The Millennium

    When reading and learning about the interpretation of the Millennium that is described in Revelation chapter 20, there are a lot of varied thoughts and opinions that the purpose of the “Thousand years” that God has imprisoned Satan. Some believe that the thousand years is the literal number between Jesus ascending into heaven and when Jesus will return; although, some believe that the thousand years describes a figurative period of time until Jesus returns. There are three main ideas or interpretations of this theological concept; it is either Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, or Amillennialism.

    To keep this subject as simple as possible, we will first review Premillennialism. According to the book, Three Views of the Millennium, Michael Morrison defines Premillennialism as, “The premillennialist says that everything will be restored after Christ’s return, not before. Satan is not gradually bound and restricted — the picture in Revelation is a sudden and complete containment” (Morrison, 2019). This implies that the thousand years of Jesus’ reign will begin before he returns to renew the world in Glory. This implies that Jesus will use his time to conquer his enemy and their allies before returning to the world to reveal His glory. This is reiterated by Morrison when he states, “Christ must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. This is not an instantaneous event: Christ reigns for a span of time in which he destroys all enemies, even the enemy of death” (Morrison, 2019). This concept is further explained in Three Millennium Views, where it is further defined, “Premillennialism is the view that when Christ comes he will set up an earthly kingdom in which Christ is the king, and certain classes of believers are to reign with Him on the earth, over the nations” (https://d2l.macu.edu/content/enforced/55933-BINT120310W122F2/MillPart1.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8AjL7XIhq4i1CZBODi5rQ170N&ou=55933, n.d.). According to this set of beliefs, Satan was imprisoned at the beginning of the thousand years and will be released near the end, so that God can finish the battle. In that final battle, Satan will be able to gather his own army for the battle. It is also believed that after the battle, Jesus will create a New Heaven and New Earth for the believers.

    The second interpretation of the thousand-year concept is Postmillennialism. In the book Three Views of the Millennium, Morrison defines the concept as “The postmillennialist responds with the belief that God has promised victory for the gospel, and it is right to be optimistic about what God will do even in this age” (Morrison, 2019). This implies that Jesus will return after the millennium to create the New Heaven and New Earth. That means that those that believe in this interpretation believe that there will be a thousand-year period of peace and righteousness before Jesus returns. The writer of Three Millennium Views challenges this point of view when he states that the events of World War I and World War II show that our world is not merely peace and righteousness as we wait for Christ’s return (https://d2l.macu.edu/content/enforced/55933-BINT120310W122F2/MillPart1.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8AjL7XIhq4i1CZBODi5rQ170N&ou=55933, n.d.).

    The third and final interpretation of the Thousand-year wait is called, Amillennialism. This concept considers the thousand years to be figurative for the believers. It also implies that we are currently living in this time, awaiting Jesus’ return. According to Michael Morrison in Three Views of the Millennium, “In the millennial view, Christ also comes after the millennium, but it is called a millennial or non-millennial because it says that there is no special millennium different from what we are already in” (Morrison, 2019). This implies that Christ’s kingdom is currently in effect, yet it is merely spiritual until Christ’s return. We are currently living in this kingdom and the believers are expected to obey Christ’s Word and display Christ’s kingdom until Jesus’ return. The writer of Three Millennium Views states, “A thousand, the of perfection or completion, is held to be the symbolic reference to the perfect period or the complete period between the two comings of Christ” (https://d2l.macu.edu/content/enforced/55933-BINT120310W122F2/MillPart1.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8AjL7XIhq4i1CZBODi5rQ170N&ou=55933, n.d.).
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    At this time in my life and understanding of Scripture, I tend to believe the Amillennialism point of view. I believe that Jesus is currently on the throne that was promised to David’s inheritance His is reigning at this time. That means that the church should fully be displaying God’s glory and his presence to the world through our preaching and how we live. One of the primary reasons that I believe this is because of the current struggles that we see in our world as we live. We see brokenness, disease, and war. This is further explained in  Three Millennium Views, “We expect that wars will continue right up to the time of the end when Christ comes to set things right. We expect the elect to gathered out of an evil world, though we do that the command of Christ to preach the gospel to the whole world must be obeyed and that it is our duty to endeavor to establish a Christian society as far as it is in our power to do so, while we have an obligation to do this, we by no means, expect the whole of society will be Christianized”  (https://d2l.macu.edu/content/enforced/55933-BINT120310W122F2/MillPart1.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8AjL7XIhq4i1CZBODi5rQ170N&ou=55933, n.d.). This is also evident in 1 Corinthians 15:56-58, where Paul emphasizes the victory that already has in Jesus. He states, “56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (NIV, Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition, Bonded Leather, Black, Red Letter, Thumb Indexed, 2019). Jesus gives us that victory now because he is on the throne and has the authority to grant us freedom and victory over sin and death. First, we will experience spiritual freedom and victory then we will be given our new body when Jesus creates the New Heaven and New Earth after his return. As stated in Romans 10:12-13, “12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (NIV, Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition, Bonded Leather, Black, Red Letter, Thumb Indexed, 2019). This reveals the power of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, which I believe extended throughout history; past, present, and future so that all who call upon the name of Jesus will be saved. I believe that is only possible if Christ’s kingdom is firstly spiritual in nature. As we are spiritual in nature and our first death in Adam and Eve was spiritual. It is because of this, I believe that Jesus first saves the soul while sitting on the spiritual throne and after Jesus’s physical return to Earth, He will renew and transform our physical bodies. Since Jesus is already on the throne and victorious, this means that the conflict between Satan and God has already been completed. This is stated by Micheal Morrison, Yes, says the amillennial view. There is evidence in Scripture that the kingdom of God has already begun, that Satan has already been bound, that there will be only one resurrection, and that Christ’s return will bring the new heavens and new earth, without any temporary kingdom in between. It is a hermeneutical mistake to make the book of Revelation, with all its symbolism and all its interpretive difficulties, contradict what the rest of Scripture says. We need to use the plain scriptures to interpret the obscure ones, rather than the other way around. In this case, the book of Revelation is the obscure and the controversial material (mainly because of the apocalyptic writing style), and the other New Testament verses are clear on the matter” (Morrison, 2019).   
Resources:
Morrison, M. (2019, January 26). Three Views of the Millennium. Grace Communion Seminary. https://learn.gcs.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=4275

https://d2l.macu.edu/content/enforced/55933-BINT120310W122F2/MillPart1.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8AjL7XIhq4i1CZBODi5rQ170N&ou=55933. (n.d.). Three Millennium Views. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://d2l.macu.edu/content/enforced/55933-BINT120310W122F2/MillPart1.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=8AjL7XIhq4i1CZBODi5rQ170N&ou=55933

NIV, Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition, Bonded Leather, Black, Red Letter, Thumb Indexed (Indexed, Thumbed). (2019). Zondervan.