The Thousand Years
THE THOUSAND YEARS
REVELATION 20:1-6
Whatever our interpretation of the thousand years, Christ will finally be shown to be Lord over all. Evil will be put down. All resistance will be quelled. Christ will be triumphant.
There is always a strong temptation for theologians to try to avoid the obvious teaching of symbolism, if it does not fit in with their theories. Now that so much more is known of Talmudic and Intertestamental Jewish writings, it is beyond dispute that John is referring to the “days of the Messiah,” the period which links this age with the world to come. Any other interpretation would force on the prophecy a meaning its first hearers could not have understood.
Two interpretations seem compatible with this. One claims that the triumph of Christ in 19:11-21 is purely spiritual and that it is followed by a long period of the triumphant church bringing blessing to the world before the final revolt and the return of Christ in judgment. The fact that Augustine, and after him most in the medieval church, thought that they had already entered the millennium (thousand years) does not invalidate this interpretation. The other is that 19:11-21 shows the return of Christ, and that the millennium follows it, the world being in some way under the personal rule of Christ. This view has more difficulties in it than its supporters often realize, but it certainly fits the evidence of the New Testament better.
Rightly understood the two views are not so far apart as is often thought. Both should see Christ’s triumph through the church, and both should look to the future for its open revelation.
The purpose of the long history of God’s dealings with humanity is to make them realize that only through complete trust in and obedience to God can there be true blessing. The final lesson that we have to learn is that the root of the trouble is in us and not outside; so Satan, having been defeated, is for the time being rendered incapable of doing his work.
While there is not much about “the first resurrection” (20:5) in the New Testament, it is undoubtedly there. It is implied in Luke 14:14 and probably in 1 Corinthians 15:23; it is stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and probably in the Greek of Philippians 3:11. Since all resurrection is the outcome of Christ’s, the New Testament avoids giving the impression that the earlier resurrection of the conquerors is in any way a result of their own merits. The nature of the “judgment” (20:4) is not specified, but there is no indication that it has anything to do with the dead. There is, however, no suggestion of sinlessness during the millennium.