As promised, here is the counterpoint to my article, which outlined (and deftly defended) the premil position. It’s written by a fellow Summit Church staff member, Christy Thornton, who has a PhD in theology, oversees discipleship content at the Summit, hosts The Whole Disciple podcast, and is one of the sharpest Bible teachers I know.
–Pastor J.D.
We recently finished a tremendous series through Revelation. And since Pastor J.D. just laid out the case for premillennialism, I wanted to make the case on the other side—the amillennialist position. Pastor J.D. was gracious enough to hand me the mic and let me give it my best shot.
As a reminder, like he said multiple times during our sermon series, and again in his post, the conclusions we draw on this topic matter, but not in a way that ought to cause division among brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor J.D. has affirmed over and over his respect for Christians who disagree with him, and I share his deep commitment for unity in the gospel and respect in our theological differences. In fact, having this interesting debate is a testament to the unity and mutual respect we have on those central matters.
Truth be told, I hold no unyielding convictions about the nature of the millennium, nor am I particularly passionate about it. But as someone who is a theologian by trade, it’s part of the gig to take positions on tertiary matters. So I will explain why I (usually) find amillennialism as the most consistent and compelling interpretive option for Revelation 20:1–6.
What Is Amillennialism?
The discussion for both of us centers around how to interpret Revelation 20:1–6. We both agree that God’s good purposes will end in eternal judgment for all humanity and a new creation for those who believe in Jesus. We both believe the millennium is an important part of that plan. But we disagree on what exactly John intends when he writes of Jesus’ thousand-year reign.
When I say I affirm amillennialism, I mean, in the words of G. K. Beale, “The millennium is inaugurated during the church age by God’s curtailment of Satan’s ability to deceive the nations and to annihilate the church and by the resurrection of believers’ souls to heaven to reign there with Christ.”(1) (The term “amillennialism” is something of a misnomer. Inaugurated or realized millennialism is more accurate.)
While for some, amillennialism can apply to the entire book of Revelation, it is also common to hold an amillennial position for Revelation 20 specifically, and to read the rest of the book as about both future and present realities. That’s my position. I affirm a future Tribulation and that the millennial reign is present reality. So in this regard, Pastor J.D. and I are in agreement: I don’t consider the Millennium and the Tribulation to be two depictions of the same reality. The Millennium is now and the Tribulation is later.
Michael F. Bird depicts this view helpfully in the figure below (2):
1,000 Years—Symbolic Language in Revelation
For me, the most compelling reason I affirm amillennialism is the symbolic nature of numbers in Revelation. In apocalyptic literature, as Pastor J.D. pointed out multiple times, numbers are most often symbolic and not literal.
Revelation 20:3 isn’t the first time that “1,000” indicates symbolic imagery in the book. In Revelation 7:1, 4, as well as 14:1, 3, John refers to the 144,000 who have been redeemed. This number, 144,000, almost certainly has symbolic meaning. “Twelve” is the number of the people of God across the Bible. The number 144 is 12 x 12, indicating the people of God from the Old and New Testaments (12 tribes of Israel x 12 apostles). The 1,000 adds to the symbolic meaning of 144,000. Ten and three are both numbers of completion across the Bible, and 1,000 is 10 x 10 x 10. That’s three tens, indicating completion of completion. John isn’t limiting the people of God to a mere 144,000 individuals. He uses the number symbolically to indicate the complete people of God from both the Old and New covenants.
It seems implausible, then, that the same author in the same book would use the same number with different meanings. (And in fact, some people do try to consistently read all the numbers in Revelation literally—but I think they’re missing a widely agreed-upon element of apocalyptic literature.) Thus, when we read “a thousand” in Revelation 20, the most reasonable and consistent conclusion is that John consistently uses the number to symbolize completion—the 144,000, the complete people of God, and the thousand-year reign, the complete time of the Kingdom in this age.
The symbolic interpretation of “a thousand years,” then, allows me to read the Kingdom in Revelation 20 as the same kingdom of God that Jesus so frequently taught about in his first coming, a kingdom inaugurated with his first coming and awaiting future fulfillment at his second coming. No need to create space for another distinct, unique-to-Revelation kingdom.
The Binding of Satan and the Mission of God
I’ll be honest: The idea that Satan is bound now presents the biggest hurdle for many who consider the amillennial position, mainly because Satan just doesn’t seem bound in this world! In fact, he seems quite active—so much so that other biblical authors caution us to be on guard against him (1 Peter 5:8). Frankly, if the text said that he was bound in all things, I’d have a hard time with it too.
But Revelation 20:3 tells us his binding has one purpose—“so that he might not deceive the nations any longer”—and he will be released before the final end comes (Revelation 20:7). The binding of Satan is an important piece of God’s plan to fulfill his mission to the nations.
In other words, Satan’s binding is all about the nations. So what’s the big deal about the nations (ethne), anyway?
Beginning with Abraham, God’s intent has always been to bless the nations (Genesis 22:18). When Jesus, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1), accomplished salvation through his life, death, and resurrection, he commissioned his people to “go and make disciples of all nations (ethne)” (Matthew 28:19).
Then, the wildest thing happens. Suddenly, as disciples are seeking to make disciples, everywhere they go, people are no longer deceived by false gods, but they believe in Jesus by the thousands. These stories begin in the book of Acts but continue to the present day. Right now, in the most unlikely places, the nations’ eyes are being opened to no longer be deceived by the ancient serpent, but to believe in Jesus.
God’s mission to the nations is certain to succeed, and the “gates of hell shall not prevail against” his church (Matthew 16:18). And then we make it to the final end that John sees in Revelation 7:9–10, where “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation (ethnous) … [was] crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”
No one, not even Satan himself, can thwart God’s mission to make disciples of all nations. God has bound the great Enemy so that his church might prevail in the Great Commission.
But when the end of the age arrives, Satan will be released to be the primary cause of the coming Tribulation (Revelation 20:7–9).
The Saints—Resurrected and Reigning
1. Resurrected
The claim that the saints who have died are alive now through the resurrection of Christ is quite common across the New Testament, where our union with Christ entails a present union with him in his resurrected life (Romans 6:4, 8:10–11; Ephesians 2:5). For me, that’s sufficient to conclude the resurrection described in Revelation 20:4–5 can be read as a present spiritual reality.
However, since Pastor J.D. has raised concern about the use of “resurrection” (anastasis) in this sense, allow me to briefly explain why I believe that using the term “resurrection” (anastasis) as a present reality is consistent within John’s writing.
John only uses the term “resurrection” (anastasis) five times in his writings, in only three passages—twice in the Gospel of John and once in Revelation. (He doesn’t use the word at all in his letters.) Two of its uses come from the passage at hand, Revelation 20:5–6. One use is in John 5:29, which maps somewhat neatly onto the scene in Revelation 20:11–15 after the millennial kingdom. The other two, interestingly, come from John 11, in Jesus’ conversation with Martha after the death of Lazarus.
In John 11, Jesus uses “resurrection” (anastasis) in a theological sense, rather than a literal one. He is quite clearly not referring directly to his bodily resurrection after the crucifixion—nor even to Lazarus’ bodily resurrection (which is about to happen).
After Lazarus dies, Martha approaches Jesus out of grief for her brother, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). To which Jesus responds, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23). Martha, assuming she understands his meaning, appeals to the bodily resurrection at the end of time when she says, “I know that he will rise again (anastásetai) in the resurrection (anastasei) on the last day” (John 11:25). Martha, in fact, is using the term to refer to a physical resurrection.
But then something unexpected happens. Instead of affirming her statement, Jesus flips the script and switches the tense. Instead of addressing the future, he addresses the present and person of the resurrection.
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection (anastasis) and the life” (John 11:25).
In other words, it seems that the primary reference in John’s writing for anastasis is Jesus himself. Because he is the resurrection, he can use the present tense verb (and a claim of divinity), even before his bodily resurrection on the third day has occurred. Jesus is the resurrection even before he is resurrected.
Further, he applies himself as the resurrection to the experience of those who have believed in him and died, saying, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25–26). All who believe in Jesus share in his resurrection, even when they die—not only in their final, bodily resurrection, but immediately.
This verbiage matches the language John uses in Revelation that “they came to life” (20:4) which is the “first resurrection” (20:5).
We can rest assured that all those who have died believing in Christ live even though they die and even now participate in the resurrection, who is Christ himself.
2. Reigning
Finally, how can the saints be reigning with Jesus now (Revelation 20:6)? Again, this language is not entirely uncommon in the New Testament. In the same way that we share in Jesus’ resurrection, we also share in his ascension, where he reigns (Ephesians 1:20, 2:6).
Perhaps the stronger argument, though, is that we’ve already seen the saints reigning in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 4:4, the elders in the throne room of God are “seated on thrones” and adorned with “golden crowns on their heads.” It’s hard for me to imagine that the images of thrones and crowns could indicate anything other than the rule and reign of the elders.
Together in the End
These are a few of the reasons I generally find the amillennial position the most consistent and compelling. I hold these loosely, but I am white-knuckled that whenever and however the end unfolds, we are all in it together. The book of Revelation is primarily about the unveiling of our Savior, his plans, and our union with him in his death and resurrection.
So while I do enjoy charitable sparring about theological ideas, I delight in the unity of the church even more—in this age and in the one to come.
***
1 – Beale, G. K., and David Campbell. Revelation: A Shorter Commentary, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: 2015, 409.
2 – Bird, Michael F. Evangelical Theology, 2nd ed., Zondervan Academic: 2020, 336.
