God's Word about the Millennium
As we enter the 21st
century and the third millennium, it seems like more and more people are
preaching that the time is ripe for the world to come to an end. Bumper stickers tell us that the driver of the
car in front of us will vanish when the rapture comes. Hundreds of different books are telling us
that soon the antichrist will appear and everyone who hasn’t been raptured will
be stamped with a number on his or her forehead or hand. A popular series of novels relate the lives
of people who missed out on the Second Coming of Christ and now experience
great tribulation under a satanic government. Preachers on TV have been telling
us for sixty years that the present‑day nation of
Those who believe this
tell us that these ideas are clearly taught in the Bible, and are signs that
the end of the world is about to occur. Their ideas are being preached so
fervently, and are being "backed up" by quotations from scripture so
skillfully, that many Christians today are completely unaware of other
interpretations of the prophecy sections of the Bible. But one thing is certain, all Christians have
been commanded to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God"
(1 John 4:1). We therefore ought to
study more than just our own denomination's interpretation of any part of
scripture, to see which interpretation holds to scripture, and which is built
on the ideas of men. Let us remember how
the spiritual leaders of Jesus' day clung to their own ideas of prophecy, which
required a Messiah to rule their country.
In so doing they dismissed the true meaning of Old Testament prophecies,
and rejected the Messiah who had come to rule in their hearts.
In this booklet we will
take a brief look at one of the most familiar Bible prophecies, Revelation
chapter 20, the only part of the Bible which mentions a 1000 year reign of
Christ, which is the basis for the millennium teachings of so many today. By comparing what is written there with the
teachings of the rest of scripture, we will discover an interpretation which
coincides squarely with the rest of God's Word, and which is surprisingly
unlike what is taught by many popular preachers today.
To make best use of
this study booklet, read it with your study Bible in hand, looking up the
supporting passages, and writing in the margins the ideas you find most useful.
Revelation 20, vv. 1,2:
And I saw an angel coming down out
of heaven, having the key to the Abyss, and holding in his hand a great
chain. He seized the dragon, that
ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand
years.
Since the book of
Revelation is a book of prophecy, every time we encounter an event which on the
surface does not appear to have occurred yet, we are tempted to interpret those
lines as referring to an event which is still in the future. So it is with these two verses. Although it is easy for us to understand what
is being described, namely, that Satan's power is being taken away, it is hard
to consider this to be anything other than an event of the future. After all, we see the forces of evil so very
active around us, how could this be a past event?
Yet it is not to our
human reason or to the events around us that we turn as we attempt to
understand these lines. Rather we let
other, clearer passages of scripture interpret this prophecy for us. And what we see there is interesting
indeed! For scripture clearly teaches
that the binding of Satan is an event of the past! John tells us: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's
work." (1 John 3:8) At Jesus'
first coming, then, he destroyed Satan's power.
How? Paul clarifies: "He
forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the
cross. And having disarmed the powers
and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by
the cross." (
It was through the
crucifixion of Jesus that Satan and his forces were disarmed (see also John
But the outward
miracles of exorcising demons from people is a very minor part of removing
Satan's power. Satan's real power lies
in his subtle control over people. He
controls people through the influence of worldly pleasures, capitalizing on our
inborn willingness to forsake God and follow the directives of our sinful human
nature. But the Gospel is the good news
that Jesus has freed us from this subtle influence of the devil! We are
assured that the Gospel is the power of God, (Rom 1:16) which we use to defeat
Satan’s influence. As the Gospel is
preached, Satan's empire crumbles.
Indeed, when Jesus was training His followers to go out, two‑by‑two,
to preach the good news of His kingdom, he saw Satan being thrown out of heaven
(Luke
With this clear
teaching of scripture, we see Revelation 20, verses 1 and 2, as a picture of
something happening right now. Since the
word "angel" in Greek means "messenger," the angel who
binds Satan could represent the messengers of the New Testament era, from the
great preachers in packed cathedrals, to the missionaries in far away lands, to
the person sharing the good news of God’s love with a neighbor over coffee. Everyone who shares the Gospel with another
uses the power of Christ to bind Satan.
The great chain which ties up Satan, then, we interpret as the Gospel,
the preaching of the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus for us on the cross, and the
preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sin (Luke 24:46,47).
But what about the
Abyss, how do we understand this? The
location of the Abyss where Satan is bound is not interpreted in other, clearer
parts of scripture, but we do know that demons greatly fear being thrown into
the Abyss (Luke
The mention of Satan as
being the "ancient serpent" reminds us of the temptation in
v.3 "He threw him into the Abyss, and
locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more
until the thousand years were ended.
After that, he must be set free for a short time."
If we let our reason be the standard by which
we interpret this passage, we are unable to see how Satan can be bound and kept
from deceiving the nations in this present age.
We can look around at society today and clearly see his influence. Yet Scripture declares that Satan and his
followers are indeed already bound in dungeons of darkness, with everlasting
chains, awaiting their day of judgment (2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6). By faith we accept this to be true.
On the other hand,
Peter tells us that Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for
someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8). Paul
calls Satan the "god of this age" who blinds the minds of unbelievers
(2 Co 4:4). Apparently Satan's present
state of bondage is more like a dog who is restrained by a leash than a
prisoner who is locked in a small cell.
In line with this, Revelation chapter 13 tells us that the dragon
(Satan) gives his power to the two beasts from the earth, indicating perhaps
that Satan is not able to operate directly in this world, but works through
intermediaries, called the "beast" and "his image" in Rev
13:4. We can certainly see Satan’s influence
around us, even though we cannot see him.
That Satan is bound
could also mean that he simply is not able to work as openly today where the
influence of the Gospel is felt as he once could work before Christ had come. As the Gospel is preached around the world,
the old forms of paganism give way to the light of Christianity. Even though this is true, Satan is still able
to work through the subtler evils of hypocrisy, apathy, and agnosticism. We do not fully understand how scripture can
say both that Satan's powers have been taken away and that Satan still
works. We know by faith that both are
true, because God's Word tells us so.
When we come to passages like this that are hard to understand fully, we
must simply confess that God's thoughts and ways are higher than our
understanding (Is 55:8,9), and be content with that.
Although we don't understand fully
how Satan can be locked up at this time, we can at least take comfort in
knowing from this passage that Satan can do nothing outside the control of
God. This binding will last until the
thousand years are ended. Then he must
be set free for a short time. The
thousand year period is explained more fully in verses 4 to 6, the "short
time" in verses 7 through 10.
v.4a "I saw thrones on which were seated
those who had been given authority to judge."
Without God's Word to
guide us, we may be tempted to think that this is a picture of Judgment Day,
with perhaps a certain group of believers who have a special privilege in
judging. But God's Word tells us that all
Christians will be granted a place to sit with Christ on His throne, not just a
select few (
The time period over
which the Christian exercises judgment is during this life, during the New
Testament era. Paul says that the
spiritual man makes judgments about all things (1 Cor
Jesus even prescribes
an orderly four‑step method in which Christians are to judge other
Christians (Matt 18:15‑17).
Judgment is to be passed upon those who, though within the assembly of
believers, yet live in disobedience to one or more of God's commands (e.g. 1
Cor 5:9‑13). Just as in the Old
Testament times, we are to purge the evil from the visible church (see Deut
17:2‑7), yet we always hold out to every sinner the Gospel of
forgiveness.[1] As we search for the meaning of this portion
of prophecy, we must keep in mind the way the rest of scripture sheds light on
the phrase "those who had been given authority to judge." Christians are given the authority to make
judgments now in this life, as long as the judgments agree with God's Word, the
source of the authority given to us.
This alone is not enough for us to conclude that the judgment being
depicted occurs during the New Testament era, but when we see how scripture
sheds light on the next verses, especially verse 5, we will realize that our
present day is being pictured.
v.4b "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 worshipped the beast
or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their
hands."
There is a serious error being
proclaimed today by preachers who are eager to sensationalize the Gospel
message. They say that someday all
mankind will be branded with a number, somehow stamped upon their foreheads or
hands. Revelation 13:16‑18 tells
us that the mark is the name of the beast who blasphemes God, or its number
666. Many Christians today are
preoccupied with looking for the number 666 in UPC labels and credit card
numbers and in the names of world leaders.
Many authors are making large sums of money by writing books which do
little more than promote man‑made speculations of terrible things to
come. Using the words above, some have
even taught that the days will come when beheading will again become a popular
form of execution. Then, they say,
Christians will be beheaded for their faith.
But just as the rest of
scripture teaches us to take a non‑literalistic interpretation of verses
1‑3 of this chapter, so with this passage the symbolic interpretation
continues. Paul says in 2 Cor 4:11 that "we who are alive", that is,
we Christians "are always being
given over to death for Jesus' sake."
And quoting Psalm 44, he adds, "we
face death all the day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
(Rom
Now concerning the mark
on the forehead or hands. As we look to
scripture to try to find the meaning of this mark, we ought to consider the
ancient Jewish practice of sacrificing the first‑born male animal of all
of their livestock, and the consecration to the Lord of each first‑born
son. This is explained in Exodus 13:1‑16. This practice is said to be a
"sign" on their hands and a "symbol" on their foreheads (Ex
New Testament
Christians too, are marked with a seal known only to God. Scripture tells us that all Christians are
sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph
This we believe is the
scriptural interpretation of the marks on the foreheads and hands of people
mentioned in Revelation chapters 13 and 20.
Recalling Jesus' words that "He who is not with me is against
me" (Mt
vv.4c,5 "They
came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life
until the thousand years were ended.)
This is the first resurrection."
Here is the passage
which forms the basis of the many teachings on the millennium. God's people come to life and reign with him
for 1000 years. Many people today have
been misled by those who add their own ideas to what scripture teaches, and
therefore look forward to some future earthly
So, what is being
described here? First of all, this
passage says God's people "came to
life." By comparing this with
Jesus' words in John 5:25, we find that the time "has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son
of God and those who hear will live."
John tells us that Christians have "passed
from death to life" (1 John
Secondly, this passage
says God's people reign with Him. Here
too, scripture tells us not to restrict our understanding to only a future
event. Even though we were born dead in
sin, and objects of God's wrath (Eph 2:1‑3), God made us alive with
Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:5,6), where Jesus
rules now and in the age to come (Eph 1:20‑23). God's Word does not explain the many
questions we may have about how it can be that we are reigning with Christ in
heaven even as we are suffering for him here on earth. But we accept it as true because it is
clearly taught in scripture.
Thirdly, the passage
says that the "rest of the dead did
not come to life until after the 1000 years." And that the coming to life of believers is
the "first resurrection." Some Christians say this passage teaches that
there will be two bodily resurrections, separated by 1000 years of
peace. But this would contradict God's
Word in John 5:28,29. There we read that
"a time is coming,"
not "two times are coming" “when
all who are in the graves will hear the voice of Christ and come
out." Daniel 12:2 also tells us
that all people, believers and unbelievers will rise from the dead
simultaneously. Some will rise to live
with him forever, others will rise to be condemned. Scripture clearly teaches that the bodily
resurrection is one event in which all people, saved and unsaved, will
participate at the same time.
The only interpretation
allowed by God's Word is that the term "first resurrection" means the
spiritual resurrection that comes to believers as we are given new birth
through the Word of truth (James 1:18).
Clearly, unbelievers have no part in the first resurrection.
To summarize the way
other passages in scripture interpret the 1000 year period then, we are left
with only one interpretation: the millennium is now. We are now in the period of time when God's
people are coming to life and reigning with Christ 1000 years. We must therefore understand the number 1000 literally,
that is, the way it was written, and not literalistically, which has no
regard for the context. The book of
Revelation is a book of symbols. The
images and numbers which are portrayed are symbolic of what occurs as Christ
struggles with and defeats the forces of evil on our planet. One thousand equals 10 x 10 x 10 and
apparently represents the "complete time period" for the work of
Christ through the Church on earth. We
believe this to be the only interpretation of the 1000 year reign which does
not contradict the clear teachings in other parts of Scripture.
v.6. "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."
Having compared
scripture with scripture to obtain the proper viewpoint on this first 5 verses
of this chapter, this verse is now quite clear.
We who are believers have no reason to fear the second death. The term "second death" is
explained in
The term "second
death" implies that there is a "first death." By comparing what is written in Eph 2:1‑5
and Col 2:13, we find that death is the state into which all people are
born. Death came as a result of Adam's
disobedience, for God told him that in the day "when you eat of [the tree of knowledge] you will surely
die." (Gen 2:17). Adam ate, and
Adam died at that very moment. We learn
that God does not restrict the meaning of death to the ceasing of breathing and
thinking. From God's viewpoint, all who
do not know him are dead. All who have
come to the wisdom he has revealed are alive with Christ. It is this viewpoint which gives us the full
meaning of Jesus' teaching: "If a man keeps my word he will never
see death." (John 8:51)
Revelation 20:6 also
says that believers will be priests of God.
Scripture tells us that this, too, has already been fulfilled. Christians are a kingdom of priests (Rev 1:6;
Verses 4c and 6 are the only places
in scripture which talk of a 1000 year reign with Christ. Christians who teach an actual future 1000
year period usually also teach that it will be a time of peace. But no where in all of Revelation 20 does it
say that this reign will be a reign of peace.
But by comparing an Old Testament scripture which talks about the reign
of Christ, Psalm 110, we learn more about this kingdom. We know Psalm 110 talks of Christ, because
Jesus himself said so (Mt 22:41‑45), as well as the writer to the Hebrews
(
There are, of course,
passages of scripture which predict a peaceful kingdom which will be ushered in
at the coming of Christ, for instance, Isaiah 11. These passages are best interpreted as
referring to the real peace we will experience after Judgment Day, when we will
live on "a new earth, the home of
righteousness" (2 Pet 3:13). It
is also possible that these passages picture in symbolism the peace with God
which Christ brings to all who come to faith in him (John 16:33; Ro 5:1; Col
1:19‑23).
v.7‑9 "When the thousand years are over,
Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners of the earth ‑‑ Gog and Magog ‑‑ to
gather them for battle. In number they
are like the sand on the seashore. They
marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's
people, the city he loves."
In these verses we see
Satan being released at the end of the millennium. This was mentioned in verse 3. What the actual events that these words
predict will finally be, we do not know, but apparently a world‑wide
assault on the people of God is pictured.
The scene is similar to that described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, but since
the context of this chapter is one of symbolic picture language, we do not know
exactly what is being pictured here.
Those who attempt to identify Gog and Magog with modern‑day states
are simply going beyond what God tells us in scripture, and are teaching their
own man‑made ideas.
There are passages of
scripture that we can refer to, however, which will help us understand what is
pictured here. Jesus said that as the
final days of earth's history draw near, wickedness will increase and love for
others will grow cold (Matt 24:12).
People will be lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasure (2 Tim 3:1‑5),
and will not put up with the true doctrines of Christianity (2 Tim 4:3). Jesus even questioned if, when he returns, he
would find any faithful on the earth (Luke 18:8). Jesus promised, however, that the time of
these terrible last days will be cut short, so that the elect -- those whom God
has chosen from the beginning (Eph 1:4,5) -- would not be lost (see Matt
24:22). As we seem to see evil more and
more prevalent in our society today, we understand that this is just as God has
told us it would be.
Satan is pictured as
gathering the entire world to do battle against "the holy city, the camp of God's people." Let us not be deceived into thinking that the
holy city is the present day city of
Satan assembles the
whole world against the Church to destroy it.
But these words should not cause us to fear, for we Christians have the
promise that nothing Satan can come up with will ever be able to separate us
from the love of Christ (Rom 8:37‑39).
One more false teaching
needs to be addressed at this point.
Those who teach that the holy city is present day
Scripture clearly says that
not all descendants of
vv.9b‑10
"But fire came down from heaven and
devoured them. And the devil, who
deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and
the false prophet had been thrown. They
will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
Despite the last days
attempt by Satan to deceive the world and destroy the Church, our Lord quickly
disposes of him and calls the history of our world to a halt. We should not suppose that this means that
Christians will totally escape suffering during the time when Satan gathers the
whole world against them. Nowhere does
scripture say Christians will be spared tribulation coming from this
world. Jesus said, "No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute
you also." (John 15:20) The
teaching of some today that Christians will be raptured away without seeing
tribulation is clearly unscriptural.
The devil is finally pitched into the
lake of fire. Jesus also tells us that
all people who do not believe in him will be thrown into this fire (Matt
25:41). This is a sobering teaching indeed,
one which should make each of us realize how serious a matter rejecting Jesus
is. Although the picture of eternal
torment may make us shudder, it is meant as a comfort for us. The cause of all our problems in this life,
the devil, will be thrown into hell, never to tempt or harm or bother us
again. The eternity we will share with
Christ our Savior will be free of any influence of the devil, the father of
lies.
vv.11‑15
"Then I saw a great white throne and
him who was seated on it. Earth and sky
fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened.
Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they
had done as recorded in the books. The
sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that
were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the
lake of fire. The lake of fire is the
second death. If anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Here we see a vision of
Judgment Day. Jesus also described this
day in Matthew 25. God in all his glory
is seen sitting on a great white throne.
All people who ever lived are assembled before that throne, also called
the "judgment seat of Christ."
(2 Co 5:10) In verse 12 above we read
that all the dead are judged according to what they have done while they were
alive. There are many other passages
which say that we will be judged according to our works, such as Matt
16:27;25:14‑46, 2 Co 5:10, Ps 62:12,
But our definition of
faith must be one which understands that saving faith produces good works in
the life of a Christian, for faith without works is dead (Jam 2:17). Salvation is given to those who obey (Heb
5:9; Acts
When it says the "books were opened," it does
not mean that God keeps a record of our works in actual books. God knows everything and so has no need for
record books. We understand the picture
of books to mean simply that all our actions in this life are fully known to
God (1 Co
And just as the devil was
thrown into the lake of fire in verse 10, here we read that death and Hades are
also thrown into the lake of fire. Hades
is best understood as meaning "the grave." Death and the grave will be destroyed because
after Judgment Day there will never again be unbelief or physical death. The believer is given life and immortality
through Jesus Christ! (2 Tim 1:10)
This, then, is the
conservative Lutheran interpretation of the subject of the millennium. We hope you agree that it is the scriptural
interpretation. It is this symbolic view
of the 1000 year reign of Christ and the Church which has been considered by
the Church to be the proper interpretation for nearly 2000 years. Only during the past one hundred years have
such a large number of people rejected this interpretation in favor of a
literalistic 1000‑year, future earthly reign of Christ.
It is our prayer that
this booklet has clarified some of the questions you may have had about this
subject which occupies so many minds today.
We urge you to reread this booklet, looking up all the passages cited,
writing cross references and notes in your Bible, so that your understanding of
God's Word may be made more complete.
(This booklet
has been prepared for your spiritual growth as part of the personal ministry of
Robert Fink of
|
Scripture quotations
throughout this paper are from the Holy Bible, New International Version,
c 1978 by the International Bible Society, |