead and read Revelation 20:1-10 and then we’ll walk through the details together.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plane of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the (beloved) city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Andy, why is it said that the angel was coming down from heaven? Where was he going and to do what?
Andy
So, the angel comes down from heaven, and we get this sense throughout the Book of Revelation of angels being involved in the unfolding events on earth. And so, the angel starts in heaven and comes down to deal with something on earth. And here, he has a key to the abyss, we’re told, and he has also a great chain. And so, he’s coming down specifically to capture the devil, Satan the ancient serpent. And if you’re ever wondering, if all the titles are used here, the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan, the same designations used in Revelation 12. So, we have no doubt. And his job, the angel coming down from heaven, his job is to seize the devil and bind him with a chain and lock him up in a place called the abyss, a pit. And so that’s what he’s called on to do.
Wes
What is the abyss or bottomless pit?
Andy
Yeah, abyss is just the transliteration of the Greek meaning no bottom, abusso. And so, it’s a bottomless pit. And it seems that in various places in the synoptic gospels, the demons are afraid that Jesus has come to torture or torment them before the appointed time. And abyss is mentioned in one of those passages. Also, Peter mentions, 2 Peter, that God had put some angels who sinned into a place of torment. “Tartarus” is used there and that’s also in Greek mythology a pit. So, it’s the language of a pit. So, there’s a place where really bad demons are really rebellious. All demons are bad and they’re rebellious. But particularly bad ones are locked up. And Satan is locked up in the abyss and bound. And we’re told specifically he’s bound in this pit for a thousand years so that he cannot deceive the nations. And so, this brings us right into the crux of the matter on amillennialism versus premillennialism.
Wes
Andy, you mentioned, amidst all of the details, and what we’re going to do our best to try to unpack here, that verse 2 gives us some remarkable clarity. We’re not left to wonder who this dragon is. There are all these different names used, but we’re told that this is the devil, Satan. How is it that such a powerful being as Satan can be bound so completely?
Andy
the thousand years is the time that Satan is bound and unable, we’re told, to deceive the nations anymore. …It’s a Satan-free planet.
Well, we know that he can because he’s frustrated by the hedge of protection around Job and all his possessions. He’s limited by the word of God. He is not permitted to tempt us beyond what we can bear. There’s a sense of a leash on the dragon. And so, he is able to be bound because he’s not omnipotent. God is, and God is able to make a chain spiritually that binds Satan and keeps him from roaming around. Now, we need to understand this binding of Satan, and this is where we go right to the difference between amillennialism and premillennialism. Basically, the thousand years is the time that Satan is bound and unable, we’re told, to deceive the nations anymore. That’s what the thousand years is. It’s a Satan-free planet. That’s all you get here in Revelation 20. And then you get some resurrection of some it seems, and the reigning of some, and you get nothing else.
So, all of the conceptions of an improved world in which there’s abundant prosperity and long life, unusually long life, rich agriculture, all of this comes from Old Testament prophets. It comes from Isaiah 65 and some other places where you have visions of lavish, lush blessing on earth. The wolf will live with the lamb and lie down with the calf and the lion and the yearling together. And the infant will play near the cobra’s nests and all that. So, you’ve got all this image of prosperity and security and safety. That all comes from the Old Testament, and they link it to the millennium. The millennium is the binding of Satan so he can’t deceive the nations. And that brings us to Matthew 12:29, and this is a key verse for all millennialism. Matthew 12:29 says, “How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man, then he can rob his house.”
So, it seems that Jesus has tied up the strong man or bound him and now is plundering his house. So that’s an A+++ verse for amillennialism. They’re saying, look, there isn’t any literal thousand-year reign. Satan is bound during this entire church age. The thousand years is just 10 cubed, is all it is. It’s a perfect number. And the idea is a long stretch of time in which Satan is unable to keep the elect from being converted, from being deceived. God is able to cut through the deception, Satan’s lies, and plunder the strong man’s house by binding him and binding his lies. And I find all that plausible. I understand why amillennialists say it’s a big deal that Jesus has bound the strong man so he can plunder his house.
The problem is the language in Revelation 20 seems much more restrictive than that. He’s not just limited in his ability to deceive the elect, it’s that he’s unable to move around, he’s unable to roam, he’s unable to do anything, and he’s not able to deceive the nations, anyone. He’s not able to do anything. He’s out of the picture. That goes much farther than what Jesus did. Jesus actually allowed Satan and demons to have a pretty significant measure of freedom. If you look at Job 1, he says to Satan, “Where have you come from?” From roaming to and fro over the earth and all of that? Well, they’re saying, well, that’s before Jesus.
But Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” Doesn’t sound like he’s locked up in some pit somewhere. The demons were afraid that Jesus would do that, and he didn’t do it. He let them go into the pigs. So, I find it difficult to see the binding that is described in this verse. An angel comes down, not Jesus, but an angel and binds Satan with a chain and throws him into the abusso, the bottomless place, and locks him up. And afterward, he’s released, set free to roam again. So, it’s hard for me to see in what sense that this is happening now as amillennialists claim. So, at any rate, therein lies some of the rub, there’s more rub to come.
Wes
Well, and it’s amazing just the level of detail in verse 3, “Threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.” So again, the verse in Matthew helps us, I think, understand how it might be that Christ is bound the strong man, but here we’ve got this seemingly expansive binding that’s taking place and squaring those is I think where we have the challenge.
Andy
Yeah, that’s where the problem comes. And let me say something big picture here, just hermeneutically with the New Testament and all of that, the biggest problem for me with premillennialism is the apostle Paul seems to know nothing about it at all. He talks about a rapture without the millennium. He talks about the resurrection and no millennium. He doesn’t ever mention it. You would think it would be mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter where in the final trumpet in the flash and twinkle of an eye, we receive our resurrection bodies. Or the rapture passage concerning the Lord’s coming, we tell you not to be alarmed by a report that seems to come from us that the day the Lord has already come, “For that day cannot come about,” he says, “Until the antichrist comes,” 2 Thessalonians 2, and then 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, he says, “For the dead in Christ will rise first. And after that, we who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.”
The Lord is coming back in 1 Thessalonians 4, that’s the rapture, and the resurrection seems to happen then. Where’s the millennium? Where’s the millennium in 1 Corinthians 15 in a “flash and twinkling of an eye” when we receive our resurrection bodies? It’s not even mentioned. John doesn’t mention is in Epistles. James doesn’t mention it, Peter doesn’t mention it. And so, it’s just very difficult to understand why those clearly eschatological passages would never mention the millennium. So, this is what I’ve said before, the millennium does very poorly everywhere else in the New Testament but very well here in Revelation 20:1-3. Amillennialism makes sense everywhere else, but it’s difficult to square with the details here in Revelation 20:1-3, the binding. But the reverse is true. Premillennialism does very, very well here and you just scratch your head why Paul never mentions it anywhere else.
Wes
Now, in verse 3, we’re also told the purpose of the binding is so that Satan might not deceive the nations any longer. In what way does Satan seek to deceive the nations?
Andy
Well, the fundamental deception is about God and his Christ, that there is no God. The atheism. He deceives the nations by all the religions of the world, including the final religion-that one world religion in which the antichrist there is deceiving the nations to receive the mark of the beast. And to worship the beast and to follow the false prophet in worshipping the beast. And so, he’s deceiving the nations in every generation with all the false philosophies and world religions, and he’s deceiving the nations in the end by the antichrist.
Wes
What happens to Satan at the end of the thousand years and what’s the significance of the statement, “He must be set free for a short time”?
Andy
Well, at the end of the thousand years, he is released. And he’s set free for a short time. And so, we’ll get back to that at the end in verse 7. A thousand years are over, Satan is released and he goes out and deceives the nations. We’ll walk through that.
Wes
What else did John see in his vision in verses 4-6? And how do these verses teach us about martyrs and help us to understand rapture and resurrection passages that we’ve been discussing some already.
Andy
So, it’s interesting, verses 4-6 are very difficult verses to interpret. So even those that believe in a literal millennium, premillennialists, have a hard time explaining the details here. So, let’s walk through them. Verse 4, “I saw thrones on which were seated, those who have been given authority to judge.” And so, Jesus regularly says to his apostles and to others, he’s going to give them authority. He says, “You have followed me. I’ll confer on you a kingdom just as my Father conferred one on me, and you’ll sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29). He says that. And so, this is already known. We also have the 24 elders seated on thrones earlier in Revelation 4. So, they’re given authority to judge. They’re given that right.
And so, these are almost certainly redeemed people, saints, and it says, “And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” So, you’ve got this limited or narrow, it seems, resurrection. We don’t know who’s on the thrones, just the ones who have been given authority to judge. We don’t know who they are. We also see the souls of those who have been beheaded, so martyred, during the reign of Antichrist. They come to life, and they reign with Christ for a thousand years.
So, it could be they’re one and the same. They were the ones that are given the right to judge. But it does cause you to scratch your head, are these the only redeemed people who receive resurrection bodies during the millennium? If so, where are the rest and when do they get their resurrection bodies? Think about it. If it’s a narrow group of specially honored martyrs who died during the reign of Antichrist, generally called the Great Tribulation. And they’re the only ones that are resurrected because they’re being specially honored as some scholars say for their courage and their service during the Great Tribulation. But the rest of the saints will later receive their resurrection bodies. They stay up in the celestial heavens with God, but they can no longer be said, “absent from the body present with the Lord,” because the Lord’s now on earth. So, they’re not with him on earth. And you have no verses that describe when they get their resurrection body if it’s not at the second coming, because guess what? That’s already happened, and they didn’t get their resurrection bodies yet.
It causes your head to spin here. And you’re like, “I don’t really know how this is working.” And so, some say, “Look, it’s not only the beheaded during the tribulation that receive their resurrection bodies, but everybody, all the saints get their resurrection bodies.” The problem is at that point, who are the saints that are on thrones judging and reigning and ruling? And they’re reigning with Christ for a thousand years? Who are they reigning over? And the answer generally for those that believe in the millennium is they’re reigning over the redeemed unresurrected saints.
So, you have two-tier system at this point of redeemed, resurrected saints and redeemed, unresurrected or unglorified saints who… And I said the essence of the millennium, if you’re asking, “What is the fundamental difference between the millennium and the eternal state?” It is the existence of birth and death and the possibility of sin (that’s the difference), that the redeemed people still sin, and they still die. Death has not been finally defeated yet. That’s what’s going on. That’s what makes the millennium different than the eternal state, is birth, aging and death and sin. So therefore, you have some resurrected saints reigning over those who are not resurrected and not glorified, but they’re still saints, they are part of the family of God, definitely second-class citizens at this point. They still err, they still make mistakes. They still say wrong things like we do.
As we try to get through this podcast, Wes, without making mistakes. I mean, that’s us. But the resurrected won’t be, they’ll be perfected. It’s just very hard to understand. Now let me stop and say all of that argues against the millennium because these verses are so hard to interpret. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Just because I can’t harmonize, I can’t connect the dots, doesn’t mean it won’t happen. All right? It’s very similar to Paul’s statement about the details about, “With what kind of body will the resurrected people come?” He says, “How foolish,” and then he goes into what is sown and what is raised, and he gives those paired up words showing the contrast between the corpse that is sown and the body that is raised. But why does he say how foolish? My interpretation of that is he’s saying what is foolish is thinking there cannot be a resurrection if I can’t figure out the details.
I would say the same thing about the millennium. Me thinking because I can’t work out the details of Revelation 20:4-6 that it can’t happen. I’m going to say in general, I don’t know whether the millennium will happen or not. We’ll say that at the end. It’s not going to affect the way you live your Christian life either way. But we still have to do our best with these verses. These are very difficult verses to harmonize with the other verses, especially for me, the rapture verse, because that’s when the dead in Christ rise first at the second coming. And then we who are still alive and are saints will be caught up with them. He doesn’t miss anybody. Everybody gets their resurrection body in 1 Thessalonians 4 at the second coming of Christ. Where’s the millennium in all that? How do you harmonize that with these verses? Very hard to do.
Wes
Yeah, that’s I think a helpful point for us to camp on for just a moment. How does resolving the resurrection issue affect the millennial question as we reflect on those passages? 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, and then how do we understand the blessing that comes at the end here of verse six for those receiving the first resurrection and not being faced with the second death?
Andy
All right, so he says, “Blessed and holy,” verse 6. “This is the first resurrection,” verse 5.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
So, it’s hard for me to picture what role saints in heaven would have at this point. It seems like all of the redeemed will get their resurrection body. Because if you don’t take part in the first resurrection, it’s implied that the second death does have power over you.
Now you could say it doesn’t say that. It just says those who have the first resurrection, the second death has no power over them. If there is a second resurrection, which these verses imply, there’s a first resurrection and a second resurrection, that it’s good to have either one. So, I don’t know who that would be. The second resurrection would be those who are not beheaded. I guess those would be saints like Luther and Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon and all that. They’re going to wait in heaven until a thousand years are over and then they get the second resurrection.
But it seems here like it’s quite possible that we’re looking at the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. All right? And Jesus said that, “The time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29). It seems like it makes more sense that the second resurrection is a resurrection to condemnation that Jesus talks about in John 5. So that’s at least possible as well.
Wes
Yeah. What are the statements that these will be priests of God and of Christ? What’s the significance of the statement they’ll reign with him? Does this teach the bodily reign of Christ on earth during the thousand years?
Andy
Well, that’s what the millennialists believe. That’s what it is. Jesus is physically reigning on earth in some location one place at one time. It’s hard because it seems like a step backward because that was one of the big problems. Jesus said is to your advantage that I go away. I was like, “Well, how would it be to our advantage?” “It’s because by the Spirit, all of you can have access to me continually.” So, there’s that sense, but it’s just a quandary.
In terms of them being priest with him and reigning with him, we’re already told in 1 Peter 2 that we are priests, a kingdom of priests, and we offer sacrifices of praise to God. So, animal sacrifice is over, but we offer praise for all eternity of hearts given to God. And our bodies, resurrection bodies in this case, given in service to him. And so, we are priests on his behalf and so we also reign with him. And so, I do believe that not all of the saints will have equal authority or power. I think some will reign over others, and they’ll have no problem with it. There’ll be no tyranny and there’ll be no rebellion. And so, I do have no problem at all with some saints put in positions of authority and power over other saints.
Wes
Now in verses 7-8, we get the conclusion of the thousand years or what happens after the thousand years. What happens, and what does this teach us about Satan?
Andy
All right, so when the thousand years are over, Satan is released. So, the essence of the thousand years is Satan bound. And then we get this difficult middle section, 4-6, in which we get thrones and resurrected people and honor and glory given to those that receive that privilege, whoever they are, during that thousand years. So, the amillennial view is that this is all spiritualized. The thousand years is the church age. The resurrection is a spiritual resurrection through faith in Christ. We were dead in our transgressions and sins, and God raised us from the dead, out of the uncircumcision of our souls. He raised us from our spiritual death into spiritual life. We’ve crossed over from death to life. This is the first resurrection. And then the second resurrection is bodily resurrection. That’s the amil position. And so those folks all reign with Christ, not just for a thousand years but forever and ever. They reign throughout the church age, and then they reign all into eternity. That’s the amil position.
And then they would say, Gog and Magog, this is openly taking imagery from Ezekiel 38 and 39, which is of a terrible battle focused on gentile powers coming from the north, pouring down on Jerusalem to destroy it. And to kill all of the followers of God. John uses, or the Holy Spirit uses through John the same image here, there’s kind of a one last final battle. Now amil folks say, “Yeah, that’s Armageddon. That’s the very thing we’re talking about.” So, we’re just going over the same ground again. Satan’s released in a way to just do his worst on planet earth. As described in various places in the Book of Revelation, he’s unleashed to do terrible damage and that will include a terrible final battle that leads to the second coming of Christ. That’s how they deal with that.
The premil folks who believe in a literal thousand-year reign say there’s going to be one final rebellion when Satan’s released. He’ll be able to get some of the people who are living under Jesus’ literal physical reign. And sin will have one more terrible battle stirred up by Satan, and Jesus will win that battle. But very little is said about that battle. It’s just Gog and Magog and they sweep in, and they surround the camp of God, Jerusalem, the city he loves, that’s Jerusalem. And fire comes down from heaven and that’s it. So, it’s just a quick final battle and then comes the end.
Wes
How does this passage end? And what final thoughts do you have for us as we examine such a difficult passage that’s been the topic of discussions for all of church history?
Andy
Yeah. All right, so in verse 10 it says, “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They’ll be tormented day and night, forever and ever.” So, this is eternal conscious torment. Jesus says in Matthew 25:41, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” So that’s devil and demons. And so, the demons aren’t mentioned here at all, but I think when it says the devil, it implies the demons as well. And I think either they’re already thrown in or they’re all thrown in with him into the lake of fire.
And so, the humans, the reprobate, the wicked, the unbelievers who join in rebellion, Satan’s rebellion against God, are spending eternity in the lake of fire. The beast and the false prophet, we’re told in this passage, are already there. At any rate, all of the wicked enemies of God, both human and demonic, satanic, all of them will spend eternity in the lake of fire, eternal conscious torment. So, it ends in them being punished in hell.
So final thoughts on this. This is an incredibly challenging passage, very difficult. And this is the whole thing. I began a sermon on the abomination of desolation some time ago by saying, I am amazed and astonished at the Bible, both in its simplicity and its complexity. Simplicity, because those things necessary for salvation are so simple and clearly taught that a child could understand them. But the Bible is so complex that you could spend the rest of your life studying it. And this is a very good example of a topic that is extremely difficult finally to resolve.
If we’re being faithful to the apocalyptic genre of the Book of Revelation, there’s lots of symbolic imagery. There are a lot of difficult images that are hard to make literal and physical, like Jesus’ sword coming out of his mouth, things like that. And so, you try your best to interpret it and harmonize it. We’re always reasonably harmonizing every passage of scripture with everything else we’ve learned because it comes from one mind, and God never contradicts himself. So, it is reasonable to try to harmonize the conception of the millennium with the teachings of Paul on the rapture and the second coming and the resurrection of the dead and all of these things. We try to harmonize them, and it’s very difficult to do.
there are many basic Christian duties that we do every single day. So that would be evangelism, prayer, growth in holiness, marriage, parenting, church life
And as a result, I think that what we need to do is realize there are many basic Christian duties that we do every single day. So that would be evangelism, prayer, growth in holiness, marriage, parenting, church life, all of the things that God’s called on us to do. Those things don’t change. We don’t do them any differently at all no matter what we think about the millennium. Furthermore, I think we should spend a lot more time thinking about the eternal state than we do the millennium. I wrote a book on the eternal state. I didn’t touch on the Millennium at all. I wasn’t concerned about it. I wanted to talk about where we’re going to spend eternity, not where we’re going to spend a thousand years. A thousand years is a long time. Eternity is infinite time.
So, I think it’s best to try to study and understand, and I commend my book about that, which is The Glory Now Revealed. And so read about that. But in the end, it doesn’t affect how we live our Christian lives or do missions or do holiness, no. But these verses are in the Bible, and we need to work hard at them. So, I don’t like it when people talk about, they make this joke sometimes, I’ve heard it before. There’s amillennialism, there’s premillennialism, there’s postmillennialism. And some say, “Well, there’s ‘pan-millennialism,'” which is, it’s all going to pan out in the end. And I consider that, all right, it’s a joke. We can kind of joke at it. But I don’t want to be lazy. I want to take every word from God and do my best with it.
And so, when I preach this chapter, I preached it from both perspectives because that’s how hard it is for me to choose between the two. And so, I’ll keep thinking about it and I don’t finally resolve it. I don’t disrespect anybody who believes in a literal thousand-year reign. And I don’t disrespect amillennial views either. I’ll say one final thing, a couple of arguments for premillennialism is the sequence of Revelation 19, 20 and 21. Revelation 19, definitely the second coming of Christ, Revelation 21 and 22, definitely the eternal state.
In between, we have this thousand years. So, it seems to point toward premillennialism. Also, as we see step by step by step, the unfolding history of wickedness and evil from Adam’s sin until the eternal state, I think what we see is a progression of God’s grace and graciousness from Adam to Moses, all that, the call of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
There’s ever-increasing grace and light and clarity shown. And then Moses and then the prophets more and more, the old covenant. And then how much more the new covenant brought in by Christ and the entire church age. All of that. And what we see is sin’s stubbornness. In every era, it is extremely difficult to kill. Even in this present church age with all the advantages we have, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the whole history of Jesus, we still sin. Paul says in Romans 7, the very thing I hate, I do. And then I think a kind of a fitting end to that stair step is a final phase of a thousand years of Christ literally reigning on earth and life greatly enhanced.
Isaiah 65 talks about people dying at age 100 will be thought to be young for having died at that age. So that hints at a greatly enhanced experience of life. And still, it ends up in rebellion against Jesus and against God. And so, I think what that teaches me is we got the very thing we asked for at the tree, an education in evil, and it’s incredibly wicked and stubborn and difficult to deal with. So that’s what I get out of it. But in the end, I cannot finally resolve amillennialism or premillennialism. I just want to serve God faithfully and keep studying.
Wes
This has been episode 27 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 28 entitled Judgment Day, where we’ll discuss Revelation 20:11-15. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
