Small Group Leader Guide

Step 1. Introduce the Session

5 minutes

Satan is bound from deceiving the nations, the saints are raised to life, and the kingdom of God is manifested on the Earth for a thousand years; Christ’s millennial reign, Revelation 20.

SESSION GOAL(S)

Survey the thousand-year millennial reign of Christ.
Understand how Satan is bound during the millennial reign.
Determine whether the first resurrection is physical, regenerative or heavenly.
Unpack the four millennial views.

Step 2. Watch the Video

1 hour 26 minutes*

Note to leaders: So sorry. I fully intend for lessons in the Prophecy Course to run around a half hour but failed horribly with this one. If you need to stop the lesson halfway through and pick up the following session, 45 minutes in might make a good place to do that.

CONTENT SUMMARY (with timestamps)

Kingdom Age (00:00)
The Millennial Reign of Christ (Revelation 20) (00:00)
Satan Bound for 1,000 Years (00:00)
1,000 Years: Literal or Symbolic? (00:00)
The First Resurrection (00:00)
Satan Loosed (00:00)
Gog and Magog (00:00)
The Nations Gather Against the Saints (00:00)
The Four Millennial Views (00:00)
Historic Premillennialism (Chiliasm) (00:00)
Dispensational Premillennialism (00:00)
Amillennialism (00:00)
Postmillennialism (00:00)
Millennial Reign Beyond Revelation 20 (00:00)
The Last Say (00:00)

Step 3. Discuss

15 minutes

Leaders: You might like to split into smaller groups at this stage so everyone has a chance to respond honestly. Don’t feel like you have to hurry through all these questions; they are simply conversation starters.

Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in this lesson? Any surprises?

Q. The 1,000 yrs; literal or symbolic? Where do you land and why?

Q. This lesson makes a strong case for the first resurrection being the release of the prophets and early saints from Paradise. Had you ever heard this view before? How might this understanding affect the way we view other passages in scripture?

Q. How might the idea of a future millennial kingdom affect your views on hope, evangelism, financial investments, etc.?

Q. Can you name and briefly explain the four different millennial views. Any new insights?

Step 4. Report Out [OPTIONAL]

15 minutes

Leaders: If you're a team of leaders taking a class through the course and you broke into small groups in Step 3, regroup at the end and ask each small group to report out on their small group discussion. What were their ah-ha's? What did they struggle with?

Close with prayer.

[TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS]

SESSION 11

The Millennial Reign

(Revelation 20, Psalm 110, various)

Revelation 19 closes with the beast and the false prophet being thrown alive into the lake of fire and the birds of the air feasting upon the flesh of the men who were with them. As Revelation 20 opens, an angel descends from heaven, binds Satan, and a resurrection of the faithful joins Christ in a thousand-year millennial reign. In this lesson, we’ll answer questions like, “Are we in the thousand-year reign?”, “What is the first resurrection?”, “Are the thousand years literal?” and finally, we’ll look at the four different millennial views.

TAKE-AWAYS FROM THIS LESSON

Survey the thousand-year millennial reign of Christ
Understand how Satan is bound during the millennial reign
Determine whether the first resurrection is physical, regenerative or heavenly
Unpack the four millennial views

In my lesson on the beast of Revelation, I give heavy evidence for the timing and identity of Revelation 13’s beast from the sea. That beast is seen multiple times across the book of Revelation, but finally meets its end in Revelation 19 where the beast and the false prophet are “thrown alive into a lake of fire” and those who were with them are cut down by the sword (Revelation 19:20-21). And though it feels a whole chapter away (due to those chapter and verse numbers added in the 13^th and 16^th centuries), John’s vision continues directly into Revelation 20, where we see Satan bound and Christ reigning with His saints for 1,000 years. Known as the millennial reign, this time is punctuated by a final worldwide rejection of God and His people, fire from heaven, and the final judgment of the living and the dead.

Remember where we are: Revelation (“Apokalypsis” in the Greek,) is considered the most symbolic book of the Bible and its name literally means to unveil or reveal. In this book, we’re largely seeing from heaven’s perspective; the ethereal behind-the-scenes driving material events. Revelation 20:1-10:

¹ Then I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ² And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ³ and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a short time.

⁴ Then I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ But the rest of the dead did not come to life again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

⁷ When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be released from his prison, ⁸ and shall go out to deceive the nations who are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. ⁹ And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. ¹⁰ And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Following this comes what is known as the White Throne Judgment, where heaven and earth dissolve away, and all the dead are raised and judged, either to receive eternal life, or to be thrown into the lake of fire with Death and Hades, the second death.

Kingdom Age

Before we begin combing through the millennial reign line by line, we need to get clear on the kingdom of God. There are those who say we are still awaiting the kingdom the Son of Man was sent to establish. They point to Satan being the god or ruler of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4, John 12:31, 14:30), and the Hebrews 2:8 lament that we do not yet see all things subjected to Christ.

This kingdom-delayed idea gets a little muddy, however, when the unredeemed earth—still suffering under death, disease and decay—is offered as proof Jesus’ reign hasn’t begun, since heaven and earth don’t actually dissolve until the final judgment. Finally, proponents of kingdom-delayed eschatology will point to Revelation 11:15-18 as still future, and certainly, it seems like it might be when you first read it:

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶ Then the twenty four elders, who sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, ¹⁷ saying, “We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is and who was and is to come; because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. ¹⁸ The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants the prophets, and the saints, and they who fear your name, small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

For me, it’s the judging of the dead, the rewarding of the prophets and saints, and the “destroying those who destroy the earth” that makes this feel like the last day (the eschaton) is in view. But, I think there may be a little more going on. We’ll revisit this passage when we discuss the first resurrection later.

For the moment, suffice it to say, if we’re awaiting a physical kingdom, we’ll need to contend with Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20-21)

Furthermore, we know Jesus is enthroned right now, on time and as planned:

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” (Hebrews 1:3)

“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;” (Hebrews 10:12)

“Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:20)

“Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” (Colossians 1:13)

As Christians, we are in His kingdom service now. We recognize our Messiah has been exalted, taking His throne in heaven:

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Isaiah shows us the kingdom of God was established at the Messiah’s first advent and moves forward “from this time forth and forevermore”—as in, without gaps or 2,000-year delays. Expecting a physical kingdom on earth was the same error unbelieving Israel committed, causing her to miss her own Messiah. Remember Jesus’ words to Pilate,

“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” (John 18:36 NASB; cf. Romans 14:17)

Many Bible translations (like the NIV, ASV, King James and others) read the Greek word νῦν (nyn, Strong’s 3568, pronounced “ne-in”) as “now” before “My kingdom is not of this world”. That “now” often gets used to argue for a future physical kingdom, as in, “Yeah, now His kingdom isn’t on the earth, but Revelation 20 says it will be.” Other word-for-word translations like the ESV, RSV and the NASB translate this transition as “as it is” or remove it entirely. Whatever you do with the “now”, our Lord is clear: His kingdom is not of this world.

The Millennial Reign of Christ (Revelation 20)

Alright! Now that we have a clearer understanding on the kingdom of God, we’re ready to move into wrestling with the 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ.

Satan Bound for 1,000 Years

Then I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (v1-3);

At the end of Revelation 19, the fallen angelic princes behind the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the lake of fire. Now heaven is dealing with their leader, Satan. John is seeing in the spirit; he is showing us the ethereal behind the material. Questions we need to ask:

Who holds the keys to the bottomless pit?
What does it mean to bind Satan? and
Are the thousand years literal or symbolic?

In the beast of Revelation lesson, I explained the bottomless pit is the domain of fallen angels and demonic spirits, otherwise known as the abyss (Revelation 9:2). As for who has the keys to the bottomless pit, in Revelation 1:18, Jesus tells us that it is He who holds the keys!

“I am he that lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

While the King James throws in an enthusiastic “Amen” not found in the Greek, and translates Hades as “hell” as it also does with Sheol and Gehenna (Hebrew names for the same place), we get it! Jesus is the one who holds the keys! “But Jesus isn’t an angel!” you might rightly say! The Greek word “angelos” (here “angelōn”) means “messenger”. Most of us must unlearn the seared image of winged humans to simply understand “angel” just means “messenger” or “one sent”.

But, even before His exaltation, Jesus had begun binding Satan:

²⁸ If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house (the world), and spoil his goods, except he first binds the strong man? And then he will spoil his house. (Matthew 12:28-29, Mark 3:27) ^[1]

It’s at this point, some argue, “How can you say the Devil is bound?! Look at all the evil in the world!” Or, they might say, “If Jesus is reigning now, He is doing a poor job!” They might hold up the Dark Ages, the Holocaust or multiple world wars as further proof. Both claims presuppose utopia will be the natural result in a wheat-and-tares world if Jesus is reigning and Satan is locked away.

I would counter: Is it possible humanity has its own tendency toward evil? In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing” (as in, no good thing). History has proven a free-will creation—apart from its Creator—morally devolves into wickedness. The binding of Satan does not mean evil, sin and suffering ceases, no more than it means the Satanic powers of darkness are powerless. After all, Paul was still advancing the Gospel while in chains! ^[2] Revelation 20:3, and again in verse 8, says very clearly Satan is bound from deceiving the nations. Once this ability to blind the nations is restricted, the Gospel is less hindered as it goes forth into the world. Paul laments Satan’s deception in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, prior to Satan’s binding:

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

In his explanation on the man of lawlessness, Paul shows Satan’s deception in action:

⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

In Revelation 12, following the war in heaven (v7), we see Satan, “who deceives the whole world” (v9) thrown down to the earth, and his angels with him. A loud voice in heaven declares,

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God, day and night.” (Revelation 12:10)

We learn the first-century Church helped to win this war in heaven by “the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony,” and by not loving their own lives unto death. Heaven is encouraged to rejoice, but the earth and sea are warned: Satan is furious, and he knows “he has only a short time” (v12). This short time leads to Satan’s binding (Revelation 20:2-3), not his destruction (Revelation 20:10). The tribulation of this time is seen throughout the rest of Revelation 12 all the way through to Revelation 20, whereby the angel descends from heaven and binds Satan. Binds him from what? Deceiving the nations.

1,000 Years: Literal or Symbolic?

Here we have one of our trouble-spots in understanding the millennial reign: the thousand years. Mentioned no less than six times in Revelation 20, folks argue for one of two ways to read the thousand years: a literal 1,000-year timespan beginning sometime in the future, or a symbolic reference to a long, unrevealed expanse of time.

bound him a thousand years, (v2)
till the thousand years should be fulfilled (v3)
reigned with Christ a thousand years. (v4)
until the thousand years were finished. (v5)
shall reign with him a thousand years. (v6)
When the thousand years are expired (v7)

Literal Interpretation

With so many repetitions of “thousand years”, you would think there would be no argument: a thousand years means a literal thousand years. However, John also uses “the Lamb” 22 times throughout Revelation; are we to take the name literally? Those espousing the literal reading of this “thousand” may point to the “thirty thousand men” in 1 Kings 5:13 or the “two thousand baths” in 7:26 where—even if these numbers are approximations and don’t represent an exact count—we still take them somewhat literally.

Symbolic Interpretation

Those cleaving to the symbolic understanding also have a strong position, it seems. By this point in Revelation, we’ve already been steeped in so much symbology, you would think we would be used to it by now. After all, how are you going to place literal chains on a spiritual being like Satan? And a literal bottomless pit? Surely these are spiritual realities being portrayed in natural imagery so we mortals might stand a chance of keeping up.

The popular proof passage here is God’s claim to own “the cattle on a thousand hills” in Psalm 50:10. Does that mean the cattle on the thousand and first hill are up for grabs? Of course not; God owns them all. And if God makes a promise to bless a thousand generations, does that mean the blessing runs out at the thousand and first? Or is He saying He will bless them all?

Then there are all the symbolic thousands we find in scripture: a thousand times (Deuteronomy 1:11), a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9, 1 Chronicles 16:15, Psalm 105:8), a thousand years (Psalm 84:10, Psalm 90:4, Ecclesiastes 6:6), military might measured in thousands (Joshua 23:10, Psalm 68:17), and finally, the "thousand thousands ministering to him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him” (Daniel 7:10). In these instances, it’s fair to say the word “thousand” is denoting vastness of volume or completed fullness. Just as “one hour” means a very short time in Revelation 17:12, “a thousand years” should be understood to indicate a long time. And the early Church understood this! Per Church theologian, Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), “…from the first coming of Christ to the end of the world, when He shall come the second time [...] during this interval, which goes by the name of a thousand years.” (City of God 20.8)

Sidenote: People do funny things with Peter’s quip about “a day to the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Peter was not giving us a time calculator like the weeks of years seen in Daniel’s 70 Weeks prophecy. He would have been just as correct to say, “A day to the Lord is as a million years and a million years is as a day.” God is outside of time!

The First Resurrection

⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. (v4-6);

There is an entire bouquet of confusion around the first resurrection of Revelation 20! It’s here folks argue for one of three kinds of resurrection: physical resurrection, spiritual regeneration, or a soulical resurrection in the intermediate state. If you don’t get this one right, you can, and will, end up just about anywhere.

Physical Resurrection

This view contends if the first resurrection is spiritual, not physical—for textual consistency to remain intact—the second resurrection must also be spiritual. However, since we know the second resurrection of the dead is both spiritual and physical (Revelation 20:12-13), then the first resurrection must also be both spiritual and physical.

Additionally, the Greek word for “resurrection” is “anastasei”, Strong's 386, which literally means “a rising again” or “resurrection”. Surveying the other 41 times anastasis is used in the New Testament, it seems to almost always refer to physical resurrection (almost; there is debate around Luke 2:34, John 11:25 and maybe some others).

Finally, if the first resurrection is somehow spiritual-only, the physical resurrection camp wonders how the martyred souls are brought to life, since presumably they were born-again (spiritually-regenerated) prior to their deaths. We’ll deal with this when we unpack the third view, heavenly resurrection, in a moment.

Objections to this view: If there’s an Achilles heel in the physical resurrection position, it has to be Jesus’ words to the crowd in John 6:39:

“And this is the Father’s will who sent Me, that of all whom He has given Me I should lose none, but should raise them up again on the last day.”

Jesus goes on and ties resurrection of the dead—including those dead in Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52)—to the last day three more times (John 6:40, 6:44, 6:64). Nor, later, does He correct Lazarus’ sister, Martha, when she acknowledges her brother “will rise in the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). If both Jesus, and our first-century brethren, affirmed the righteous will be raised on the last day, it’s probably safe to say that physical resurrection on the last day is the only physical resurrection in view.

Spiritual Regeneration

Some argue for regeneration as the first resurrection, the born-again Christian experience of those who have come to the end of themselves and have claimed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is the spiritual quickening tasted by believers since the first-century Church was born of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. According to this view, it is in this way—in our Spirit-led dying to self and being reborn into our adoption as sons and daughters of the kingdom—that we participate in the first resurrection:

¹ And you were dead in your offenses and sins, […] ⁵ even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, 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 2:1,5-6)

¹² Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ Then you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Colossians 2:12-13; cf. 3:1-3, Matthew 19:28, John 14:18-20, Titus 3:5)

In John 5:24, Jesus teaches, “The one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” Here, Jesus’ words very plainly support the idea the “second death [of final judgment] has no power over” (Revelation 20:6) the born-again believer.

Objections to this view: However, if we keep reading John 5:25-27, Jesus goes on to explain the time “now has arrived” for the dead to hear His voice and live!

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; ²⁷ and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”

Yes, we could continue to spiritualize “dead” here to mean the unregenerate, but I think Jesus literally means those physically dead, as we’ll see when we discuss heavenly resurrection. And though we often read the next verses, 28-29, as if He is repeating Himself, Jesus is illustrating the same first-resurrection/second-resurrection pattern we see in Revelation 20:

²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this; for a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹ and will come out: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

Though there are places throughout scripture where we see regeneration portrayed as a coming to life, we must also recognize the fatal flaw in applying spiritual regeneration to this first resurrection. When Revelation 20:5 says, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended,” this would mean no one would be born again during the millennial reign, since all are born in inequity and are spiritually dead until conversion (Ephesians 2:1,5, Colossians 2:13, and Romans 5:12).

At this point, we understand the New Testament authors used resurrection language to point to both physical resurrection and spiritual regeneration. There is, however, that third perspective we must now consider…

Heavenly Resurrection

Also known as spiritual resurrection, this view takes “the rest of the dead” in verse 5 to make the obvious claim we have been talking about the dead—and only the dead—this whole time. Notice where we are; we are seeing souls in heaven. These same souls are also mentioned in Revelation 6:9-11 and Revelation 7.

Though earthly images of heaven portray it as a place of consummate purity and peace, the presence of lying spirits (1 Kings 22:19-23) and even Satan himself (Job 2:2) being ousted during a heavenly war (Revelation 12:7-10), serve as illustrations that heaven may not be as trouble-free as we think.

Likewise, we experience the same dissonance with hell. In the Old Testament, Sheol (Hades, in the Greek) is the underworld, the resting place of the dead. As heaven is beyond the horizon, above the clouds and the domain of light and the angelic, we find Sheol deep in the earth (Psalm 63:9), a black pit beyond the grave, a giant mausoleum (Ezekiel 32:21-23). In Ecclesiastes 6:6, Solomon establishes that all the righteous and unrighteous end up here when he asks, “Do not all go to one place?” Remember too, when the witch of Endor called up Samuel’s spirit, he raised up from out of the earth (1 Samuel 28).

The first-century Jewish understanding of this gloomy afterlife continues in Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31). Here Jesus shows us an image of an underworld divided by an uncrossable chasm. On the one side, fire, unquenchable thirst and torment; on the other, “Abraham’s Bosom” or Paradise, the resting place of the righteous dead. Therefore, when Jesus told the thief on the cross he would be with Him that day in Paradise (Luke 23:43), we understand our Lord is not talking about heaven. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus prophesies He will spend three days and three nights “in the heart of the earth”, where Peter later tells us He preached to those who were disobedient during the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:18-22). So, when Mary finds our Lord in the garden following His resurrection, we understand when He says, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” (John 20:17) Until that point, “no man ever ascended to heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man” (John 3:13, 14:6, Acts 2:34).

When Ephesians 4:7-10 quotes Psalm 68:18, we learn Jesus took with Him the Old Testament saints confined in Paradise: “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” ^[3]Remember when we discussed the kingdom of God earlier, and I hinted we may not be talking about the final resurrection in Revelation 11:15-18? It’s this release from Paradise we’re seeing in verse 18:

¹⁸ “The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants the prophets, and the saints, and they who fear your name, small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

This image of resurrection and reward comes hot on the heels of the reign of Christ being established in verses 15 and 17—and since we know He is already reigning—this can’t be a reference to the judgment of the living and the dead on the last day; only the dead are mentioned here. In the Old Testament, Daniel 12:2 also witnesses to the emptying of Paradise as those in the dust of the earth enter into eternal life (where the second death will have no power over them, Revelation 20:6):

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”

Daniel tells us not all who sleep in the dust shall awaken, but “many” will. Compare Revelation 20:5 where we’re told, “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.” Daniel 12:3 goes on to describe these newly ascended saints, now found in heaven and reigning with Christ:

“And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Jesus also refers to resurrected radiance when He says, “The righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). Though we could write this off as glowing figurative language, we also know Moses had to hide his face upon descending from Sinai (Exodus 34:29-30), and Jesus, Moses and Elijah all “appeared in glorious splendor” at Jesus’ transfiguration (Luke 9:31).

Today, having been made spiritually perfect in Christ (Colossians 2:10), we believe “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23). This immediate entry unto the Lord might also be seen in Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:56-59) and when Jesus teaches that all who come to Him will not die (John 6:40-50), unlike the Jewish forefathers who died and descended to Sheol.

For believers born in the past 2,000 years, all we’ve ever known has been the idea of immediate heavenly entry, but as you can see, it hasn’t always been this way. This soulical transfer is also one of the threads that helps us unravel the mysterious identity of the 144,000 seen in Revelation 7 and 14, while offering another timestamp for events surrounding the beast and its mark:

And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” (Revelation 14:13)

In John 11, Jesus says to Martha:

²⁵ “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

While Hebrews 9:27’s “it is given to each man to die once, and then the judgment” might seem like a contradiction, the author is illustrating death from the earthly perspective, whereas our Lord was speaking of death from the heavenly.

Finally, when, in Revelation 20:4, we see souls seated upon thrones, receiving the authority to judge, we understand this is the fulfillment of Matthew 19:28 (cf. Daniel 7:22) when Jesus tells the apostles, “In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Indeed, there were those in the early Church who understood this. Augustine writes, “Therefore, while these thousand years run on, their souls reign with Him, though not as yet in conjunction with their bodies.” (City of God 20.9)

Objections to this view: Frankly, because this view isn’t well understood by today’s Church, there aren’t a lot of arguments against it. After studying this out, I don’t really have any objections to this view. I believe this freeing of souls from Paradise is exactly what we’re seeing in the first resurrection.

Satan Loosed

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, (v7);

No matter your position on the 1,000-year reign of Christ, we all, in unified despair, ask why must Satan be loosed?

Our final image of the abyss is found in Revelation 20:3, where we see Satan bound and sealed in the abyss for a thousand years, “that he should deceive the nations no more” until the thousand years are fulfilled, whereby “he must be released for a short time.” Allowing him to do what, class? To deceive the nations again.

In the latter days—if things hold true to pattern—the wickedness of humanity will increase, where every thought of their hearts becomes evil continually (remember Noah and Lot, Genesis 6:5, 19:1-29, and Ezekiel 16:49-50). During this time, the world’s spiritual and moral rot will rival that of the Messiah’s first coming and it will become more difficult to advance the Gospel. Blinded by demonic deception and unrepentant sinful nature, the world turns on the people of God, just as

the nation of Israel was surrounded in the book of Esther, and
Judah was surrounded in 2 Chronicles 20, and even
the first-century Judeo-Christian Church was hunted—after the Gospel was released (2 Timothy 3)—prior to national Israel’s judgment in 70 AD.

Egypt’s persecution of Israel might also be seen as a type, where the idolatrous world closes in on the people of God, and like Egypt, we can expect a global uptick in paganism, witchcraft, hard-heartedness and immorality.

Still, we wrestle with why Satan must be released to deceive the nations once more. Popular explanations have included:

God’s glory is revealed in judging evil and redeeming His people, as in the hardening of pharaoh’s heart that led to Israel’s freedom,
To wrap up the end of the age and to consummate the kingdom of God, or
To remove what can be shaken, leaving only that which cannot (Hebrews 12:27).

While these ideas carry well-founded possibilities, I’ll muddy the waters with yet another. Christian deliverance ministry, sometimes known as exorcism, is the prayer ministry dedicated to inner healing, spiritual warfare and helping others get free of demonic oppression. Demonic activity in a person may be bound by the prayer ministers, in the name of Jesus, and even cast out, but there is a level of responsibility by the freed to maintain their freedom. For instance, a deliverance candidate who opened doors to demonic activity in their life by dabbling in the occult may experience immediate relief, but if they return to their occult practices, they invite what Jesus describes in Matthew 12:43-45:

⁴³ “Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”

Psalm 115:16 plainly teaches, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He did give to the sons of men.” Humanity has personal responsibility to maintain what we’ve been given (remember the fall, and compare Hebrews 2:6-8). When we exchange our heavenly birthright for the earth’s temporal, carnal offerings, we become the “fool who repeats his foolishness, like a dog that returns to its vomit” (Proverbs 26:11). This said, I wonder if it’s not humanity, in its lust to define good and evil for itself, that returns to the voice that seduced it in the beginning.

Objections to this view: In some circles, the argument has been made that Satan’s release to deceive the non-elect somehow undoes the redemptive work of the cross. I’m not really sure how one equals the other. This is like saying the reprobate world has the power to undermine God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge; it’s just bad math. Per Augustine,

“For the Church predestined and elected before the foundation of the world, […] shall never be seduced by him. And yet there shall be a Church in this world even when the devil shall be loosed, as there has been since the beginning, and shall be always, the places of the dying being filled by new believers. (City of God 20.8)

To summarize, if we—whether fallen humanity or our angelic brethren—can blow up God’s plans through our own bad behavior, God’s not God. Moving on.

Gog and Magog

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. (v8);

As mentioned, following his release, Satan sets out deceiving the nations once more. You can expect the world—represented here as the pagan nations who confronted Israel in Ezekiel 38-39, Gog and Magog—to turn upon the people of God. Popularly known as the battle of Gog and Magog, here the names are used symbolically, just as Babylon, Sodom and Egypt are used earlier in Revelation. Writing in his City of God, Augustine paints a bleak picture:

“This then, is [Satan’s] purpose in seducing them, to draw them to this battle. For even before this he was wont to use as many and various seductions as he could continue. And the words ‘he shall go out’ mean he shall burst forth from lurking hatred into open persecution. For this persecution, occurring while the final judgment is imminent, shall be the last which shall be endured by the holy Church throughout the world, the whole city of Christ being assailed by the whole city of the devil, as each exists on earth.” (City of God 20.11)

But, oh, the volcanic debate surrounding the identity of Gog and Magog that erupts from this passage! In the fourth and fifth centuries, everyone thought for sure these were the Goths and the Moors. Then it was the Huns. By the eighth century, surely it was the Islamic Empire. Then came the Turks and Mongols, and later, the Turks again. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was obviously the Catholic papacy. But then again, maybe it was the Native Americans? In the past two centuries, if you’re in the west, Gog and Magog have probably been sold as being the east, namely Russia, but maybe China and Iran too. If you’re in the east, however, the big bads are probably the United States, the European Union and any of their western allies. ^[4]

Why all the confusion? Well, if you don’t understand Ezekiel’s battle of Gog and Magog as being fulfilled during the days of Esther and Haggai, when nations surrounded Israel and then were subsequently destroyed by her, you’re probably still waiting for it and, so, you have to put it somewhere; may as well place it in your near future and pin it on your neighbor overseas.

70 AD?

Finally, there are those who believe the battle of Gog and Magog is a representation of the Roman “day of the Lord” judgment over Israel in the first century. They connect the images of earthquakes, hailstones, and birds feasting on the fallen in Ezekiel with those in Revelation.^[5] In fact, I made similar ties when I proved at least eleven connections between the beasts of Daniel 7 and the beast of Revelation. However, I believe that is not what’s going on here.

For one, this would make the time from the start of the millennial reign to the end only about 40 years (kingdom inaugurated around 30AD to Jerusalem’s destruction in 70AD). That would be a really short millennium!

Additionally, the resurrection and judgment of both the righteous and unrighteous dead seem to immediately follow the battle of Gog and Magog—and, since it’s now been almost 2,000 years since Israel was struck down by Rome—again, this theory doesn’t compute.

The Nations Gather Against the Saints

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (v9-10);

Whew! From this point forward, most of us Bible students breathe a little easier. “On the breadth of the earth” is easily understood to mean “all across the land” or “everywhere”. “The camp of the saints” probably doesn’t mean the last handful of Christian survivors huddled around a campfire somewhere, but—compared to the reprobate cities of the world—we find the saints a global minority. This faithful remnant, in the face of the earth’s apostacy-turned-genocide, finds themselves in Judah’s precarious position when the armies of Edom approached Jerusalem in 2 Chronicles:

¹² “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither do we know what to do: but our eyes are upon You.”

¹³ And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. (2 Chronicles 20:12-13)

I love that our brothers and sisters cleaved to the Lord in praise and petition at this moment. And just as He saved them then, He saves the last generation of saints here. Caught up in the Spirit of God, Jahaziel (ja-ha-zeel), one of the Levite priests, steps forward and declares:

“‘Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.’” (2 Chronicles 20:15)

And we know how this ends! God’s people go out to meet the approaching enemy, led by worship, and when they arrive, they find the foreign armies have destroyed each other. Here in Revelation 20:9, it is not just their armies, but the worldly nations opposing God and His people who are destroyed by fire raining down from heaven, possibly a cosmic event like Sodom and Gomorrah’s. In my lesson on the Second Coming, we’ll go deeper into Isaiah 26’s resurrection imagery, but it might be useful to someone to hear verse 20’s directions given to the last day’s faithful remnant:

“Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.”

Finally, Satan is thrown into the lake of fire, where the angels behind Revelation’s beast and false prophet are already tormented. Judgment has at last come upon the accuser of the brethren, and he and his forces are removed forevermore, never again able to corrupt heaven or earth.

The Four Millennial Views

Just as Jesus needed to explain the scriptures to His disciples and the religious leaders, confusion surrounding the millennial reign sprung up early in the Church and continues to this day.

If you remember the Lenses vs Labels lesson, I mentioned there would be another teaching that brought out a few more “isms”. Well, this is it!

There are four millenarian views we’ll unpack here. Premillennialism says Jesus returns, establishes an earthly kingdom for a literal thousand years, and then the final judgment. The “pre” in “premillennial” tips us off: Jesus returns at the beginning of the millennial reign.

The premillennial view is divided into two flavors: the original historic premill and the newer, wildly popular dispensational premill, entering the scene only recently, during the early 19^th century.

Our third view, amillennialism, says Jesus is reigning currently and does not expect an earthly, material reign at all. The “a” in amillennialism reads literally as “no millennial reign” which often creates confusion, since the amillennial view agrees with a millennial reign; it’s just spiritual or heavenly.

Finally, if in premillennialism, Jesus returns at the beginning of an earthly millennial reign, you might guess postmillennialism says He returns at the end of an earthly millennial reign. Like its amill cousin, postmill agrees Jesus is reigning right now, and most in the postmill camp agree the thousand years are symbolic. However, postmill also agrees with premill’s idea of a utopian kingdom on earth, but one that gradually advances across the globe and human history until most the planet is Christianized; and then Jesus comes back.

Let’s decipher these views further.

Historic Premillennialism (Chiliasm)

Premillennialism—previously known as chiliasm (kili-asm)—is the end-times idea that Jesus will come back to establish an earthly kingdom 1,000 years before Judgment Day. Though historic premillennialism can claim to be one of the longest held millennial views, amillennialism—the idea the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom we walk in currently—shares that claim. It appears from early Church writings, the confusion over the millennial reign began early, within the first century.

As you might guess, the premillennial position claims several early Church fathers as adherents, including names like Papias (pa-peeas), Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Lactantius. While we won’t take time to unpack all their views here, we will survey a few.

Papias

Papias (~60-130 AD) served as bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia (free-geeah), Asia Minor. While none of Papias’ writings have survived, Irenaeus and Eusebius refer to some of them, though Eusebius’ opinion doesn’t seem altogether favorable. In his 325 AD Church History, Eusebius says Irenaeus describes Papias as “an ancient man who was a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp”:

¹¹ “[Papias] gives also other accounts which he says came to him through unwritten tradition, certain strange parables and teachings of the Saviour, and some other more mythical things.

¹² “To these belong his statement that there will be a period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth. I suppose he got these ideas through a misunderstanding of the apostolic accounts, not perceiving that the things said by them were spoken mystically in figures.

¹³ “For he appears to have been of very limited understanding, as one can see from his discourses. But it was due to him that so many of the Church Fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their own support the antiquity of the man; as for instance Irenæus and any one else that may have proclaimed similar views.” (Church History, Book III, 39.11-13, cf. Fragments of Papias, VI.)

According to Eusebius then, it would seem the premillennial, earthly-kingdom-for-a-thousand-years idea was an over-literalized aberration by folks who didn’t understand the symbolic nature of the text.

Though we often look to the early Church fathers as a litmus test of theological purity, their closer proximity to Jesus’ earthly ministry does not guarantee their clarity. After all, the apostles spent over three years with Jesus, and they still struggled. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day stood before their own Messiah— working in power and miracles and promised by the prophets—and they still cried, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr (~100-165 AD) wrote,

“But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.”

Justin also claimed the apostle John believed in a literal one-thousand-year millennial reign of the saints. Justin points to Isaiah 65 to make his case for this, however this prophecy teaches the separation of faithful Israel (the first-century Church) from unbelieving Israel and the inauguration of the kingdom of God. He also misquotes 2 Peter 3:8’s “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” as, “The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,” connecting it with the millennial reign. (Dialogue With Trypho 80-81) Alas, the day of the Lord discussed in Peter’s letter (v10) is a reference to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem in the first century; not our Lord’s Second Coming.

Irenaeus

Largely credited with helping to establish early Church doctrine and canonicity, Greek bishop Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 AD) is probably most famous for his Against Heresies, a thorough defense against Gnosticism and false teaching. In book five, chapter 35 of Heresies, Irenaeus shares his eschatological view. He rebukes the spiritual understanding of the kingdom of God (amillennialism), considering the position to be hermeneutically inconsistent. He then futurizes several passages from Isaiah—including Isaiah 13:9, a “day of the Lord” judgment spoken over Babylon, which had already been fulfilled by Medo-Persia in 539 BC. Irenaeus goes on point to a future Antichrist, worldwide tribulation, and a single resurrection of the just. It is only then that a literal city, the New Jerusalem, is constructed, per a lengthy quote from chapters four and five of the apocryphal book Baruch. Following Christ’s millennial reign and the final judgment, this city will be replaced by its heavenly counterpart.

Irenaeus’ explanation of the end times is important for two reasons. First, it illustrates a popular historic premillennial variant, ordered in this way:

tribulation,
Christ’s return,
a single general resurrection,
a millennial reign from an earthly New Jerusalem,
final judgment, and
a heavenly New Jerusalem that descends to replace the earthly.

Second, though it’s often repeated the early Church was premillennial until the 4^th century, Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies around 180 AD, so it’s easy to recognize amillennialism was the main competing view even in the second century.

Tertullian

Described as the father of Latin Christianity and western theology, Tertullian is commonly said to have held a historic premillennial stance. He unpacks his view of the millennial kingdom, the New Jerusalem, in his rebuttal against the Gnostic heresy known as Marcionism (mar-see-un-ism). Written around 208 AD, we’ll read from chapter 25 of book three, Against Marcion:

“But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence; inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem, ‘let down from heaven’ (Revelation 21:2), which the apostle also calls ‘our mother from above’ (Galatians 4:26); and, while declaring that our πολίτευμα (políteuma, pol-it'-yoo-mah; from Strong's G4176), or citizenship, is in heaven, he predicates of it that it is really a city in heaven. This both Ezekiel had knowledge of (Ezekiel 48:30-35) and the Apostle John beheld (Revelation 21:10-23).”

Here, it appears Tertullian says yes to an earthly kingdom, but he claims it will not be material, but ethereal. He goes on to say this heavenly kingdom currently exists at the time of his writing, and has been seen even by “heathen witnesses”:

“in Judæa there was suspended in the sky a city early every morning for forty days. As the day advanced, the entire figure of its walls would wane gradually, and sometimes it would vanish instantly. We say that this city has been provided by God for receiving the saints on their resurrection, and refreshing them with the abundance of all really spiritual blessings, as a recompense for those which in the world we have either despised or lost…”

Tertullian goes on to say this heavenly kingdom will proceed until its thousand years are over, during which time “is completed the resurrection of the saints” (a progressive, spiritual resurrection across generations), followed by the dissolution of all things at the final judgment, and completed by the rapture and glorification of the righteous. He writes, “So are we first invited to heavenly blessings when we are separated from the world, and afterwards we thus find ourselves in the way of obtaining also earthly blessings.”

Yes, as it turns out, Tertullian’s millennial view is actually more of an amillennial-premillennial hybrid, so we might want to strike him from either list.

Dispensational Premillennialism

Like its historic predecessor, dispensational premillennialism also agrees the millennial reign of Christ is earthly and future. However, it differs by separating the identities of Israel and the Church into two distinct peoples of God, whereas most historic premillennialism models keep them intact. Since dispensational premill claims there are two peoples of God, there must be a heavenly program for each. This is accomplished by marking out certain divisions (“dispensations”) across biblical history, where God deals first with the Jewish nation, then with the Church, and will finally return His attention to ethnic Israel in the last days. This transition from Church to Israel is usually precipitated by the rapture (the snatching away) of the Church from the earth and an ensuing global tribulation (or maybe it will be tribulation first, then rapture? Opinions vary.)

Though proto-dispensational murmurings may have begun as early as the 1100s (via the Catholic abbot and idealist, Joachim of Fiore, and others), dispensationalism didn’t gain a firm root until the 1830s, through John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren. By the 1920s, that root would deepen due to the popularity of the Scofield Reference Bible and the rise of the Dallas Theological Seminary, where dispensationalism was taught as the “only valid system of biblical interpretation.”

In dispensational premillennialism, the first resurrection found in Revelation 20:4-6 is taken to be a literal, bodily resurrection of all faithful. Usually this is portrayed in its pretribulational flavor, where Jesus raptures the saints to heaven without any warning (referred to as His “imminent return”, found in both forms of premillennialism), leaving the earth to devolve into seven years of chaos. When He returns with all the raptured saints in tow, Christ’s kingdom—initially delayed by the Jews’ rejection of Jesus as their Messiah (John 19:15)—begins on the earth, followed by 1,000 years, then the final apostacy, another resurrection, and then the White Throne Judgment.

Objections to this view: Throughout Church history, we see a clear understanding that faithful Israel is the Church (there has always only been one bride of Christ, not two). The breaking down of divisions between Jew and Gentile believers can probably be best seen in Acts 15, where the apostles wrestle with advising the Gentiles on the Mosaic Law which they recognize even the Jews couldn’t keep (Acts 15:10). Here the Gentiles are referred to as the “kataloipos” (Strong’s G2645) meaning “the remaining”, “the rest”, or in some translations, “the remnant” (Acts 15:17). Gentile believers are included in God’s promise to “rebuild the tent of David” (Acts 15:16, quoting Amos 9:11-12; “tent”, not “tents”) and all are saved by grace, whether Gentile or Jew (Acts 15:11).

Additionally, when Jesus teaches in Matthew 19:30, “Many who are first shall be last, and the last shall be first,” He is referring to Jews (the first) and Gentiles (the last). Notice the Jews are not the first and the last, as some modern premillennial expositions go.

Nor is it “replacement theology” (a common cry from those teaching a second Jewish revival following the Church’s rapture) to recognize the people of God have always been those faithful to God, whether a faithful remnant within national Israel or the faithful Gentiles added unto that remnant.

It also bears mentioning the premillennial view acknowledges death and disease remain on the planet for 1,000 years after Jesus’ return (Isaiah 65:20). This idea conflicts with Jesus reigning at the Father’s side “until all His enemies have been made His footstool” (Psalm 110, Hebrews 10:12-13) when we know “the last enemy is death” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26). On the last day, death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire, along with those not written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15):

⁵⁴ “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” (1 Corinthians 15:50-57)

While we don’t have time to cover all the exegetical problems with the premillennial view (there are more), if death is swallowed up in victory at Jesus’ Second Coming, this idea that glorified immortals will walk among mortals still under Death’s yoke has to be error.

What About Imminent Return?

Immediately following the destruction of wicked Gog and Magog is the Messiah’s Second Coming and the White Throne Judgment, otherwise known as Judgment Day. The placement of these events is one of the reasons we know the idea of “imminent return”—the idea that Jesus could return at any moment—is false. Jesus says four times in John 6 (v39,40,44,54) He will raise the righteous on the last day. Per Revelation 20:8-9, if we recognize this worldwide turning away from God and against His people hasn’t yet arrived (though it may be a work in progress), Jesus’ return can’t possibly happen at any moment; it will happen after the final generation is hunted by the world and the renewed Satanic spirit driving it. Most “imminent return” eschatology bubbles up out of misunderstanding the Olivet Discourse and the quick, “I will catch you unaware, like a thief in the night” language Jesus uses in Revelation (16:15; 22:7,12,20) to describe His coming in judgment to Israel in the first century.

Amillennialism

The amillennial view leans into the “already/not yet” tension felt throughout the New Testament, amping up after Jesus’ words, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18), and crescendoing by Revelation. In contrast to the other apocalyptic interpretations, amillennialism maintains no geo-political kingdom (thus the “a” in “amillennial”, meaning “no [earthly] millennium”), resting instead on the spiritual nature of Jesus’ present reign. The wheat and tares of Matthew 13 continue to grow up side-by-side until the end, while the Gospel advances and the kingdom grows through regeneration, from generation to generation, numbering the elect as the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky (Genesis 22:17).

God establishes His heavenly kingdom, His living temple, and His covenant people, not by overtaking the nations of the earth, but through new life in the Holy Spirit. After studying it out, it is my conviction the first-century understanding of the millennial reign of Christ was amillennial.

Eusebius

As we saw in our historic premillennialism examples, Church scholar and bishop Eusebius of Caesarea (~260-339 AD) falls into the amillennial camp. In Eusebius’ retelling of the end of Christian persecution under Domitian, he tells of a moment when Jude’s grandchildren were brought before Domitian and questioned. (Domitian feared the coming of Christ like Herod before him.)

⁶ “And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works. ⁷ Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution of the Church.” (Church History 3.20.6-7.)

Once Domitian understood Christ’s kingdom was a spiritual kingdom that wouldn’t be fully revealed until the last day, his worries about its threat to his own rule were allayed and he ceased his state-sponsored oppression of Christianity. Here we also see one of the earliest accounts of amillennial understanding in the Church. Domitian reigned twice, first from 69-70 and again later from 81-96 AD. Eusebius is quoting the Greek historian, Hegesippus (108-180 AD), one of the first Church fathers, a testimony to amillennialism’s foremost placement in Church history. ^[6]

Ignatius

Martyred around 107 AD, Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, writes in chapter 11 of his Epistle to the Magnesians, that Christ reigns now and that His Second Coming will occur “at the end of the world” with the final judgment:

“He also died, and rose again, and ascended into the heavens to Him that sent Him, and is sat down at His right hand, and shall come at the end of the world, with His Father’s glory, to judge the living and the dead, and to render to every one according to his works.”

Victorinus

Though his views were a mix of amillennialism and chiliasm, Christian writer and bishop Victorinus of Pettau sums up the amillennial position well in his Commentary on the Apocalypse, written around 260 AD:

“Therefore they are not to be heard who assure themselves that there is to be an earthly reign of a thousand years; who think, that is to say, with the heretic Cerinthus. For the kingdom of Christ is now eternal in the saints, although the glory of the saints shall be manifested after the resurrection.”

Augustine

Though we’ve already heard from Augustine throughout this lesson, I felt it bore merit to give one more quote to ensure there was no doubt where he stood on the matter:

“Those who […] have suspected that the first resurrection is future and bodily, have been moved, among other things, specially by the number of a thousand years, as if it were a fit thing that the saints should thus enjoy a kind of Sabbath-rest during that period, a holy leisure after the labors of the six thousand years since man was created […] I myself, too, once held this opinion.” (City of God 20.7)

Notice, Augustine is the latest of these four examples, publishing City of God between 413 and 426 AD. I point this out because some teach amillennialism began with him. This is obviously false. Those who teach this simply have not done their research.

Objections to this view: Probably the most prevailing complaint against amillennialism is its spiritual approach to scripture. “Heretical”, “demonic”, “liberal”, and “anti-Semitic” have all been slurs used to describe amillennialism, mostly by the newer premillennial camp. (To be fair, most teachers who slander this position 1) don’t understand it, and 2) don’t know of its first-century roots.) The argument becomes one of “inconsistent hermeneutic”, claiming amillennialism addresses unfulfilled prophecy one way and fulfilled prophecy another. And, at times, depending upon the teacher, that may absolutely be the case, especially when that teacher drifts into historicism or idealism. However, why should it surprise us when the Word prophesizes using heavenly imagery, since it was the Word who spoke in parables and symbols when He walked the earth? Literal fulfillment does not require literal foretelling.

A classic rebuttal by “inconsistent” amillennialism is the fictional character of the Wandering Jew, cursed to wander the earth until Jesus’ Second Coming. The figure is a product of over-literalizing passages such as “some here […] will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matthew 16:28), Jesus’ threat to Caiaphas (Matthew 26:64), and Jesus’ promise to Peter that John would be around when He returned (John 21:20-23).

This brings us to the second complaint: How to reconcile a spiritual kingdom that comes not with observation (Luke 17:20), with the coming of the Son of Man which will be “as lightning” (Matthew 24:27) for He will be “coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). All too often, the coming of the Son of Man is understood to be Jesus’ Second Coming, where the first resurrection is bodily and whereby Jesus takes an earthly throne in Jerusalem; the inauguration of His earthly millennial kingdom. However, this is not what “coming on the clouds” or the “coming of the Son of Man” means to a first-century Jew. As I explain in my Day of the Lord lesson, “coming on the clouds” is apocalyptic judgment language for God-driven, national destruction at the hands of a foreign invading army. Day of the Lord judgment—seen repeatedly in the Old Testament—is the looming storm that eclipses the New. Without this understanding, the common error is to conflate Jesus’ coming in judgment over unbelieving Israel in the first century with His Second Coming at the end of history. We have to understand these are two separate events.

Postmillennialism

Welcome to our last millennial view, postmillennialism, where if you’re unhappy with the state of the world, don’t worry! Things will get better!

If premillennialism says Jesus returns before a 1,000-year millennial reign on the earth, and amillennialism says He is reigning right now in that already-not-yet, wheat-and-tares way, postmillennialism agrees He reigns now, but believes the world will gradually align with the Christian ethic until Christ returns to a mostly Christianized planet. Considering the 1,000 years to be symbolic, according to the postmillennial view, humanity could still be spiraling upward for several thousand more years.

As with the preceding views, there are varying flavors of postmillennialism. For instance, many of the postmillennial Puritan settlers to America counted the discovery of the New World as the beginning of the millennium. Then there is the liberal postmillennial view that says science and cultural maturity will usher in the utopian era leading up to Christ’s return. Finally, there is Dominionism (also known as “Kingdom Now” or Reconstructionism) that says this idealistic era will advance as Christians take their seats in political, educational, and other secular spheres.

Essentially, where amill and postmill agree Christ reigns now, postmill and premill agree in their need for a material kingdom on the earth.

In seeking to distance itself from its amillennial roots, the postmill view often claims it is the “optimistic” cousin. This usually tweaks the amill camp who declares full optimism in Christ working His absolute will, even in the face of a fallen, unsanctified world. Where amillennialism identifies more with being in the world but not of it, postmill leans into materially overcoming it. Fueling this idea are scriptural illustrations of rocks growing into mountains and covering the whole earth (Daniel 2:35), mustard seeds and cedars that grow into massive trees (Matthew 13:31; Ezekiel 17:22-24), seeds into grain (Mark 4:26-29) and other moments where the kingdom begins as a small stream and grows into an impassible river (Ezekiel 47:5). Additional examples:

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before Him. (Psalm 22:27)
The righteous will inherit the land and dwell therein forever. (Psalm 37:29)
Wolves will peacefully coexist with lambs and lions will eat straw like the ox. (Isaiah 11)
The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)

Psalm 110

One of the most popular proof texts for postmillennialism is Psalm 110, specifically verse one where we see an image of Father God, the Ancient of Days, telling King David’s Lord (the exalted Messiah) to “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” This popular Messianic psalm is quoted throughout the New Testament:

By Jesus, when correcting the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44),
By Peter, when addressing the crowd on the last day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33-35),
By Paul, while teaching on resurrection and judgment day when he tells us, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26), and
By the writer of Hebrews, declaring the Messiah’s exaltation, “…after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool” (Hebrews 1:13, 10:12-13).

To be sure, Psalm 110 is a big deal. Only seven verses long, the first four verses position David’s Lord, establishing His identity, His reign, and His rule amidst His enemies; His people will be willing (v3). In verse five, we’re told, “The Lord at your right hand (the Messiah) shall strike through (literally “shatter”) kings in the day of his wrath.” This came through Israel’s “day of the Lord” national judgment at the hands of the Roman army in 70 AD, exactly when the Messiah said it would (“this generation,” Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30). Verse six says, “He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.” (Hint: Jesus is already judging among the heathen Gentiles. This judgment cannot possibly be the final judgment, for there will be no dead at that time, Revelation 20:12-13. This was fulfilled by the first-century Jewish-Roman War, also known as the Great Jewish Revolt.)

Objections to this view: While the postmill perspective seems to understand the New Testament view that “whole earth” equaled “whole land” (as there was no concept of spinning globes yet), the postmill camp often abandons this idea when holding up Daniel 2:35, heavily favored as postmillennial flagship material:

“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed to pieces all at the same time, and they were like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the entire earth.”

It is here folks say, “See? The kingdom of God will fill the entire globe!” Now, I agree the mountain is the kingdom of God, but the fulfillment of Daniel 2 was more likely a picture of Christianity and its takeover of the Roman Empire (the known land) prior to the empire’s dissolution (“it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms”, Daniel 2:44, the line of kingdoms up to, and including, the Roman Empire). It doesn’t compute that folks in 600 BC were thinking “globe” or “planet”. If we agree they weren't thinking in those terms in Jesus’ day, they definitely weren’t in Daniel’s.

Additionally, the common postmillennial slight is the claim that it is the only eschatological view where the Gospel is 100% successful, making it the only optimistic view where the gates of hell do not prevail against the Church. Opposing the escapism found in most premillennialism flavors, and the gradual global apostacy in amillennialism’s model, postmillennialism champions worldwide evangelism and discipleship, expecting a thousand-year golden age of peace and prosperity in an earthly kingdom of God. If you say, “This sounds a lot like the premillennial 1,000 years,” you’d be right. Before the final harvest, it appears the wheat and tares who grow up together will be mostly wheat, making the narrow road broader than the wide road to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). This natural interpretation conflicts with amill’s perspective that the kingdom of God continues to grow, generation by generation, regardless of how things look on earth.

A final objection to postmillennialism: In Matthew 26:11, Jesus rebukes his disciples, “You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” How could poverty and lack remain in a fully Christianized world?

Millennial Reign Beyond Revelation 20

Though most Bible teachers teach the millennial reign is seen only in Revelation 20, at the very least, it is also found in 1 Corinthians 15:20-26:

²⁰ “But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. ^[7]²¹ For since by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, ²⁴ then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”

Christ is the first resurrected, we’ll all agree. The plain reading seems to indicate a single, general resurrection, and then the end. We know Jesus will return bodily at His Second Coming (Acts 1:11), whereupon the sea will give up its dead, and Death and Hades give up their dead, and all are judged “according to their deeds” (Revelation 20:13). This is the end, when Christ hands the completed kingdom to the Father, having reigned an undisclosed amount of time, “until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). This agrees with the end of Death we see in Revelation 20:14-15:

¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

But the Second Coming of Christ and the White Throne Judgment will be another lesson.

The Last Say

I would submit to you, fellow Bible students, our understanding of the millennium is more important than many realize. It turns out your millennial position becomes a litmus test for your understanding of the kingdom of God itself. Indeed, it may even determine how you steward your resources or invest in your community and the world around you.

It is a disarming deception to blindly wait for what has already come.

In this lesson, we’ve explored the millennial reign of Christ, beginning with Satan’s binding from deceiving the nations, Christ’s thousand-year reign with His saints in heaven (the first resurrection), Satan’s release, and the nations’ gathering against the people of God in the last days. We also covered the four millennial perspectives surrounding the 1,000-year reign:

Historic premillennialism, where Christ’s earthly reign is future, the Church is faithful Israel, and things get worse at the end,
Dispensational premillennialism, where Christ’s earthly reign is future, the Church and Israel are separate, and things get worse at the end, but most believe the Church won't be around to see it,
Amillennialism, where Christ reigns now; no earthly kingdom necessary. The Church is faithful Israel. Wheat and tares grow up together until things get worse at the end, and
Postmillennialism, where Christ reigns now and an earthly kingdom is established by the Church. The Church is faithful Israel. Jesus returns to a Christianized planet so things get better until the end.

In the next lesson, we will finish unpacking Revelation 20, diving into the Second Coming of Christ, the second resurrection, and the final judgment.

Footnotes

[1] See also Matthew 16:18-19, Luke 10:17-19, John 12:31-33, Colossians 2:15, Hebrews 2:14.

[2] (Consider the prison epistles written between 60-62 AD, specifically Ephesians 3:1, 4:1, Philippians 1:13, Colossians 4:3, 18, Philemon 1:10, and probably during the writing of Romans, per Acts 23:11.)

[3] In 1 Corinthians 15:20-21 (KJV), a reader might infer the resurrection of the dead has begun, past tense. ²⁰ “But now has Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of they who slept. ²¹ For since by man death came, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.”

[4] Demar, 2008.

[5] Seen in Ezekiel 38-39, Gog and Magog, the unrighteous bring upon themselves God’s protective indignation by turning upon His beloved people. Revelation borrows imagery from this judgment, including earthquakes (Ezekiel 38:19; Revelation 6:12, 11:13, 16:18), hailstones (Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 8:7; 11:19; 16:21), and birds and animals feasting upon the judged (Ezekiel 39:4,17-20; Revelation 19:17-22).

[6] More from Eusebius' Church History, book 3, chapter 28:

“But Cerinthus also, by means of revelations which he pretends were written by a great apostle, brings before us marvelous things which he falsely claims were shown him by angels; and he says that after the resurrection the kingdom of Christ will be set up on earth, and that the flesh dwelling in Jerusalem will again be subject to desires and pleasures. And being an enemy of the Scriptures of God, he asserts, with the purpose of deceiving men, that there is to be a period of a thousand years for marriage festivals.”

“For the doctrine which he taught was this: that the kingdom of Christ will be an earthly one.”

[7] See also Colossians 1:18, Christ as “the first born of the dead” and Acts 26:23, “first from the resurrection of the dead”.

References

9Marks. 2025. “Postmillennialism and Theonomy - 9Marks.” May 7, 2025. https://www.9marks.org/article/postmillennialism-and-theonomy/.

“Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol I: IGNATIUS: Chapter XI.—I Write These Things To...” n.d. https://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/001/0010157.htm.

“Bryn Mawr Classical Review.” Robert J. Daly, “Apocalyptic Thought in Early Christianity. Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History”. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2009. 303. ISBN 9780801036279. n.d. https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2010/2010.09.52/.

“CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Kingdom of God.” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08646a.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, V.35 (St. Irenaeus).” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103535.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Against Marcion, Book III (Tertullian).” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03123.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Church History, Book III (Eusebius).” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: City of God, Book XX (St. Augustine).” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Commentary on the Apocalypse (Victorinus).” From the Twenty-First and Twenty-Second Chapters, 16. n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Dialogue With Trypho, Chapters 69-88 (Justin Martyr).” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01286.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Epistle to the Magnesians (St. Ignatius).” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0105.htm.

“CHURCH FATHERS: Fragments of Papias.” n.d. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0125.htm.

“Church Fathers Scripture Index.” n.d. https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/fathers/index.php/Isa%2013:9.

“Condemnation for Israel and Judah | Reformed Bible Studies and Devotionals at Ligonier.org.” Ligonier Ministries, https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/condemnation-israel-and-judah.

Daly, Robert J. “Apocalyptic Thought in Early Christianity.” Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, 2009. p82-89.

DeMar, Gary. “Why the End of the World is Not in Your Future: Identifying the Gog-Magog Alliance.” Powder Springs, GA: American Vision Press, 2008. p45-46.

Ervin, Matthew. 2015. “The Premillennialism of Lactantius.” Apple Eye Ministries. February 4, 2015. https://appleeye.org/2015/02/03/the-premillennialism-of-lactantius/.

Ervin, Matthew. 2015. “The Premillennialism of Tertullian.” Apple Eye Ministries. January 1, 2015. https://appleeye.org/2015/01/01/the-premillennialism-of-tertullian/.

Ervin, Matthew. 2016. “The Premillennialism of Irenaeus.” Apple Eye Ministries. May 25, 2016. https://appleeye.org/2014/11/19/the-premillennialism-of-irenaeus/.

Gentry, Kenneth. November 1, 2022. “Gradualism in Eschatology.” Postmillennial Worldview. https://postmillennialworldview.com/2022/11/01/a-fundamental-principle-in-eschatology/.

GotQuestions.org. 2022. “GotQuestions.org.” April 21, 2022. https://www.gotquestions.org/prison-epistles.html.

Gregg, Steve. May 2020. “Complete Eschatology (When Shall These Things Be)”. https://theos.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/reference/When_Shall_These_Things_Be-5_2020.pdf.

Hughes, Gabriel. 2025. “Responding to Questions About Amillennialism.” Pastor Gabe. February 28, 2025. https://themajestysmen.com/pastorgabe/responding-to-questions-about-amillennialism/.

Pamphilius, Eusebius. “Church History” 3.39.11-13. Sec. 39. The Writings of Papias. New Advent. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm.

“Philip Schaff: NPNF1-02. St. Augustine’s City of God and Christian Doctrine - Christian Classics Ethereal Library.” n.d. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XX.8.html.

Quora.com. What happens after what is written in the Bible book of Revelation is fulfilled? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-happens-after-what-is-written-in-the-Bible-book-of-Revelation-is-fulfilled.

“(Rev. 20:4-5) Does the ‘First Resurrection’ Refer to Spiritual Regeneration or Bodily Resurrection? | Evidence Unseen.” n.d. https://www.evidenceunseen.com/bible-difficulties-2/nt-difficulties/jude/rev-204-5-the-first-resurrection-refers-to-spiritual-regeneration-not-physical-resurrection-rev-204-5/.

“Revelation 20 - the Millennium - GCI Archive.” 2018. GCI Archive. August 21, 2018. https://archive.gci.org/articles/the-millennium-of-revelation-20/.

Riddlebarger, Kim. Sunday May 12, 2002. “They Came to Life, Rev. 20:1-15”. Christ Reformed Church. http://www.christreformed.org/kim-riddlebarger.

Riddlebarger, Kim. “They Came to Life and Reigned With Christ for a Thousand Years”. RPM, Volume 11, Number 28, July 12 to July 18 2009. https://reformedperspectives.org/articles/kim_riddlebarger/Kim_riddlebarger.Rev.28.html.

Showers, Renald. n.d. “The Imminency of Christ’s Return – Israel My Glory.” https://israelmyglory.org/article/the-imminency-of-christs-return/.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1998. “Saint Hegesippus | Early Church, Christian Writings, Ecclesiastical History.” Encyclopedia Britannica. July 20, 1998. https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-early-Christianity.

Wikipedia contributors. 2025. “Christianity in the 4th Century.” Wikipedia. February 7, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_4th_century.

Wikipedia contributors. 2025. “Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians.” Wikipedia. March 9, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_of_Ignatius_to_the_Magnesians.

Wikipedia contributors. 2024. “Marcionism.” Wikipedia. December 16, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism.

Wikipedia contributors. 2025. “Wandering Jew.” Wikipedia. May 30, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_Jew.

SESSION 11

THE MILLENNIAL REIGN

Small Group Leader Guide

Step 1. Introduce the Session

5 minutes

SESSION GOAL(S)

Step 2. Watch the Video

1 hour 26 minutes*

CONTENT SUMMARY (with timestamps)

Step 3. Discuss

15 minutes

Q. What did you find most helpful or most challenging in this lesson? Any surprises?

Q. The 1,000 yrs; literal or symbolic? Where do you land and why?

Q. This lesson makes a strong case for the first resurrection being the release of the prophets and early saints from Paradise. Had you ever heard this view before? How might this understanding affect the way we view other passages in scripture?

Q. How might the idea of a future millennial kingdom affect your views on hope, evangelism, financial investments, etc.?

Q. Can you name and briefly explain the four different millennial views. Any new insights?

Step 4. Report Out [OPTIONAL]

15 minutes

SESSION 11

The Millennial Reign

(Revelation 20, Psalm 110, various)

TAKE-AWAYS FROM THIS LESSON

Kingdom Age

The Millennial Reign of Christ (Revelation 20)

Satan Bound for 1,000 Years

1,000 Years: Literal or Symbolic?

Literal Interpretation

Symbolic Interpretation

The First Resurrection

Physical Resurrection

Spiritual Regeneration

Heavenly Resurrection

Satan Loosed

Gog and Magog

70 AD?

The Nations Gather Against the Saints

The Four Millennial Views

Historic Premillennialism (Chiliasm)

Papias

Justin Martyr

Irenaeus

Tertullian

Dispensational Premillennialism

What About Imminent Return?

Amillennialism

Eusebius

Ignatius

Victorinus

Augustine

Postmillennialism

Essentially, where amill and postmill agree Christ reigns now, postmill and premill agree in their need for a material kingdom on the earth.

Psalm 110

Millennial Reign Beyond Revelation 20

The Last Say

It is a disarming deception to blindly wait for what has already come.

Footnotes

References