Exegetical Eschatology: Millennial Misunderstandings

In "The Coming(s) of the Son of Man" and "Parousia and the Definite Article" we identified some of the presuppositions we tend to read into the texts which speak of Christ's "coming." First, we discovered that there are several "comings" of Jesus, and so we cannot assume that every reference to His "coming" promises His final return. Second, we learned that the manner in which the Greek word παρουσία (parousia)--"coming, presence, appearance"--is used does not demand a single παρουσία, but instead merely assigns ownership thereof to Christ. It is His παρουσία. Therefore, we must examine each "coming" in Scripture independently and determine based on the context that to which it refers.

Today we'll look at a few assumptions we tend to make when we discuss Jesus' "Millennial Reign." For those who are not terribly versed when it comes to biblical eschatology, the modern dispensational view (taught, for example, in the Left Behind series of books) teaches something along these lines: Jesus will come to "rapture" His Church--dead and living--at the beginning or in the middle of the "Great Tribulation," a 7-year period of time following which Jesus and His saints will return and reign for precisely one thousand years on earth. During this time, called Jesus' "Millennial Reign," there will be peace on earth as Satan is bound, unable to have any influence in the world, and as Jesus and believers in their glorified bodies reign, physically present. (If any of my readers disagree to any extent with this summary, please let me know and I will try and correct it if appropriate.)

As we'll see, this view requires several presuppositions which must be read into the text without warrant:

1. The "thousand years" spoken of in Revelation must be precisely 1,000 years
2. During this period of time Jesus and His saints must reign bodily on earth
3. During this period of time Satan must be bound such that he has no influence in the world
4. With 2 and 3 in mind, there will be utter peace until the end when Satan is loosed

Note, too, that these assumptions are not made only be premillenialists, but may also be shared by adherents to other views as well. But they are most prevalent in dispensational circles. Let's take a look at these assumptions one-by-one:

THE CATTLE ON THE THOUSAND-AND-FIRST HILL

When it comes to the duration of Christ's "millennial" reign, the idea comes from Revelation 20:1-7, which reads,

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 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. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison.”

The phrase "thousand years" is repeated 6 times in these 7 verses, and the dispensationalist view understands this as referring to precisely one thousand years. But is this how the number 1,000 is used throughout Scripture? In answering this question, I once heard Dee Dee Warren rhetorically ask, “Who owns the cattle on the thousand-and-first hill?” To illustrate her point, consider the following passages from Scripture:

“For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:10)

“A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you.” (Psalm 91:7)

“One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five” (Isaiah 30:17)

“‘May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you” (Deuteronomy 1:11)

“One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you” (Joshua 23:10)

Here's the point: These uses of “thousand” make it clear that it is often used to refer to an unspecified large number. Likewise, in no way are we required to understand John’s gap of “a thousand years” in Revelation as referring to precisely 8,766,000 hours (I think my math is right, if you include 250 leap years). To do so would be reading into the text an unwarranted assumption. It may very well be that, as is the case with these other passages, we're being told in Revelation that there will be a very long period of time between the events leading up to Revelation 20 and those which follow.

SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD

The next presupposition we tend to read into the Millennium texts is that Jesus and His saints will reign bodily, physically present and ruling on earth. This comes from verse 4 of the passage above:

"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." (Revelation 20:4)

Now, on the surface, this certainly sounds as if those who died in Christ are resurrected physically and are physically present and reign with Christ. However, this may not be the case.

First, Jesus Christ reigns now, and it's in heaven, not on earth. Jesus said to Caiaphas and the court, "from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64, ESV). He was quoting Psalm 110:1-2 where "1 the LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.' 2 The LORD will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, 'Rule in the midst of Your enemies'" (Psalm 110:1-2).

This, in fact, has already happened! "So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19). Jesus "is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him" (1 Peter 3:22). "He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET" (Hebrews 10:12-13). Jesus is seated on the throne now! He is ruling in the midst of His enemies now!

Second, believers have come to life and reign with Christ now! Paul wrote,

"1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins...4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even 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" (Ephesians 2:1-6)

Though alive physically, unbelievers are dead spiritually, and when saved are made alive. And in the previous chapter, Paul had written that God "raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:20), the same "heavenly places" where He seated us! So although we await a future bodily resurrection, believers have undergone a resurrection of sorts already, and we reign with Christ now, having been seated with Him at God's right hand in the heavenly places!

Now, this does not rule out the dispensational view of a future, bodily reign with Christ for one thousand years, prior to the final judgment. However, what is absolutely clear is that we cannot assume that the resurrection and reign with Christ that takes place during the thousand years of Revelation are physical. We have already been brought to life; we reign with Christ now.

SO THAT HE WOULD NOT DECEIVE THE NATIONS

Another assumption we often make concerning the Millennium is that Satan will be bound during this time to the extent that he (and, it seems many think, the demons) has no influence, is totally unable to tempt us. This comes from verses 2 and 3:

"2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time." (Revelation 20:2-3)

Once again, the surface reading of the text seems to support the dispensationalist view. However, upon further thought it becomes clear that this may not be the case.

Being "sealed" in the "abyss" here may not be intended to be taken literally. The book of Revelation is highly symbolic and employs apocalyptic metaphor to illustrate that which it symbolizes. After all, I don't think the most ardent dispensationalist thinks an angel will literally come down out of the sky holding a literal chain which he will then use to literally bind a literal dragon and literally cast him into a literal abyss and literally seal it. We're being given a picture of sealing intended to communicate that Satan's influence is, to one extent or another, limited.

The question becomes, then, to what extent is his influence limited? What is the purpose of his binding? We're told it is "so that he would not deceive the nations any longer." What does this mean? That he literally cannot deceive anybody? Perhaps, but I think there's a better explanation. The word "nations" is the Greek ἔθνος (ethnos), and is not always rendered "nations." In fact, it's more often rendered "Gentiles."

Before the cross, God was known almost exclusively by Jews, God's chosen people. And during Jesus' ministry, He focused on them almost exclusively. He sent the twelve out, saying, "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles" (Matthew 10:5). But, rejected by His people, the Messiah promised that "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it" (Matthew 21:43). After His resurrection Jesus gave the Great Commission, saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (ἔθνος)" (Matthew 28:19).

Gentiles "who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13). The Jewish Christians hadn't fully understood this, and so "All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also" (Acts 10:45). Paul wrote that "salvation has come to the Gentiles" (Romans 11:11), likening them to branches of a wild olive tree grafted into the natural olive tree that is God's people (Romans 11:16-17).

If the expressed purpose of Satan's binding during the Millennium is so that he would for that time be unable to "deceive the Gentiles," it seems perfectly reasonable that this is, in fact, something he's prevented from doing now. After the cross Gentiles began to be grafted into God's people, and with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in AD 70, Jewish persecution of the Church ended opening the doors even more widely to Gentiles.

Is it possible that Satan is in some sense bound now? Well, Jesus said, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning" (Luke 10:18). We cannot assume that Satan's binding during the Millennium is something more.

RULE IN THE MIDST OF YOUR ENEMIES

One final assumption we tend to make about the Millennium is that there will be peace on earth like never before. Though there will exist unsaved people, nevertheless what is presumed to be the physical presence and reign of Christ and His resurrected, glorified Saints will mean there will be peace for a thousand years. In an episode of the Unbelievable radio show, Dee Dee Warren said we are in the Millennium now, and the host's response was something like, "When I look out the window it sure doesn't seem like the reign of Christ." But is this how Jesus's reign is described?

As we saw earlier, the Father said to the Son, "Rule in the midst of Your enemies" (Psalm 110:2). But this doesn't mean His enemies submit during this time. In that same passage, God says of the Son, "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet" (Psalm 110:1). Jesus' enemies are not His footstool immediately. Instead, He rules until they become His footstool! Paul wrote that "He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25). During His reign, Jesus' enemies are not yet subjected to Him. It is only at the end of Christ's reign that "all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him" (1 Corinthians 15:28).

There are certainly passages that suggest a reign on earth, both by Jesus and His saints. And we're certainly told of a time of peace on earth. But none of these passages suggest that this reign and this peace are during this millennial period, prior to the final judgment. We should expect peace on earth, but we are not justified in assuming that this peace occurs during the Millennial reign of Christ. In John's Revelation, he is told that after the Millennium,

"3 Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away...Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:3-5).

Now that sounds like peace on earth to me. That sounds like the sort of peace most assume is to be expected during the Millennium. But this peace is promised after the thousand years, not during it.

AN "ASS" OUT OF "U" AND "ME"

You know what they say. What do you make when you assume? The point is, we must be careful when we study the end times and Jesus' thousand-year reign. It seems that the dispensational view of the Millennium goes without saying in the American Church; but when we examine our presuppositions critically, we discover they are not justified, and the text can lead to quite different conclusions. Let us endeavor to put aside our "sacred cows" and mine the Truth of Scripture without the burden of unwarranted assumptions.