In this post, we will discuss another key eschatological event referred to in Scripture as
the Millennium. The Millennium refers to the period of Christ's thousand-year reign,
described in Revelation, chapter 20. This occurrence is not without its controversy as
several positions have been given by way of interpretation. We will briefly describe each
of these positions in this blog post.
There are three basic interpretations of the Millennial reign of Jesus. The first is referred
to as Premillennial. This view comes from those who believe that Jesus will return after
an intense tribulation period to set up a thousand-year kingdom on Earth. At that time,
He will rule from the literal throne of David in New Jerusalem. During the Millennium,
Satan will be bound from his activities and cast into the abyss (Revelation 20: 1-3). He
will remain there for the duration of Christ's earthly reign only to be loosed toward the
end for a short time so he may cause deception to occur among the unbelieving. This
view comes from a literal, historical, grammatical hermeneutic that Dispensationalists
typically hold.
The second view is referred to as the Postmillennial interpretation. In this perspective,
Christ will return after Christianity has been established on the Earth and all enemies
are brought under subjection to Christ. This perspective holds to the understanding,
along with Amillennialism, that the thousand-year reign of Christ is figurative. That is to
say, they maintain that Christ is reigning presently from Heaven over a spiritual kingdom
in which Satan has been bound so that the Gospel may go forth unabated. They
maintain that when Jesus returns, a general physical resurrection of the righteous and
the wicked occurs, followed by the final judgment, culminating with the new heavens
and Earth.
Thirdly, the Amillennialist position is closely akin to the Postmillennial perspective. In
fact, prior to the 20th century, the two views were virtually synonymous. Again, this
perspective denies an earthly, thousand-year reign but instead sees the reign of Christ
as occurring presently from Heaven.
To briefly summarize, the Amillennialist expects no earthly Millenium. Postmillennialists
believe Christ returns after the heavenly Millennium, and premillennialists believe Christ
returns before the Millennium. Since this author holds to a literal, historical, and
grammatical interpretation of the Bible, the first position seems the most plausible for
numerous reasons.
First, the Old Testament prophets all anticipated an earthly reign of Messiah over a
restored Israel and the world. Some classic passages include Isaiah 11, 65, and 66,
and Zechariah 14. Indeed, virtually all of the prophets spoke of two things uniformly:
judgment and the coming Kingdom of Messiah. Secondly, Jesus taught His disciples to
pray and anticipate a future kingdom on Earth in both the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6: 10)
and His post-resurrection teaching (Acts 1:3-6). In Peter's second great sermon, he
declared that Heaven would retain Jesus until the "times of refreshing" came to the
Earth until all the prophet's words were fulfilled concerning the restoration of all things.
Another curious issue is the "binding of Satan" that is described in Revelation 20. It is
clear from this passage that before the thousand years, Satan will be neutralized and
cast into the abyss. John relates that the purpose of this imprisonment is that Satan will
no longer be able to deceive the nations. It seems ludicrous to believe that Satan is
presently bound and resides in the abyss. If there is one thing we know from the
Epistles, it is that Satan is active and deceiving and must be withstood. Again,
Scriptures abound asserting this truth (2 Corinthians 4: 3-4; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 4:4).
Finally, the issue of authorial intent regarding passage priority must be addressed. In
other words, what did the Old Testament prophets mean when writing about Messiah's
kingdom? Did they not proclaim judgment upon the nations and a glorious future in
which Christ would reign? Were their prophecies obscured so that a literal kingdom was
never in view? Must one believe that all of the specifics related to future glory on Earth
be "spiritualized"; allegorically? These issues have engaged theologians over the
centuries and demand serious study and consistent answers.