THE MILLENNIUM OF THE REVELATION: Revelation 20

We have finally made it to the section of the Revelation that mentions the Thousand Year Reign of the Church with Christ. It has been said, “The Millennium is a thousand years of peace that the church likes to fight about.” Well we are not going to fight about it, but we are going to contend for what we believe the Scripture contends for. Before we dig in to chapter 20, let me remind you of what we have seen thus far in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In chapter 1 we learned that because Christ loves us, He wants His slaves to know what He is doing in history, so that we may not lose heart and obey His commands despite the seeming odds. In chapter’s 2-3 Christ wrote letters to the seven churches who originally received this book, wherein He charges them to conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil by faith. In chapter 4 Christ reveals God the Father seated on the throne of the universe, high and lifted up. In chapter 5 Christ reveals Himself as the Lionlike Lamb who has conquered by His life, death, and resurrection, and who will conquer by bringing about God’s redemptive plan in history. Chapter’s 5-6 should both build confidence in the people of God because of their Almighty Father and Lionlike Lamb who will accomplish all of God’s purposes. In chapter 6 Christ reveals Himself as having gone out conquering and to conquer, bowed, crowned, and riding His white horse. In chapters’s 6-11 Christ reveals the judgement that He will bring upon apostate Israel, even as He promised in the Olivet discourse. In chapters’s 12-18 Christ reveals the judgement that He will bring upon Rome. By chapter 18 we are shown both instrumental human causes of Christ’s crucifixion and the churches persecution (the Jews and the Roman Empire) being thrown down in judgement. In chapters 19 Christ reveals Himself in more detail as He rides His white horse conquering and to conquer the nations, this time revealing His saints behind Him in the same victorious charge. In chapter 20 we are shown how Christ will conquer the nations by His gospel and through His church. We are also shown the reigning of Christ with His saints in the millennium. We are then shown the final defeat of Satan and the judgement of the living and the dead before the judgement seat of Christ, just before the eternal state is ushered in.

DOCTRINE. Before the final defeat of Satan and the great white throne judgement, Christ will be successful in conquering the nations by His gospel. Or the more detailed version is this: Before the final defeat of Satan and the great white throne judgement, Christ will be successful in conquering the nations by His gospel because He has bound Satan with respect to deceiving the nations, and because He has made His regenerated saints to rule with Him on the earth as priests and kings. 

Now before we begin, I want to give you an idea of where we are going in this study of Revelation 20. There are five main points under which we are going to study Revelation 20. Firstly, with each point I am going to state the obvious and general truth learned in the verses we are considering. With these general points I think premil’s, amil’s, and postmil’s would all agree. II. Secondly, with each point I am going to explain the different views of the three main positions. Sometimes I will conflate historic premil and premil dispensational, and sometimes I will leave the dispy view over in the corner to starve and freeze to death, as I hope it eventually does in history. III. Thirdly, with each point I am going to seek to both explain and apply concerning my understanding and convictions of the verses.

I. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MILLENNIUM, SATAN IS BOUND SO THAT HE MIGHT NOT DECEIVE THE NATIONS ANY LONGER. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while” (Rev. 20:1-3). Concerning the Binding of Satan and the Thousand Years, Premillennialists believe this will be after the second coming of Christ, which they place at Revelation 19. In their view, the Millennium then follows this with Christ physically reigning on earth, along with his saints, and subduing the nations through military might. Amillennialists believe this has already happened and that the thousand years is symbolic of the church age, where both evil and the gospel spread in a neutral fashion. Postmillennialists generally believe this has already happened and that the thousand years is the New Covenant age that we are in right now, wherein Christ is slowly but surely conquering the nations by His gospel through His church. Some postmillennial historicists, such as James Durham, and Jonathan Edwards, believe this will begin at a later time, with some even holding that this will be a literal one thousand years, such as Wilhelmus À Brakel.

  Christ is the one who binds Satan. Matthew Poole wrote, “The description of this angel can agree to none but Christ. . . for, in Revelation 1:18 it is Christ who hath the power of hell and death; and it is he who alone is stronger than the devil, which must be supposed to him that binds him, or we must think the devil much tamer than he is.” Consider Matthew 12:25-29: “Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.” In Matthew 12 Christ says He binds Satan so that He can plunder his house. In Revelation 20, we see Christ do it. Satan is bound so that he would no longer deceive the nations, in order that the gospel would progress throughout the world. The nations, composed of Gentiles, were once in darkness and captured by Satan’s deception. But now they are brought into the church by Christ and His Spirit through the gospel. “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:12-13). 

II. DURING THE MILLENNIUM, THOSE THAT SHARE IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION REIGN WITH CHRIST AS PRIESTS AND KINGS. “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4-6). Concerning the Thousand Years and the First Resurrection, Premillennialists believe Christ will return in Revelation 19 and he will physically reign on the earth in Jerusalem for a literal one thousand years with those whom He has physically resurrected, which they understand to be “the first resurrection.” In addition to this, Dispensationalists believe the Jews will be the ones who reign with Christ, the Temple will be rebuilt, and animal sacrifices will be reinstated as Christ rules through military might. Amillennialists believe the both the first resurrection is spiritual, and that the thousand year reign is both metaphorical and spiritual, taking place in the intermediate state or in the hearts of believers in the church age. Postmillennialists believe the first resurrection is the regeneration of the saints. We also generally believe the millennial reign of the church with Christ is metaphorical in length yet literal in meaning. Christ will continue to ride forth with the intention to conquer in fulfillment of the great commission. Satan is bound. The nations are slowly but surely being discipled. In the later days, the saints will especially enjoy the peace and prosperity that comes from Christ’s gospel conquest.

  There is only one bodily resurrection, and it happens at the day of judgement. The Bible everywhere affirms that the wicked and the righteous will be raised at the same time, and it leaves no room for a 1,000 year gap between the righteous and the wicked being bodily resurrected.

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Sam Storms went so far as to say that to hold to premillennialism is to abandon inerrancy. Now, John Piper did not like that. But why would Dr. Storms say that? Because of the analogy of Scripture. We interpret the unclear passages with the clear ones. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:23-25: “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” The return of Christ, the bodily resurrection, and the judgement is the end. These things are not the beginning of 1,000 year reign. There is no room in the Bible for a thousand year gap between Christ’s second coming, the judgement, the resurrection off the dead, and the ushering in of the eternal state.

II) The first resurrection is the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit who brings Christ’s people to spiritual life. Paul speaks of the eventual conversion of the Jews and calls it “life from the dead” (Rom. 11:15). “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). Ezekiel 37 also depicts the salvation of God’s people as a spiritual resurrection, with the vision of the valley of dry bones. Christ Himself speaks of this first resurrection, which we take to mean regeneration, and the second resurrection, which is bodily and physical in John 5:25-29: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Furthermore, we are told that those who share in the first resurrection are safe from the second death. They are not safe from the first death, which is our physical death. They are safe from the second death, which is judgement forever in hell.

  Christ will be successful in fulfilling His great commission through His church. “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is. 49:6). “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Is. 60:3). “In your majesty ride out victoriously” (Ps. 45:4). In Psalm 2:8, God the Father says to God the Son, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” “Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” (Ps. 72:19). “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’” (Ps. 110:1). “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:9). “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). 

  Jonathan Edwards is worth quoting at length here. He wrote that the prophecies of the future glorious state of the church “speak of Jerusalem's being made ‘the joy of the whole earth,’ and also the ‘joy of many generations’ (Ps. 48:2; Is. 60:15), that ‘God's people should long enjoy the work of their hands’ (Is. 65:22), that they should ‘reign with Christ a thousand years’ (Rev. 20) by which we must at least understand a very long time. But it would be endless to mention all the places, which signify that the time of the church's great peace and prosperity should be of long continuance: almost all the prophecies that speak of her latter-day glory, imply it; and it is implied in very many of them, that when once this day of the church's advancement and peace is begun, it shall never end, till the world ends; or, at least, that there shall be no more a return of her troubles and adversity for any considerable continuance; that then ‘the days of her mourning shall be ended’ (Is. 60:20); that her tribulations ‘should then be as the waters of Noah Unto God, that as he has sworn that the waters of Noah should no more Pass over the earth, so he will swear that he will no more be wroth with his people, or rebuke them’ (Is. 54:9).” 

  Believers reign with Christ a thousand years as priests and kings on the earth. “You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10). “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:20-23).

USE THIS TRUTH FOR REPROOF, REBUKE, AND EXHORTATION. There is no room for a defeatist attitude in the Christian life. Growing in grace is not a battle we lose. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. You are not ordinary. The Spirit of Christ lives in you and He will strengthen you as He sanctifies you. Perhaps you feel strengthless because you are prayerless. The dominion mandate has been reclaimed in Christ. Go and take dominion by the Holy Spirit’s help over yourself, your home, in your vocation, as a part of the church, and in the entire world for Christ’s glory. Christ bought you to be kings and priests who worship and reign. Act like it. The great commission is not a losing effort. Christ did not say, “tell the nations.” He commanded us to “Disciple the nations.” Do your part, beginning in your home, your church, your city, your state, even to the nations through missionaries and church-planting. Christ did not say, “I might reign.” He said, “I must reign until I have put all my enemies under my feet.” We are promised that our bad things will work out for good, our good things can never be lost, and the best things are yet to come. We are given too great of promises to sit and sulk. Crucify your defeatist attitude. After that, take up the Sword of the Spirit in your right hand, Christ’s promises in your left, and faith in your heart. Ride forward on your white horse behind Christ. He has conquered; He is conquering; and He intends to conquer. We do not lose because Christ does not lose.

III. AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM, SATAN IS RELEASED AND A GREAT NUMBER OF THE DECEIVED THREATEN THE BODY OF CHRIST. “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (Rev. 20:7-9a). Concerning the releasing of Satan and the city surrounded, Premillennialists believe that once Satan is loosed, Christ and His people will eventually be surrounded by them at Jerusalem, where Christ has been physically ruling. Amillennialists and Postmillennialists believe that once Satan is released there will be a great rebellion and the deceived who follow Satan will want to do great harm to the church, but Christ will not physically be on the earth at this point because His second coming has not yet happened. For the context behind the imagery of Gog and Magog, see Ezekiel 38:1, 22-23. The enemies of the Lord’s people want to do great violence, but the Lord overthrows them in fiery fury, just like here at the second coming of Christ. 

  Why is this great rebellion allowed to get going? Christ will loose Satan so that he may deceive the nations again just before the end, showing that all the peace and prosperity of the churches millennial reign was due to His grace and not their merit. “So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD” (Ez. 38:23).

IV. AFTER THE SAINTS ARE THREATENED, CHRIST WILL DESTROY HIS ENEMIES AND THROW SATAN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. “…but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:9b-10). Concerning the Final Judgement of Satan, Premillennialists believe that Christ and His people will be surrounded by Satan and his legions, but that God the Father will reign down fire on them, saving Christ and His people from destruction, and then Satan will be thrown into hell. Amillennialists and Postmillennialists believe that just as this great threatening by Satan and the deceived starts to gain traction, Christ will return to both defeat Satan and to judge the living and the dead. This is the second coming of Christ. There is only one second coming. Before the judgement of the just and unjust, Christ takes the devil by the tail and throws him into hell.

  Christ will come a second time in fiery fury to finally defeat Satan and those who belong to him. “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed” (2 Thess. 1:7-10).

V. AFTER SATAN IS THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WILL JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, BOTH GREAT AND SMALL. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:11-15). Concerning the Great White Throne Judgement, Premillennialists believe this is the judgement of the wicked only, not the judgement of the righteous, since the judgement of the righteous must have taken place before Jesus physically resurrected them at the outset of the Millennium. Amillennialists and Postmillennialists believe this is the resurrection of both the just and the unjust for judgement before the judgement seat of Christ, right before Jesus ushers in the eternal state of believers on the New Earth and unbelievers in hell. 

  There is only one judgement and it happens at the second coming of Christ, after He has foot-stooled every enemy save death itself. “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:1). “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matt. 25:31-32; also c.f. 2 Thess. 1:7-10 mentioned above). “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:24-26).

  Christ will judge the living the dead, both great and small, even you. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). The books that will be opened are likely the books of Conscience, God’s Law, and God’s Omniscience. Have you obeyed your conscience? God’s Law? God sees everything and marks it down. This judgement will reveal whether or not those who profess Christ actually belong to Christ (per Matthew 25). He will reward those who are His and damn those who are not. Then another book is opened, the book of life, wherein is contained the names of all those the Lamb has redeemed. Is your name there? Go to Jesus Christ in faith and you can be sure it is written there in blood. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Jn. 6:37).