 |
Revelation 20 |
“The Millennium -
The Thousand Years” (Rev 20:1-10).
1. Christ's second
coming and the Millennium:
a. Not a few connect
with the second coming of Christ the idea of a millennium (a literal period of
1000 years), either a millennium BEFORE or a millennium AFTER Christ’s second
coming.
- Premillennialists
are those who expect a millennium after the return of Christ; i.e. that the
Lord will return BEFORE (therefore pre) the millennium, i.e. Christ will return
to establish the 1000-year reign on earth. Christ’s return is BEFORE the
millennium.
- Postmillennialists
are those who expect a millennium BEFORE the return of Christ, i.e. that Christ
will return AFTER (therefore post) the 1000-year golden gospel age; Christ will
return after the 1000-year golden age on earth. Christ’s return is after the
millennium.
b. No literal
millennium:
- Others do not
believe that the Bible warrants the expectation of a literal millennium. These
are commonly designated as Amillennialists.
The non-millennial view is, as the name indicates, purely negative (it
negates and rebuts the errors of the ‘pre’ and ‘post’ views).
- It holds that
there is no Scriptural ground for the expectation of a millennium (pre or post)
but that the Bible teaches that the present gospel age will end with the return
of Christ to consummate the kingdom of God and usher in the eternal state.
- The 1000-year period
represents the long but definite period between the first and second comings of
Christ, that is, the gospel age. It's the gospel millennium.
c. Objection: “But
what about the teaching of Rev 20:1-11? Doesn’t it plainly teach about the 1000
years? The phrase appears no less than six times! The teaching is right here in
the Bible, and we should accept it.”
- Yes, but that’s
just soundbyte! We shouldn’t believe in anybody’s idea on the millennium, but
the millennium plainly taught by the Scriptures. Let us let the word of God
speak for itself!
2. Rev 20: An Outline - plain and simple
a. The nature of Rev
20: It gives us another outline of the gospel age: from the binding of Satan for
a 1000 years, and right up to the glorious coming of Christ and the great
judgment. The main divisions are as follows:
- v1-3: the vision
of Satan being bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years.
- v4-6: the vision
of the saints who participated in the first resurrection reign (Mt 27:52) and
who reign with Christ in heaven during the same thousand years.
- v7-10: the vision
of the release of Satan for a little season AFTER the 1000 years; Satan will
ravage the saints followed by his final defeat and banishment to the lake of
fire.
- v11-15: The vision
of the great white throne; Christ’s coming in final judgment is vividly
described.
b. The order of
events in the entire gospel age and the second coming of Christ:
- the binding of
Satan for a thousand years by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ (Mt 12:29)
- the millennium;
(during which Christ reigns, and His saints (first resurrection, Mt 27:52) with
Him.
- after the thousand
years comes Satan’s little season: “till the 1000 years were finished… after
these things he must be released for a little season (mikron chronon).”
- The saints will go
through the great and final conflict, the great tribulation. (There is NO
secret rapture!)
- the sudden and
swift appearance of Christ to destroy Satan.
- the resurrection
of all the dead and the transformation of the living.
- the great and
final judgment.
Those who teach
that Christ’s second coming will be followed by a millennial reign - that the
glorified Lord will come before the millennium (ie the premillennialism) are
plainly in error.
- The millennium is the period BETWEEN the two comings of Christ; this is as clear as the noonday sun.
3. The Binding of Satan
a. The
metaphors of the vision:
- Look at the
metaphors that are used to describe the binding:
- An angel
(messenger, someone sent) coming down from heaven: a heavenly being coming down
to earth.
- He has the key
(power to open and shut) to the bottomless pit and a great chain (power to
bind):
- He laid hold of
the dragon.... and bound him for a thousand years: he overcame the dragon.
- He cast Satan into
the bottomless pit.... shut him up... set a seal on him.
- Who is the
messenger from heaven?
b. The
meaning of the vision:
- The dragon who is
bound: the dragon is clearly identified: that serpent of old, the Devil and
Satan.
- The purpose of his
binding: ‘that he should deceive the nations no more till the 1000 years were
finished.’
- When he is
released for a little season after the millennium (v7), he will deceive again -
this time to gather them for an all-out and final war against the saints.
- During the Old Covenant,
temporal salvation was mainly restricted to the Jewish nation only. With the binding
of the devil, all became different. The blessed gospel of salvation goes forth
far and wide throughout all ethnic nations, and God’s elect from all over the
world are gathered in.
c. The
nature of his binding:
- Satan is not bound
in the absolute sense. His activities and influence are not completely curbed.
He is still like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. 1Pe 5:8
- On the contrary,
within the sphere in which Satan is permitted to exert his influence for evil,
he rages most furiously (1Pet 2:11; 5:8). Rev 20:1-3 teaches that Satan’s power
is curbed and his influence curtailed with respect to one definite sphere of
activity. The devil can do much during this present period of 1000 years. But
there is one thing which, during this period, he cannot do. His power to
deceive nations is greatly limited.
- With respect to one
thing, he is definitely and securely bound. He is unable to stop the progress
of the church. He cannot stop the Church as a mighty missionary force heralding
the gospel to all the nations.
- Christ will build
His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Mt 16:18
d. The
time of his binding:
- When was Satan
bound? See Mt 12:29; Lk 10:17f, Jn 12:20-32; Col 2:15; etc
- Mt 12:29 shows
that it was Jesus, who in connection with His first coming (His victory over
Satan in the temptation, His perfect and sinless life, His death on the cross,
His glorious resurrection, His exaltation and reign in heaven), bound the
strong man, namely Beelzebub, the devil.
- Lk 10:17f and Jn
12:20f show us in what sense Satan is bound - that Jesus restrained the power
of Satan so that he could not prevent the spread of the gospel to the nations
of the world.
e. The
duration of his binding:
- A ‘thousand
years’: the period between his binding by Jesus Christ and his release for a
little while before the end of the world and the second coming of Christ.
- The ‘1000 years’
binding of Satan means the present Gospel Age, which begins with Christ’s first
coming and extends almost to His next or second coming. The ‘1000 years’ plus a
‘little season’ (mikron chronon -
negligible relative to 1000 years) is practically the same as 1000
years.
- The ‘1000 years’
is a symbol in a vision - and it must not be understood as a literal 1000
years. The book of Revelation is full of numbers (such as 1,3,4,7,10, and 12,
and their combinations and products, representing the realities of the kingdom
of God) with symbolic significance, and none of them is to be interpreted in a
literal sense.
- The number ‘1000’ indicates completeness, a fullness of measure. All the instances in Scripture
where this number occurs denote the same idea. It conveys the idea of
completeness determined by the will/counsel of God.
4. The Loosing of Satan
a. When the 1000
years are finished, Satan is released from the bottomless pit.
- Then it becomes
very clear that the final and most terrible persecution, by means of which the
antichristian forces are going to persecute the church, is instigated, in a
most direct manner, by Satan himself. The devil, through the person of the
Antichrist, will muster Gog and Magog for a final attack upon the ‘camp of the
saints and the beloved city.’ This is the period of the great and terrible
tribulation,
- The metaphor of
‘Gog and Magog’ is taken from Ezekiel 38:2, 39:1,6 - a symbol of the bitter
enemy and persecutor of God’s people. ‘Gog and Magog’ is used as a symbol of
the final and desperate attack of Satan and his hordes upon the Church.
- ‘Gog and Magog’
are identified with ‘the nations which are in the four corners of the earth.’
The term ‘the four corners of the earth simply means the whole world. The
entire wicked world is going to persecute the church. Not a few invented their
“rapture”, a theory of escapism, to deliver them from this severe tribulation.
- Satan will deceive
the nations to turn against the church. We have not seen the worst yet because
Satan is still bound.
b. Note
the appropriateness of the symbols:
- The attack of Gog
and Magog (Syria under Antiochus Epiphanes) was the last great oppression which
the people of God had to endure in the old dispensation.
- The armies of Gog
and Magog were very numerous. So they could adequately symbolise the worldwide
oppression to the Church in the days just before Christ’s return.
- The tribulation under
Antiochus Epiphanes, though very severe, was also of very brief duration. It is
appropriate to symbolise the brief but fiery tribulation at the close of the
gospel dispensation.
- The defeat of the
armies of Gog and Magog was most unexpected and complete. It was clearly the divine
work of God. So also will be the destruction of the Antichrist in his final
onslaught against the church.
5. The
swift destruction of Satan and his host
a. The sudden and
swift destruction of Satan’s hosts: ‘And fire came down from God out of heaven
and devoured them.’ Notice the sudden character of this judgment upon Gog and
Magog. It is as sudden and unexpected as the lightning which strikes from
heaven. Compare 2Th 2:8.
- The devil and his lackeys will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.
- ‘And everyone not found
written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Rev 20:15. These are not redeemed by the Redeemer Jesus Christ.
b. The corollary: "And everyone whose
name is found written in the Book of Life was ushered into heaven." These were given to Christ, and He redeemed them to the uttermost.
- Heb 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them.”
- Heb 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.”
