Revelation 20:6 – Views of the Millennium

There are many pre-conceived biases about the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth, making chapter 20 of Revelation one of the most controversial in all of Scripture. Revelation 20:1-7 six times mentions a thousand year reign of Christ. This in itself does not cause the controversy, but the timing of this event does because it conflicts with many concepts that theologians have had for years. This is the only place in all of Scripture that mentions the length of the earthly reign of Christ and leaves without a doubt that there will be such a Kingdom Age to anyone who believes that the Bible truly is the inspired Word of God. This Kingdom is one of the most frequent mentioned topics in all of Scripture, and is often labeled the Millennium which is derived from the Latin words mille, which means “one thousand”, and annum, which means year. This term is never used in Scripture, but has tended to be added to the Scriptural word for this time, “Kingdom”. This period will literally fulfill the prayer “thy kingdom come” in Matthew 6:10. The point of controversy again is not the Kingdom itself, but whether or not He Himself will bring the Kingdom or whether the world will get better and better allowing Christ to come to a righteous earth. Very few try to spiritualize Scripture to explain away the Kingdom all together.

The three concepts of the Kingdom are as follows: premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism.

Before examining the Kingdom itself, it is necessary to view these three concepts to examine where they stand in the light of Scripture. It is important that when we go into this we don’t attempt to try to make Scripture fit our doctrine, but allow Scripture to form our doctrine. Remove any pre-conceived notion and act as if this is all a new concept. I promise, the Word will reveal itself in all truth.

Premillennialism

This is the belief that Jesus will return to the earth before the Kingdom begins and His presence will institute the Kingdom. Generally speaking, the way one views the Scriptures will determine their view of the Kingdom. If one takes the Bible literally wherever possible, the only logical view is a pre-millennial view. Do you remember how we determined the only way to understand prophecy was, when we started this study? “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate text, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate otherwise.” Some scholars separate prophecy from other passages. They take Scripture literally unless they are dealing with prophecy. Belief in a loving God who is involved in our lives leaves us only the option of a literal view. If He gave us His plan for the end so that we can know it, why would it be wholly symbolic and thus left to endless interpretation? Virtually anyone who interprets Scripture literally has a pre-millennial view. With a literal view, it’s easy to determine that the people of the early church were premillennialists. They believed that Christ would come during their lives to establish His Kingdom. Also, Paul taught many times to live as if Christ could return at any moment. Paul also taught that there would be a falling away toward the end times. This meant that there would be a falling away from true doctrine and moral standard that seemed to stay fairly even for years (I Timothy 4).

During the time in which Constantine combined church and state toward the end of the third century, the spiritualizing of Scripture began to take over theological thought. As the Dark Ages came, which is the time when God’s word was banned from possession of church members, premillennialism all but died out. Not until after the Reformation was premillennialism revived. The first generation of reformers, such as John Calvin and Martin Luther, didn’t spend much time studying the Second Coming which kept their views still in line with the Roman church. They are not necessarily to blame for this because their main goal was teaching salvation by grace through faith and not the “end times”. Their reformation led the second generation of Bible scholars to re-inherit a literal interpretation of Scripture which allowed premillennialism to revive. As this view gained steam, by the 20^th century, Bible institutes sprang up in America with an overwhelming majority holding to premillennialism.

Amillennialism

This is the belief that there will be no literal Kingdom on the earth after the Second Coming of Christ. This is the view that arose from the spiritualization of prophecy starting in the late third century. They attribute the church to all the prophecies concerning Israel, which as we have seen is a huge mistake. This view was founded by Augustine who founded most of the doctrine of the Roman Church. The spiritualization of the doctrine of the Kingdom has left this view divided. Some believe that the millennium is being fulfilled now on the earth (Augustine), while others believe that the millennium is being fulfilled now in heaven (Kliefoth). Either way, they believe eternity begins at the Second Coming of Christ. They believe Satan was bound at the First Coming of Christ. In fact, Augustine wrote in his book The City of God that the present age was the battleground between “The City of God” and “The City of Satan” (Church vs. Rome). This battle would ultimately end with the church defeating the world, leading to the return of Christ followed by eternity. He taught on the basis of Luke 10:18, that Satan had been bound on the earth by Christ, and the fact that the Roman government under Constantine endorsed Christianity as the state religion showed that the Church was winning the battle. Amillennialism, being the doctrine of the dominant Roman church for hundreds of years, naturally had an effect on early reformers. People like John Calvin and Martin Luther took their cue from Augustine and adopted Amillennialism. These were men who were raised in the Roman church that God used in great ways, but they still were greatly influenced by what they had been taught throughout their lives. Because of this, Amillennialism flourished during the Reformation and is overwhelmingly the view of most Christians today. Most Amillennialists either come from the Roman church, natural or reformed, or are liberal in their thinking. It’s not correct to say that all Amillennialists are liberal, but it is correct to say all liberals are Amillennialists. One can’t hold this viewpoint without spiritualizing Scripture which, as we see, tends to cause different views and confusion. Another problem that we see is that the world is not getting better. In fact, it is getting worse. Murder and other violent crimes are on the rise, the family unit is failing, apostasy is taking over at an alarming rate, and wickedness is beginning to fill the earth. This is exactly what a literal interpretation of Scripture said would happen.

Postmillennialism

This is the view that Christ will return to a kingdom of peace. This is the youngest and newest of the three views and is virtually extinct at present time. This view says that the world will get better and better until it becomes fully Christianized, at which point Christ will return. This view was very popular at the turn of the twentieth century and was given more momentum because of the great revivals under Finney, Moody and others (not people who were necessarily postmillennial). The two World Wars, the Great Depression, the rise of Islam, and the rise of moral evil have caused its virtual extinction. It has made a limited resurgence in a group called Theonomists. Most that had this view now have an Amillennial view.

I told you all of this, not because I’m uncertain in my views or because I want to confuse you, but so that you would know what other people believe and know what they are talking about if you run into someone with an opposing view. For those of you who have been reading this blog for any length of time, from what I just described it is pretty easy for you to know my view without me telling you, but I am Premillennial in my views. There are many reasons why and I’ll name a few in just a moment, but since I believe in a literal interpretation of Scripture, this view is the only logical choice.

Why Premillennialism?

1. When Christ comes, he will separate the sheep and goats. The sheep will come into the Kingdom prepared for them while the goats will be sent to Hell and be resurrected for judgment after 1,000 years. Therefore Christ has to come before the Millennium. (Matthew 25).
2. When Christ comes, Satan will be bound for 1,000 years. We see in Revelation 12 that Satan is not bound, and in fact will still have access to God’s throne until the midpoint of the Tribulation. Therefore Christ has to come before the Millennium. (Revelation 20:1-3)
3. When Christ comes, Antichrist will be destroyed, but because Antichrist is to come before the Millennium there can be no Millennium before Christ comes. (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:20).
4. When Christ comes at the Rapture, He will come like a thief in the night, so we are told to watch so that we are not caught unaware. Why would we be told to watch and wait for something that could be 1000 years away? This is what Postmillennialism leaves us with.

This is just 4 of many reasons why Scripture leaves us only a Premillennial view of the Kingdom.

Next time, we will begin to look at the details of the Kingdom and see what life will be like. Until then…God Bless!!