REVELATION 20
Before diving into a discussion of this chapter, I think it's helpful to compare two other passages. I will use the NIV translation here. First consider Matthew 16:18-19, which says:
16:18 "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Compare this passage with Revelation 13:7, which says:
13:7 "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them."
Or compare it with Daniel 7:21, which says:
7:21 "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them."
Can all of these passages be true, or do the last two contradict the first one? The answer is that they are all true. Anyone who reads Daniel 7:22 or Revelation 13:8 knows that the conditions described by the two verses above only point to a temporary Satanic victory, and there will still be an opportunity to resist the devil (not to mention the necessity for doing so) during these times. In Matthew 16, Jesus is taking a longer view of the conflict between Satan and his church, but Daniel and John define some temporary limitations on what he says.
I mention these passages in order to give a simple example of how seemingly contradictory prophetic passages can still be true, particularly if our understanding of the sequence of events or the period of time they encompass is inaccurate. End time prophecy is a puzzle whose pieces many have attempted to fit together in various ways, and it's quite possible that none of us are completely correct. Though it only contains 15 verses, Revelation 20 can be understood in a variety of different ways. Most controversies about scripture are disputes between the saved and the unsaved, where there is a clear and unequivocal Christian position. This chapter, however, is controversial between Christians, and it requires us to humbly hold our positions (if we have one), while continuing to respect those who disagree with us.
I should say from the outset that my discussion of this chapter will not be exhaustive. To completely cover the various beliefs about this chapter, I would need to write hundreds of pages, which I don't intend to do, I would need to do years of research, and I would need a deeper understanding of everyone's position than I have. So accept what follows as a thumbnail sketch, a small peek into a shop window.
Though there are many variations on the three major beliefs which I cannot cover here, we are dealing primarily with premillennial, amillennial and postmillennial positions. I have always thought of myself as a premillennialist, but there are strengths and weaknesses to each camp's arguments, and I hope to be as fair here as I can, because there is a great deal which we simply do not know.
THE PREMILLENNIAL VIEW
Premillennialists believe the events of Revelation 20 happen sequentially after the events of Revelation 1-19. In other words, they believe that after the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments, Babylon will be judged, the beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, those who worship the beast and receive its mark will be killed, Christ will return to the earth and conquer his enemies, followed by the armies of heaven, which include the redeemed, dressed in clean white linen. After all of these things take place, the devil will be bound for a literal thousand years and Christ will reign with the saints for a literal thousand years, after which the devil will be released from the abyss temporarily to organize one last rebellion among the nations, which will again fail, after which the devil will be thrown permanently into the lake of fire with the beast, the false prophet and all of their followers and the unrighteous dead of all generations. Premillennialists may differ with regard to the rapture spoken of by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, some placing it before the tribulation, in the middle of the tribulation or after the tribulation, but they all expect a literal straightforward fulfillment of the events in chapter 20 after everything else in the previous chapters has taken place.
Premillennialists generally believe in two resurrections, the resurrection of the just, called the first resurrection in Revelation 20:6, and a second resurrection of the unjust who appear before the white throne to be judged and condemned to the lake of fire. They account for the fact that verse 4 identifies those who take part in the first resurrection as martyrs by saying that the Greek word for martyr really means witness and does not necessarily refer to violent death, though clearly this passage indicates that some have been killed for their faith. No blessing is pronounced on anyone who is resurrected after the thousand years are over, which causes most premillennialists to believe the second resurrection applies only to the unjust. This is certainly a plausible interpretation, but it's worth pointing out that verses 12-15 do not indicate specifically that everyone who takes part in the second resurrection is lost, and verse 4 specifically describes the beheading of martyrs. However, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says the dead in Christ will rise first, before those who are still alive, and it implies all the dead in Christ, without dividing them into groups. There is no scriptural reason to believe in multiple resurrections of the just at different times, and the only resurrection chapter 20 speaks of which certainly involves the just is the first one in verse 6.
A thousand year reign of Christ is not spoken of anywhere else in the New Testament, but there are some Old Testament passages which may be allusions to such a period, such as Isaiah 2:2-4, Isaiah 11:2-10, Isaiah 65:20-25, Jeremiah 23:5-8, Micah 4:2-8, Zechariah 8:20-23 and Zechariah 14.
But a thousand year reign of Christ, with the devil bound in the abyss, raises a lot of questions which premillennialists may not be able to answer well. What is the purpose for the thousand year reign, and more importantly, who are Christ's enemies during Satan's final rebellion? The answer which is generally given is that God wants to prove that men are not just sinful because sin surrounds them, and they are influenced by the sins of others, by poverty, disease, hunger, thirst, natural disasters, etc. Jesus comes and produces a utopian environment, yet an environment in which some men do not personally accept his lordship. It is presumed that the final rebellion is not a rebellion among resurrected saints, but a rebellion of people who have been born during the thousand years. Jesus teaches in Luke 20:34-36 that those who are worthy of the new age do not marry, so, presumably, they would not have children. So whose descendants would rebel? The answer would have to be descendants of some left on earth who are unsaved, yet do not gather for battle against Christ in chapter 19. Revelation 13:7 says the beast was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and Revelation 13:16-17 says the beast compells all to receive its mark and does not allow anyone to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. These passages seem to indicate that everyone is forced during the tribulation to choose between Christ and Satan, so it's reasonable to wonder how many people could be left on earth after chapter 19 who are not Christians, or alternatively, why the redeemed would continue to have children for a thousand years.
As a self-confessed premillennialist, my biggest concern with the premillennial position stems from the passage in Matthew 25:31-46. I quote here the amplified version, which is as follows:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats;
33 And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left.
34 Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me,
36 I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.
37 Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink?
38 And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You?
39 And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?
40 And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.
41 Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!
42 For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me with help and ministering care.
44 Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?
45 And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me.
46 Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life."
Note two things about the passage above. This story seems to describe one event. Both the righteous and the unrighteous seem to be surprised by what Jesus says to them. The righteous seem surprised they complied with Christ's wishes, and the unrighteous seem surprised they did not. If the rest of the dead do not come to life until the thousand years are over, and the righteous have reigned with Christ for a thousand years, how could they seem surprised? There does not seem to be a gap of a thousand years between verse 41 and verse 42. I will justify my premillennial position later by explaining the greater problems I have with the amillennial and postmillennial positions, yet I'm perplexed even by what I claim to believe about this chapter. This is one of the reasons why Revelation is so often ignored by pastors. "I don't know" is an honest answer to some of my own questions, but it doesn't make a very good sermon.
Before I write about the amillennialist view of Revelation 20, I want to pause for a couple of miscellaneous observations. Consider the following passages. Revelation 6:9 (NASB) says:
9 "When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained."
Revelation 20:4 (NASB) says:
4 "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."
In both of these passages, John says he saw souls of those who had given testimony about Jesus. How can one see a soul, or even a disembodied spirit, for that matter? Perhaps he says "I saw" because he has been made aware of souls spiritually, and there isn't a convenient verb to express how he became aware of them. But some use verse 4 of chapter 20 to argue that the saints reign with Christ in heaven, not on earth, pointing out that the earth is not mentioned in this passage. However, Revelation 5:9-10 (amp) says:
9 "And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!
The other thing I want to mention is that we do not even see life and death issues in the same way God sees them, and that may contribute to some of our confusion about what prophetic passages are trying to tell us. Recall, for instance, that in John 11:11 Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep (refering to his death), and he is going to wake Lazarus out of sleep. Also, when Jesus debates the Sadducees about the doctrine of resurrection, he makes the following observation in Luke 20:37-38 (NASB):
37 "But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.
38 "Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him."
From a human perspective, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are dead, and they have been dead for thousands of years. Though they have not yet been raised from the dead, God's relationship with them continues, and he knows them as living persons. This is an important point, because, as we shall see, amillennialists view the two resurrections in Revelation 20 in a very different way, and they have a basis for arguing their position is wholely consistent with scripture.
As I have said before, some view the book of Revelation from an entirely symbolic view, as a sort of encouraging poem which actually means very little. This frees them from having to harmonize the details of John's vision with other portions of scripture, or even from our own knowledge and experience. The genius of Revelation is that even this interpretation leaves the fundamental elements of the book intact, God's right to be worshiped, the need for the saints to persevere, and God's judgment of all sin, both inside and outside of the church.
Those who view Revelation symbolically are amillennialists, but most amillennialists are much more precise about how they believe Revelation will be fulfilled, and it is their view I will concentrate on.
THE AMILLENNIAL VIEW
The amillennial view of Revelation, and Revelation 20 in particular, is different from the premillennial view in two fundamental ways:
First, they do not take the numbers in Revelation literally. They view numbers like 144,000 and 1,000 as numbers implying completeness, not as cardinal numbers. Their strongest argument for this comes from the following two passages, Psalm 90:4, 1 Peter 3:8-10 (NASB).
Psalm 90:4 "For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night."
2 Peter 3:8 "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."
They argue that a thousand years is not a definite period of time, and they also contend that if the day of the Lord comes like a thief, it will happen suddenly, not over the period of a thousand years. They tend to view Revelation as a description of the entire church age, not from a futurist point of view. In other words, they don't care much about Daniel's seventieth week, the last half of the tribulation, when the rapture will take place, etc.
The other major difference between premillennialists and amillennialists is with regard to the two resurrections mentioned in Revelation 20. Amillennialists believe we participate in the first resurrection (Christ's resurrection) by being born again and by being baptized into his resurrection. Again, I'll quote the NASB in the following examples:
Romans 6:3 "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."
Ephesians 2:4 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Colossians 3:1 "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."
So their argument is that the two resurrections in Revelation 20 are first a spiritual resurrection, and then a bodily resurrection. As I said earlier, though we may not feel at all resurrected at the present time, God has his own perspective about that, and several passages of scripture tend to support the view that he regards us as having been resurrected already, even though we still live in an earthly body, not in the glorified body Paul promises believers will someday have in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.
Amillennialists also believe the battle described in Revelation 20:8-10 is probably the same battle which was described in Revelation 14 and 19. They don't view Satan's being hurled into the lake of fire as a separate event from the beast and the false prophet being hurled into the lake of fire or even the destruction of Babylon.
Their view of the two resurrections seems quite plausible, and it resolves the dilemma I have about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. Those who share spiritually in the resurrection of Christ will not be hurt by the second death, because the first spiritual resurrection determines their eternal destiny. The great white throne judgment will then actually be a general resurrection of all mankind, both the saved and the unsaved, each of whom will be assigned their proper place in eternity.
Of course, if only the second resurrection is physical and it occurs after the thousand years, there is no literal thousand year reign with Christ. We will reign together spiritually during this age for an indefinite period of time. In that case, one wonders what purpose this chapter serves at all, except to tell us Satan will wind up in the lake of fire and to tell us about the second death.
Unfortunately, though, I have a bigger problem with the amillennialist view than with the premillennialist view for the following reasons.
Their view is that the thousand year reign of Christ is actually an indefinite period of time during the present age when Christ is reigning from heaven and Satan is bound. It is true that in Matthew 28:18 Jesus says all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. We all agree Christ has been given all authority, but we do not presently see him exercising all of his authority.
Amillennialists believe the gospel's advance during the present age is because Satan is bound. But that is contrary, both with our experience as we watch western civilization drift further and further away from Christianity, and to scripture itself.
If Satan is bound, for instance, why does Jesus warn us about false Christs and false prophets in Matthew 24? Even though Jesus says in Luke 10:18 he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, Revelation 12 says Satan has been driven out of heaven, but he has come to earth with great fury because he knows his time is short.
If Satan is bound, why did he fill the heart of Ananias and cause him to lie to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:3? Why does 1 Peter 5:8 warn us that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour? Of course, the other side of that story can be found in Matthew 16:19, where Jesus says whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, or Romans 16:20 where Paul says, "God will soon crush Satan under your feet." James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But nothing in the New Testament and nothing in our daily experience suggests to us that Satan is presently bound in the abyss with a chain, as Revelation 20:3 says he will be.
On the contrary, consider the following passages, which suggest an increasing amount of Satanic activity during our time (NASB):
1 Timothy 4:1 "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."
Matthew 24:12 (NKJV): "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."
2 Peter 3:3 "To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires
4 And say, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation (amp).
There are many similar passages in the New Testament, and the premillennial view allows for the continuing activity of Satan and the folly of human nature until the return of Christ, while the amillennial view sees the gospel's progress, but doesn't account for the activity of Satan or explain why it would be so prevalent if Satan were chained in the abyss.
From an amillennial perspective, their view regarding the thousand year reign and the two resurrections is supported by the rest of the New Testament. It is certainly appropriate to use one scripture to aid in the interpretation of another. Premillennialists would argue that the amillennial position essentially nullifies and erases Revelation 20, making it quite unnecessary and meaningless.
THE POSTMILLENNIAL VIEW
I haven't read extensively about postmillennialists, but my understanding is that their view of Revelation is essentially amillennial, except that they believe it is the church's responsibility to evangelize the earth, and Christ will not return until that job has been completed. No one argues that Jesus gave us the great commission, but premillennialists allow for a degree of failure by the church, as we saw in Revelation 2 and 3, whereas postmillennialists emphasize passages such as the following:
Romans 5:17 "For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." (NKJV)
Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
In other words, the church has all the authority it needs, and it is responsible for subduing the earth. Christ will not return until the job is done. This is sometimes referred to as kingdom theology. Israel was given a vast area of land to possess in the Old Testament, much of which they never occupied. Postmillennialists somehow manage to ignore many scriptures which explicitly state things are not peachy at the time of the second coming.
I have had the experience of attending an avidly postmillennial church. It is somewhat odd, in that instead of looking around at the mess the world is in and saying Christ must return soon, they look around at the mess the world is in and say that Christ cannot return soon, though he says he is coming soon in Revelation 22. I tried unsuccessfully to get them to explain how they would interpret Matthew 24:38-39, which says:
38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."
Many passages, like the one above, seem to clash with their theology. But I was less uncomfortable with their theology than I was with their absolute insistence on it, their unwillingness to consider alternate views, and their tendency to call other Christians escapists who just want to bail out and be raptured without doing the hard work of fulfilling the great commission and bringing the kingdom of God to earth. Even though their point that some Christians are too eager to be rescued from this age, instead of fighting the good fight of faith has some validity, they felt as much conflict with the rest of the church as they did with the world, which seems inappropriate to me.
Let me close by cheerfully acknowledging that I do not have all of the answers. I am a premillennialist, but not without some questions and reservations. If anyone reads this and has additional insight, or if they feel I have misunderstood, misrepresented or misapplied their views regarding this chapter, or the book of Revelation in general, please let me know, and I will prayerfully consider what you have to say.
16:18 "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Compare this passage with Revelation 13:7, which says:
13:7 "He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them."
Or compare it with Daniel 7:21, which says:
7:21 "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them."
Can all of these passages be true, or do the last two contradict the first one? The answer is that they are all true. Anyone who reads Daniel 7:22 or Revelation 13:8 knows that the conditions described by the two verses above only point to a temporary Satanic victory, and there will still be an opportunity to resist the devil (not to mention the necessity for doing so) during these times. In Matthew 16, Jesus is taking a longer view of the conflict between Satan and his church, but Daniel and John define some temporary limitations on what he says.
I mention these passages in order to give a simple example of how seemingly contradictory prophetic passages can still be true, particularly if our understanding of the sequence of events or the period of time they encompass is inaccurate. End time prophecy is a puzzle whose pieces many have attempted to fit together in various ways, and it's quite possible that none of us are completely correct. Though it only contains 15 verses, Revelation 20 can be understood in a variety of different ways. Most controversies about scripture are disputes between the saved and the unsaved, where there is a clear and unequivocal Christian position. This chapter, however, is controversial between Christians, and it requires us to humbly hold our positions (if we have one), while continuing to respect those who disagree with us.
I should say from the outset that my discussion of this chapter will not be exhaustive. To completely cover the various beliefs about this chapter, I would need to write hundreds of pages, which I don't intend to do, I would need to do years of research, and I would need a deeper understanding of everyone's position than I have. So accept what follows as a thumbnail sketch, a small peek into a shop window.
Though there are many variations on the three major beliefs which I cannot cover here, we are dealing primarily with premillennial, amillennial and postmillennial positions. I have always thought of myself as a premillennialist, but there are strengths and weaknesses to each camp's arguments, and I hope to be as fair here as I can, because there is a great deal which we simply do not know.
THE PREMILLENNIAL VIEW
Premillennialists believe the events of Revelation 20 happen sequentially after the events of Revelation 1-19. In other words, they believe that after the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments, Babylon will be judged, the beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire, those who worship the beast and receive its mark will be killed, Christ will return to the earth and conquer his enemies, followed by the armies of heaven, which include the redeemed, dressed in clean white linen. After all of these things take place, the devil will be bound for a literal thousand years and Christ will reign with the saints for a literal thousand years, after which the devil will be released from the abyss temporarily to organize one last rebellion among the nations, which will again fail, after which the devil will be thrown permanently into the lake of fire with the beast, the false prophet and all of their followers and the unrighteous dead of all generations. Premillennialists may differ with regard to the rapture spoken of by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, some placing it before the tribulation, in the middle of the tribulation or after the tribulation, but they all expect a literal straightforward fulfillment of the events in chapter 20 after everything else in the previous chapters has taken place.
Premillennialists generally believe in two resurrections, the resurrection of the just, called the first resurrection in Revelation 20:6, and a second resurrection of the unjust who appear before the white throne to be judged and condemned to the lake of fire. They account for the fact that verse 4 identifies those who take part in the first resurrection as martyrs by saying that the Greek word for martyr really means witness and does not necessarily refer to violent death, though clearly this passage indicates that some have been killed for their faith. No blessing is pronounced on anyone who is resurrected after the thousand years are over, which causes most premillennialists to believe the second resurrection applies only to the unjust. This is certainly a plausible interpretation, but it's worth pointing out that verses 12-15 do not indicate specifically that everyone who takes part in the second resurrection is lost, and verse 4 specifically describes the beheading of martyrs. However, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says the dead in Christ will rise first, before those who are still alive, and it implies all the dead in Christ, without dividing them into groups. There is no scriptural reason to believe in multiple resurrections of the just at different times, and the only resurrection chapter 20 speaks of which certainly involves the just is the first one in verse 6.
A thousand year reign of Christ is not spoken of anywhere else in the New Testament, but there are some Old Testament passages which may be allusions to such a period, such as Isaiah 2:2-4, Isaiah 11:2-10, Isaiah 65:20-25, Jeremiah 23:5-8, Micah 4:2-8, Zechariah 8:20-23 and Zechariah 14.
But a thousand year reign of Christ, with the devil bound in the abyss, raises a lot of questions which premillennialists may not be able to answer well. What is the purpose for the thousand year reign, and more importantly, who are Christ's enemies during Satan's final rebellion? The answer which is generally given is that God wants to prove that men are not just sinful because sin surrounds them, and they are influenced by the sins of others, by poverty, disease, hunger, thirst, natural disasters, etc. Jesus comes and produces a utopian environment, yet an environment in which some men do not personally accept his lordship. It is presumed that the final rebellion is not a rebellion among resurrected saints, but a rebellion of people who have been born during the thousand years. Jesus teaches in Luke 20:34-36 that those who are worthy of the new age do not marry, so, presumably, they would not have children. So whose descendants would rebel? The answer would have to be descendants of some left on earth who are unsaved, yet do not gather for battle against Christ in chapter 19. Revelation 13:7 says the beast was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and Revelation 13:16-17 says the beast compells all to receive its mark and does not allow anyone to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. These passages seem to indicate that everyone is forced during the tribulation to choose between Christ and Satan, so it's reasonable to wonder how many people could be left on earth after chapter 19 who are not Christians, or alternatively, why the redeemed would continue to have children for a thousand years.
As a self-confessed premillennialist, my biggest concern with the premillennial position stems from the passage in Matthew 25:31-46. I quote here the amplified version, which is as follows:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats;
33 And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left.
34 Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me,
36 I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.
37 Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink?
38 And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You?
39 And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?
40 And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.
41 Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!
42 For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me with help and ministering care.
44 Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?
45 And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me.
46 Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life."
Note two things about the passage above. This story seems to describe one event. Both the righteous and the unrighteous seem to be surprised by what Jesus says to them. The righteous seem surprised they complied with Christ's wishes, and the unrighteous seem surprised they did not. If the rest of the dead do not come to life until the thousand years are over, and the righteous have reigned with Christ for a thousand years, how could they seem surprised? There does not seem to be a gap of a thousand years between verse 41 and verse 42. I will justify my premillennial position later by explaining the greater problems I have with the amillennial and postmillennial positions, yet I'm perplexed even by what I claim to believe about this chapter. This is one of the reasons why Revelation is so often ignored by pastors. "I don't know" is an honest answer to some of my own questions, but it doesn't make a very good sermon.
Before I write about the amillennialist view of Revelation 20, I want to pause for a couple of miscellaneous observations. Consider the following passages. Revelation 6:9 (NASB) says:
9 "When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained."
Revelation 20:4 (NASB) says:
4 "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years."
In both of these passages, John says he saw souls of those who had given testimony about Jesus. How can one see a soul, or even a disembodied spirit, for that matter? Perhaps he says "I saw" because he has been made aware of souls spiritually, and there isn't a convenient verb to express how he became aware of them. But some use verse 4 of chapter 20 to argue that the saints reign with Christ in heaven, not on earth, pointing out that the earth is not mentioned in this passage. However, Revelation 5:9-10 (amp) says:
9 "And [now] they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals that are on it, for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased men unto God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!
The other thing I want to mention is that we do not even see life and death issues in the same way God sees them, and that may contribute to some of our confusion about what prophetic passages are trying to tell us. Recall, for instance, that in John 11:11 Jesus says Lazarus has fallen asleep (refering to his death), and he is going to wake Lazarus out of sleep. Also, when Jesus debates the Sadducees about the doctrine of resurrection, he makes the following observation in Luke 20:37-38 (NASB):
37 "But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB.
38 "Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him."
From a human perspective, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are dead, and they have been dead for thousands of years. Though they have not yet been raised from the dead, God's relationship with them continues, and he knows them as living persons. This is an important point, because, as we shall see, amillennialists view the two resurrections in Revelation 20 in a very different way, and they have a basis for arguing their position is wholely consistent with scripture.
As I have said before, some view the book of Revelation from an entirely symbolic view, as a sort of encouraging poem which actually means very little. This frees them from having to harmonize the details of John's vision with other portions of scripture, or even from our own knowledge and experience. The genius of Revelation is that even this interpretation leaves the fundamental elements of the book intact, God's right to be worshiped, the need for the saints to persevere, and God's judgment of all sin, both inside and outside of the church.
Those who view Revelation symbolically are amillennialists, but most amillennialists are much more precise about how they believe Revelation will be fulfilled, and it is their view I will concentrate on.
THE AMILLENNIAL VIEW
The amillennial view of Revelation, and Revelation 20 in particular, is different from the premillennial view in two fundamental ways:
First, they do not take the numbers in Revelation literally. They view numbers like 144,000 and 1,000 as numbers implying completeness, not as cardinal numbers. Their strongest argument for this comes from the following two passages, Psalm 90:4, 1 Peter 3:8-10 (NASB).
Psalm 90:4 "For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night."
2 Peter 3:8 "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."
They argue that a thousand years is not a definite period of time, and they also contend that if the day of the Lord comes like a thief, it will happen suddenly, not over the period of a thousand years. They tend to view Revelation as a description of the entire church age, not from a futurist point of view. In other words, they don't care much about Daniel's seventieth week, the last half of the tribulation, when the rapture will take place, etc.
The other major difference between premillennialists and amillennialists is with regard to the two resurrections mentioned in Revelation 20. Amillennialists believe we participate in the first resurrection (Christ's resurrection) by being born again and by being baptized into his resurrection. Again, I'll quote the NASB in the following examples:
Romans 6:3 "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."
Ephesians 2:4 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Colossians 3:1 "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."
So their argument is that the two resurrections in Revelation 20 are first a spiritual resurrection, and then a bodily resurrection. As I said earlier, though we may not feel at all resurrected at the present time, God has his own perspective about that, and several passages of scripture tend to support the view that he regards us as having been resurrected already, even though we still live in an earthly body, not in the glorified body Paul promises believers will someday have in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.
Amillennialists also believe the battle described in Revelation 20:8-10 is probably the same battle which was described in Revelation 14 and 19. They don't view Satan's being hurled into the lake of fire as a separate event from the beast and the false prophet being hurled into the lake of fire or even the destruction of Babylon.
Their view of the two resurrections seems quite plausible, and it resolves the dilemma I have about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. Those who share spiritually in the resurrection of Christ will not be hurt by the second death, because the first spiritual resurrection determines their eternal destiny. The great white throne judgment will then actually be a general resurrection of all mankind, both the saved and the unsaved, each of whom will be assigned their proper place in eternity.
Of course, if only the second resurrection is physical and it occurs after the thousand years, there is no literal thousand year reign with Christ. We will reign together spiritually during this age for an indefinite period of time. In that case, one wonders what purpose this chapter serves at all, except to tell us Satan will wind up in the lake of fire and to tell us about the second death.
Unfortunately, though, I have a bigger problem with the amillennialist view than with the premillennialist view for the following reasons.
Their view is that the thousand year reign of Christ is actually an indefinite period of time during the present age when Christ is reigning from heaven and Satan is bound. It is true that in Matthew 28:18 Jesus says all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. We all agree Christ has been given all authority, but we do not presently see him exercising all of his authority.
Amillennialists believe the gospel's advance during the present age is because Satan is bound. But that is contrary, both with our experience as we watch western civilization drift further and further away from Christianity, and to scripture itself.
If Satan is bound, for instance, why does Jesus warn us about false Christs and false prophets in Matthew 24? Even though Jesus says in Luke 10:18 he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, Revelation 12 says Satan has been driven out of heaven, but he has come to earth with great fury because he knows his time is short.
If Satan is bound, why did he fill the heart of Ananias and cause him to lie to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:3? Why does 1 Peter 5:8 warn us that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour? Of course, the other side of that story can be found in Matthew 16:19, where Jesus says whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, or Romans 16:20 where Paul says, "God will soon crush Satan under your feet." James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But nothing in the New Testament and nothing in our daily experience suggests to us that Satan is presently bound in the abyss with a chain, as Revelation 20:3 says he will be.
On the contrary, consider the following passages, which suggest an increasing amount of Satanic activity during our time (NASB):
1 Timothy 4:1 "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths."
Matthew 24:12 (NKJV): "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."
2 Peter 3:3 "To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires
4 And say, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation (amp).
There are many similar passages in the New Testament, and the premillennial view allows for the continuing activity of Satan and the folly of human nature until the return of Christ, while the amillennial view sees the gospel's progress, but doesn't account for the activity of Satan or explain why it would be so prevalent if Satan were chained in the abyss.
From an amillennial perspective, their view regarding the thousand year reign and the two resurrections is supported by the rest of the New Testament. It is certainly appropriate to use one scripture to aid in the interpretation of another. Premillennialists would argue that the amillennial position essentially nullifies and erases Revelation 20, making it quite unnecessary and meaningless.
THE POSTMILLENNIAL VIEW
I haven't read extensively about postmillennialists, but my understanding is that their view of Revelation is essentially amillennial, except that they believe it is the church's responsibility to evangelize the earth, and Christ will not return until that job has been completed. No one argues that Jesus gave us the great commission, but premillennialists allow for a degree of failure by the church, as we saw in Revelation 2 and 3, whereas postmillennialists emphasize passages such as the following:
Romans 5:17 "For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." (NKJV)
Matthew 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
In other words, the church has all the authority it needs, and it is responsible for subduing the earth. Christ will not return until the job is done. This is sometimes referred to as kingdom theology. Israel was given a vast area of land to possess in the Old Testament, much of which they never occupied. Postmillennialists somehow manage to ignore many scriptures which explicitly state things are not peachy at the time of the second coming.
I have had the experience of attending an avidly postmillennial church. It is somewhat odd, in that instead of looking around at the mess the world is in and saying Christ must return soon, they look around at the mess the world is in and say that Christ cannot return soon, though he says he is coming soon in Revelation 22. I tried unsuccessfully to get them to explain how they would interpret Matthew 24:38-39, which says:
38 "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."
Many passages, like the one above, seem to clash with their theology. But I was less uncomfortable with their theology than I was with their absolute insistence on it, their unwillingness to consider alternate views, and their tendency to call other Christians escapists who just want to bail out and be raptured without doing the hard work of fulfilling the great commission and bringing the kingdom of God to earth. Even though their point that some Christians are too eager to be rescued from this age, instead of fighting the good fight of faith has some validity, they felt as much conflict with the rest of the church as they did with the world, which seems inappropriate to me.
Let me close by cheerfully acknowledging that I do not have all of the answers. I am a premillennialist, but not without some questions and reservations. If anyone reads this and has additional insight, or if they feel I have misunderstood, misrepresented or misapplied their views regarding this chapter, or the book of Revelation in general, please let me know, and I will prayerfully consider what you have to say.
posted by TAPIOCA at 12/25/2006 03:25:00 AM
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