The three major positions on the millennium are as follows:
1. The
Premillennial position. Most who hold to this position believe the thousand
years is a future reign of Christ on earth and saints with him for a literal
thousand year period (though some Premillennialists give room for the amount of
time not to be taken literally). The prefix “pre-” refers to the fact that
Christ will return before this millennium. Many who hold this position believe
the millennium is necessary so that God can fulfill literally (or close to it)
promises he has made to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.
2. The
Postmillennial position. Most who hold to this position believe the gospel in
this age will advance so extensively that as more and more people come to
Christ and live under his reign a future world-wide reign of Christ (and
saints) will be ushered in prior to his second coming. Since, in this view,
Christ returns after this millennium (which may or may not be a literal 1,000
years), the prefix “post-” is affixed to the word “millennial” to label this
understanding.
3. The
Amillennial (or Realized Millennial) position. This position has been falsely
labeled the “no millennial” view (since the prefix “a-” means “no”). This gives
the impression that those who hold this position do not believe in a millennium
at all. The truth is they do not believe in a future millennium and believe
that the 1,000 years, like almost all numbers in Revelation, is to be taken
figuratively as a long and full period of time. The better label for this view
is the “realized millennial” position. Here “realized” means that it has
already been experienced, already come, already started. The amillennial
position believes the millennium runs concurrently to the current New Testament
church age in which we now live.
Which position should we hold? I hold to the third position for a number of
reasons I blogged about in 2016. However, one of the big reasons I hold to it
has to do with my understanding of Revelation 20:1-6, the passage we will look
at this coming Sunday in our sermon series through Revelation.
In the remainder of this post and my next post I will
explain how I believe this passage should be understood and why it does not
speak of a literal future millennium.
1. A Look At Some
Introductory and Contextual Issues.
The only mention of a 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ in
the Bible is found in Revelation 20:1-6. This text is best understood in the
context of the book of Revelation to refer to a reign of Christ in heaven (not
on earth) with saints who have died—and this during the age between his first
and second comings (in other words, right now).
Here is what we read in Revelation 20:1-6:
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in
his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And
he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years,
3 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.
4 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.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life
until the thousand years were ended.
This is the first resurrection. 6 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. (emphasis added)
I emphasized the phrases and clauses that lead people to
believe this speaks of a future thousand-year-reign of Jesus Christ and saints
on earth—thus a millennium. However, there are a number of reasons why I
believe this instead refers to the reign of Jesus Christ and saints in heaven
for a long period of time that spans the entire New Testament church age—in
other words, right now.
Here are some introductory and contextual reasons for that
conclusion.
1. My first
reason merely removes an obstacle as it reminds us that the amillennial stance
is not new or strange, but has a long history in the Church. “The amillennial understanding of Revelation
20:1-6 as describing the reigning of the souls of deceased believers with
Christ in heaven has good standing in the church since the days of Augustine.”[1]
2.
Premillennialists commonly assert that the millennium is a reigning of Christ
on earth, as well as a reigning of believers with him on earth who have died
and been raised, as well as a reigning of believers with him on earth who have
not died. However this text says nothing of believers who have not died. The
late theologian and scholar, Anthony Hoekema, puts it this way:
The
millennium of the [premillennialists] is not the millennium described in
Revelation 20:4-6…. When…we read Revelation 20:4-6 in the way
[premillennialists] want us to read it, we find in the passage no reference
whatever to people still living at the time the millennium begins or to people
with “unresurrected bodies”…. We conclude that Revelation 20:4-6 does not
describe the millennium of the [premillennialists], even when it is understood
as [they] want us to understand. The
[premillennial] understanding of the millennium, in other words, is not based
on a literal interpretation of this most important passage.[2]
Sam Storms agrees and
disputes those who say the premillennial understanding of Revelation 20 is
superior because it is literal. He cites Arthur Lewis, The Dark Side Of The Millennium: The Problem Of Evil In
Rev. 20:1-10 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 50: “The essential and concrete aspects of the
text may not be ‘spiritualized’ out of existence. The martyred and enthroned
saints are real, the angel who binds Satan is real, Satan himself is very real,
and the wicked nations in revolt against the King are real nations and part of
history. The question is not, therefore, which view is the more literal, but
which correctly understands the place and purpose of the thousand years.”[3]
(emphasis added)
Storms concludes: “The
point is simply that the [amillennial version of the] millennium for which I
will argue is just as real and literal as the millennium for which the
premillennialist contends.”[4]
3. As we will
see with greater clarity when we look in detail at the six verses, nothing is
said in this passage at all about a reign of Christ and saints on earth (the view of both premillennialists
and postmillennialists)! This is rather a reign in heaven.
4. If the
main purpose of the millennium has to do with Jews and the nation of Israel, as
some premillennialists assert, “is it not passing strange that Revelation
20:4-6 says not a word about the Jews, the nation of Israel, the land of
Palestine, or Jerusalem? This would not
be so serious if the idea of the restoration of Israel were only an incidental
aspect of the millennium. But, according
to dispensational [premillennial] teaching, the restoration of Israel is the central purpose
of the millennium! It is therefore all the more significant that nothing
of this alleged central purpose is mentioned in the only biblical passage which
deals directly with Christ’s millennial reign, Revelation 20:4-6.”[5]
5. Finally,
we must grasp something about the structure of the book of Revelation itself
that has bearing upon the meaning of Revelation 20:1-6. Revelation “consists of
[six] sections which run parallel to each other, each of which depicts the
church and the world [in recurring cycles] from the time of Christ’s first
coming to the time of his second coming.”[6] “The [sixth] section, chapters 20-22,
narrates the doom of the dragon (who is Satan), thus completing the description
of the overthrow of the enemies of Christ. The final judgment and the final
punishment of the wicked are depicted at the end of chapter 20…vv. 11-12,
14-15. In addition, this section describes the final triumph of Christ and his
church, and the renewed universe, here called the new heaven and the new earth.
“Note that though these [six]
sections are parallel to each other, they also reveal a certain amount of
[end-times] progress. The last section,
for example, takes us further into the future than the other sections. Although the final judgment has already been
briefly described in 6:12-17, it is not set forth in full detail until we come
to 20:11-15. Though the final joy of the redeemed in the life to come has been
hinted at in 7:15-17, it is not until we reach chapter 21 that we find a
detailed and elaborate description of the blessedness of life on the new earth
(21:1-22:5). Hence this method of interpretation is called progressive
parallelism.”[7]
The significance of this
structure of Revelation is that each of the cycles shows us a picture of what
is happening in the world now—each of the cycles also progressing further as
the book unfolds. So, we should not be surprised that Revelation 20:1-6 gives
us insight into what is happening now (just like with previous cycles in the
book) that goes beyond anything revealed earlier in the book. Nor should we be
surprised that the final cycle goes further and gives us a picture of the
future climactic new heaven and new earth—one not previously given in
Revelation.
6. At the end of
chapter 20 (verses 11-15), attention is focused upon God’s judgment—something
we have already seen in the book of Revelation. Consider that the twenty-four
elders announce the time of judgment (11:18); the Son of Man’s coming begins
the day of judgment (14:14–20); God pours out wrath leading up to the final
judgment (16:17–21); the white horse rider judges and defeats his enemies
(19:11–21); and God opens the books to judge each person at the last judgment
(20:11–15). These all appear to be parallel events at the end of various cycles
in Revelation –each cycle covering events from the first coming of Jesus Christ
to his Second Coming and subsequent judgment.[1]
If we are right about this, it would place Revelation 20:1-6 before the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ and not depicting a post-Second-Coming millennial reign.
7. The phrase the
war, a literal translation, found at three different places with almost
identical wording around it each time (16:14; 19:19; 20:8) seems to be
different than the previous six uses of the same word for “war” (without the
definite article, “the”) in Revelation. It appears that as Revelation cycles
back through the events from the first to second comings of Christ, it
progresses forward as it goes. So, the result is this: In these later chapters
the cycle moves to the final war that accompanies the Second Coming Of Jesus
Christ. This also points to the likelihood that 20:1-6 takes us to events that
happen during this present time and predating the Second Coming of Christ,
rather than referring to a future thousand year reign of Christ that is after
his Second Coming.
8. We must
consider the descending of an angel in 20:1. In regard to the three previous
times angels are said to descend or ascend in Revelation (7:2; 10:1; 18:1),
whatever chronological activity has been taking place is suspended so that the
text can cycle back to earlier events. If the same holds true in 20:1, this
suggests that the events of 20:1-6 are not happening chronologically after
those of chapter 19 but are cycling back to look again at events that preceded
chapter 19. So, again, in 20:1-6, we are not dealing with a post-Second-Coming
Millennial reign of Christ, but with the depiction of events that take place
during the present time—between the First and Second Comings.
9. There seems to
be a close relationship between the events of chapter 12 and that of chapter 20
in regard to the binding of Satan. The devil was cast out of heaven in chapter
12 after losing a battle against Michael and his angelic warriors (12:7-9). As
a result, the activities of the Deceiver were restricted (12:13-17). This
appears to be parallel to God’s binding of Satan in 20:3—again suggesting that
chapter 20 is taking us back to another look at events taking place from the
First to Second Coming of Christ.
10. Finally, a
linear or chronological understanding of the relationship of chapters 19-20
runs into difficulty with respect to those forces that oppose Christ and his
people. They are completely destroyed in 19:18, 21 and yet reappear in 20:8.
What we have most likely, then, are events that are parallel to each other
(20:8 restating what previously happened from another perspective), rather than
a chronological depiction (the events of ch. 20 coming after those of 19),
which would lead us to see 20:1-6 as referring to a future reign rather than
what it instead appears to be—speaking of a reign during the present age.
In summary, the
larger context of the book of Revelation and the near context lead us to expect
the events of Revelation 20:1-6 to happen during this present time between the
First and Second Coming of Christ.
Yet, as we look
more closely at the six verses and their meaning, will we find a message that
is consistent with what we have set forth in regard to context and introductory
issues? We will turn to that question in our next post.
Joyfully Delighting In The Reign Of Christ And His Saints With You,
Tom
Joyfully Delighting In The Reign Of Christ And His Saints With You,
Tom
[1] In Revelation and the rest of the New Testament the final judgment is associated with the Second Coming Of Christ.
[3] Sam Storms, Kingdom Come: The Amillennial
Alternative (Fearn, Ross-shire,
Scotland: Mentor, Christian Focus, 2013), 428.
On
the clause, “And I saw” (20:1a [see also 19:11, 17, 19; 20:4, 11; 21:1]) which
some premillennialists argue suggests chronological treatment in chapters
19-20, Storms, Kingdom
Come, 430,
writes: “The phrase…appears countless times in Revelation and need only
indicate the sequence in which John received the visions. It does not
necessarily indicate any historical relation among the many visions themselves.”
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