A Study of Revelation 20 and other related passages
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room,
and heav’n and nature sing.Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy.No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
far as the curse is found.He rules the world with truth and grace,
Isaac Watts
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love.
Thus far in our study we have looked at the connections, timing and sequence of the thousand year binding of Satan brought about by the thousand year reign of Christ (Revelation 20:1-6). Christ is ruling and reigning now (Matthew 28:18; Acts 2:30-32; Revelation 1:5). Just because not all are yet submitted to Him (Hebrews 2:8), does not mean that they will succeed in their rebellion or that their rebellion means He is not reigning (Psalm 2:1-12). Since the binding defeat of Satan is brought about by Christ’s death and resurrection, which are ratified by His ascension to the throne, we have no reason to think that the thousand years are still yet to come. We have no textual reason to think this. The angel out of heaven is a metaphor. The key is a metaphor. The bottomless pit is a metaphor. The great chain is a metaphor. The dragon is a metaphor. The seal is a metaphor. The thousand years are a metaphor. Each of these elements are essential to the larger metaphor. Why change one of them from a freight car filled with biblical truth into a flat number? We have no Biblical reason to think this number means calendar calculations. Some may worry this makes the number meaningless. It is meaningful, indeed, full of meaning.
Consider the need for this number. We are given assurances that Jesus Christ is reigning now and will continue to do so until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet and then the end will come. He will return and raise the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-26). We know He is reigning now. We do not know how long it will be until He returns. The Master who has all authority returns after a long time to settle accounts with everyone (Luke 19:11-27), but His particular day of return is an utter surprise. No one knows when, and while the Bridegroom tarries (Matthew 25:1-13) and the Master delays (Matthew 25:14-30), the Wheat and the Tares grow up together until the harvest when there will be a sifting (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). We have to wait on the Lord, trusting His timing. Our vigilance will be expressed in our diligence (Ephesians 5:14-17).
So, we know that Christ reigns powerfully and gloriously now, His kingdom having begun through His death, resurrection and ascension. We also know His reign comes to a satisfying and glorious conclusion in the resurrection and day of Judgment. We do not know when He will return, just that He will in like manner as He ascended (Acts 1:11). Now, what is a really nifty way of communicating the authority of an everlasting King Who reigns in a special way for an unknown, but perfect and specific amount of time? What would be an effective metaphor to describe the perfect cosmic reign of a perfect eternal King for a perfect unknown amount of time? How about the number 1,000? Ten to the third power? Ten graced the words of Creation, Ten were the generations from Adam to Noah, Ten were the generations from Shem to Abraham, Ten graced God’s covenant at Sinai, Ten is the biblical metaphor of completeness. The angels are numbered as ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands (Revelation 5:11). God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. What does that mean? How is the number thousand used as a metaphor throughout Scripture? Fullness, abundance and perfection are signified. The millennium is the reign of Christ from His resurrection to mankind’s resurrection, highlighted from His Ascension to His Return, and marked by His victory in AD 70 near the beginning of His reign and His victory over Satan and his followers near the end of this Age.*
The real challenge against this interpretation has to do with our experience. There is so much evil in our world today, and has been for so many centuries. How can it be true that Satan has in any way been bound, locked up, sealed, put away into the bottomless pit? Can it truly be said that this is the current reality of our time? It is by faith we understand what a great victory Christ really won and what a drastic difference He has made in this world today by His reign. I would not desire in the least to live in that demonically saturated and possessed world prior to Christ. Why were so many demons so overtly conspicuous prior to Christ’s death and resurrection? Yes demonic activity continues today, but not like it was before Christ asserted His authority. Are we thankful for our Savior’s reign? Consider the nations. How far spread was the hope of the Son of David, the Seed of Abraham prior to Christ’s reign? Now how far has the good news of the Kingdom spread?
Let us not utilize our experience or our discouragement as a hermeneutic. We have three options before us. Either Jesus is just getting started in bringing all into submission to Himself, or things are well underway and progressing, or we’re in the last phase where Satan has been unleashed and he is marshaling the nations against Christ’s bride. Either Christ is gaining momentum in victory, keeping momentum in victory or just about to bring an end to all His enemies. I do not know! I may live in an information age, but this is not an age of understanding. I will not pontificate on what is not my responsibility. Christ is building His church and ruling the nations. He has a perfect understanding of how matters progress. Diligence, not speculation, should be the watchword of my vigilance. In each of the three options I am on the edge of my seat for what is next, knowing my labor is not in vain. We are going to win in Christ and we are going to win big. This is the encouragement for all who suffer in the name of Christ (Revelation 20:4).
*Note: When Jesus uses the expression, “In this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32), He is comparing or contrasting the economies of the Old and New Covenants (Matthew 19:27-30; Mark 10:28-31; Luke 18:28-29), sometimes expressed as the Heaven and the Earth that pass away (Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 5:17-20; 1 Peter 3:10-12) and the New Heaven and Earth wherein Christ creates all things new (Isaiah 65:17-66:24; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; 1 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-8 ). “The end of the age,” either that of the Old Covenant or that of the New is always brought about by a sifting kind of judgment (either AD 70 or the Resurrection). It may also be challenging to realize that along with words like “Law,” “Heaven(s),” “Salvation,” and “World,” the term “Age” can be used in more than one sense. One must also recognize the translator’s choice of “World” to cover the Greek word for “Age” in some translations.
