In Part 1 of this series on Revelation 20 and the Millennial Kingdom, we discussed a solid foundation of terms and considerations when attempting to understand the doctrine of the Millennial Reign of Christ in eschatology and how we should understand the book of Revelation itself. We also introduced the text itself and began to dive into what it does and does not tell us about the nature of the Millennium and why a certain understanding of the Millennial Kingdom is necessary for Dispensational premillennialists. If you didn’t catch Part 1 previously, you might benefit from giving it a review before continuing.
In Part 2, we will further define and digest what amillennialists believe about the Millennium, we will look at how scripture supports the
Amillennialism: A Slightly Too Simplistic Term
As we have previously mentioned, amillennialism is the commonly accepted and used term to denote one of the four major millennial views of eschatology and its Greek etymology, as distinct from “pre”-millennialism or “post”-millennialism, connotes the idea of an absence of a Millennium whatsoever. Much like the term “atheist”, the “a” at the beginning indicates a word’s negation. But this is not actually the view held by amillennialists and the lack of precision in the term has not been lost on theologians. Various alternatives have been suggested, such as “realized millennialism” but none have been widely adopted.
So, since no simpler term will suffice, we will benefit from a more precise laying out of the various tenets of amillennialism and Hoekema does a good job of doing so. In short, “Amillennialists interpret the millennium mentioned in Revelation 20:4-6 as describing the present reign of the souls of deceased believers with Christ in heaven. They understand the binding of Satan mentioned in the first three verses of this chapter as being in effect during the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ, though ending shortly before Christ’s return. They teach that Christ will return after this heavenly millennial reign. Amillennialists further hold that the kingdom of God is now present in the world as the victorious Christ is ruling his people by his Word and Spirit, though they also look forward to a future, glorious, and perfect kingdom on the new earth in the life to come.”
Now would perhaps also be a good time to reintroduce the text, in full, for our reference.
“20 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.”
What’s This 1,000 Years Business?
The first obvious question worth asking in this passage is exactly what is meant by “a thousand years”? For many, especially those looking to maintain what they would consider
However, as we discussed in Part 1, the book of Revelation and other similar apocalyptic literature in the Bible is written using an amazing amount of fantastical language describing things revealed within a vision. Given this background, we can reasonably look for and, indeed, expect a certain amount of symbolism within the language. It is not unreasonable to believe that the thousand year figure here is a useful yet imprecise one meant
Similarly, more historical books like I Chronicles contain commands sometimes communicated in a similar fashion. I Chronicles 16:15 commands the people to, “Remember his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.” It is impossible to “remember the covenant forever” while also restricting that remembrance to only “a thousand generations.” We can see that it is a rather common practice to speak in these terms to denote a long and usually significant extent of time/amount in a sort of poetic or grand utterance.
As well, the timeframe here limited to a thousand years actually functions as a stark contrast from the time later described in Revelation. Whereas in chapter 20 the saints reign for a thousand years, in chapter 22, verse 5, we are told that, “they will reign forever and ever.” There is also the concept of Biblical numerology wherein the number ten constitutes a fullness of quantity. In this way, a multiple of ten, a hundred, a thousand, can be seen as an even greater fullness.
Another question that we may ask ourselves regarding the thousand year period is one of continuity; out of the five references we see for a thousand year period, can we assume that they all refer to the same thousand year period? There is
But to understand the two sets of verses as referring to separate and distinct millennia, while perhaps allowable, is certainly not necessary and not warranted. The only real way to do so would be to interpret the “Then” in verse 4 as being not only chronologically subsequent in John’s vision but also subsequent to the full duration of the thousand year period mentioned there and this does not seem to follow. Verse 3 ends with the phrase, “After that he must be released,” which would seem to indicate that the end of the aforementioned period had not yet been witnessed prior to the vision of verse 4. So the most natural reading of the collection of verses and references would seem to imply a singular thousand year period being described.
What Revelation 20 Tells Us About Satan
Depending on church background and denominational affiliation many Christians have very different views of the person and work of Satan. Some Christians place a great weight of influence on what may be referred to as “spiritual warfare” and spend a proportional amount of time focusing on the destructive intentions of Satan and his fallen angelic forces. Others may dismiss the demonic realm almost altogether, seeing it as more sensible to ignore any influence they may have or even questioning whether much of the Biblical material that speaks of spiritual warfare as largely symbolic.
Though many Christians can easily quote
But what do these verses actually tell us about the role Satan plays in the world today? The first insight is that, if indeed the thousand year period mentioned in Revelation 20 describes the present church age, then Satan is bound, today and has been for some time. Though many denominations might accept this at face value, I am skeptical that most Christians, even those within those denominations, speak and live taking this truth into account.
What is the significance of this binding to evangelism? Hoekema gives some very worthy insight into the contrast that is often not appreciated by New Testament believers. He paraphrases, “In Old Testament times…all the nations of the world except Israel were, so to speak, under Satan’s rule.” Old Testament Israel held a sort of monopoly on
And there are verses in scripture, chronology given and/or understood as referring to a time before the events of Revelation 20, that give us reason to conclude that Satan’s influence and power are to experience an interruption or change. One such scripture is Romans 16:20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Unless Paul’s timeframe for “soon” is far longer than the few decades between his authorship of Romans and the full inauguration of the church age, this scripture must be understood as describing a realized state today and for much of recent history. Another is found in Revelation itself in a parallel passage to chapter 20: “Therefore, rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great
So it is reasonable to assume that something important has changed regarding the ability for Satan to function in his desire to combat the spread of the gospel. The only important distinction that needs be made is to what extent. Some scholars would see the binding as limited in a way specified in Revelation 20, “that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” Others would see that role as even further diminished to one of far less power and, given scriptures like Romans 16:20, this may indeed be justified. Some other disagreement may also be found between what might be termed “partial futurist” and partial Preterist interpretations of Revelation and other prophetic literature. Some Christians may see a more full fulfillment of the Great Tribulation in the early church persecution while others would hold a view of the Great Tribulation as a still-future event that relates to the latter section of Revelation 20, verse 3.
But while some interpretive differences remain, all amillennialists alike can rejoice in the ultimate fact that, as Hoekema aptly states, “The binding of Satan…means that throughout the gospel age in which we now live the influence of Satan, though certainly not annihilated, is so curtailed that he cannot prevent the spread of the gospel to the nations of the world. Because of the binding of Satan during this present age, the nations cannot conquer the church, but the church is conquering the nations.”
The Bottom Line
As we continue to study the message and meaning contained within Revelation 20, it is both surprising and expected that, with so few actual words written, so many possible implications and lessons can be derived from it. Indeed, its words have served as the basis for so many doctrinal differences between believers and, unfortunately, broken fellowship between them. As it turns out, there is still more to be understood from this passage and in Part 3, we will look into why we place the millennium firmly within the church age as well as what the latter verses have to tell us about the resurrection and rule of the saints.