The church I grew up in had a lot to say about the end times (generally) and the book of Revelation (specifically). We had conferences. We had charts. We had bumper stickers and T-shirts about the rapture. Looking back, I can see now that we were just a touch shy of an all-out obsession.
I’m glad our church doesn’t get swept up into all of that. As we read Revelation—or any book of the Bible—we keep our focus on Jesus, trying to see the gospel on every page. Because when it comes to Revelation, Christians may have different views, but we agree on the essentials: In the end Christ will return, evil will be defeated, and God’s people will reign forever with him.
But just because we agree on the essentials doesn’t mean the details suddenly become irrelevant. I still have strong convictions about the interpretation of Revelation, and I’d encourage all Christians to work out their own views—specifically about the millennium.
The millennium shows up toward the end of Revelation, in chapter 20. “Millennium” means one thousand, and it refers to a one-thousand-year earthly reign of Christ. There are several stances on what this means in the context of Revelation, but the two main ones are premillennialism and amillennialism, and Revelation 20 is where these interpretations come into the sharpest relief. (I’m aware that there are other positions too—most notably, postmillennialism and preterism—but they’re not as common, so I won’t get into them here.)
People I respect are on either side of this debate. Both premillennialists and amillennialists agree on the essentials, and both kinds of people happily join arms with each other at our church.
That said, with this post, I want to make the case for why I am convinced of the premillennial approach.
Buckle up.
Premillennialists (I’ll shorten it to “premils” to save my poor little fingers) believe that the millennium is something coming in the future, after Jesus returns. Hence, we’re in a pre-millennial era right now. Premils read Revelation 19–20 in a more literal, chronological way. After Christ returns in Revelation 19 and defeats the Antichrist, he inaugurates the Millennium, bringing the Great Tribulation to an end and establishing his reign on earth. Revelation 20:2–3 says that Jesus started this millennium when “he seized the dragon … 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” (ESV). During this thousand-year reign, the power of Satan is totally restrained on earth, and according to verse 4, we, along with other believers who died during the Tribulation, are bodily resurrected and we reign with Jesus for this thousand years.
The chapter continues saying that after the thousand years is over, Satan comes out with a vengeance to stir up one final rebellion. (You might ask, “Who exactly does he stir up for rebellion? Weren’t all the unbelievers destroyed at the end of the Great Tribulation, which meant that only believers entered into the Millennium?” Sure, but lots of people will be born on earth during the thousand years, and not all of them will come to know and trust Jesus personally. When Satan is released with full power on earth, he’ll deceive a lot of these people and convince them to rebel against Jesus.)
In verse 9, Jesus puts this final rebellion down by sending down fire from heaven, and verses 11–12 describe the second resurrection, saying, “Then I [John] saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. … And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.” This is when unbelievers are resurrected to face judgment.
If you read all of that and you’re still not sure how it works, check out this visual. (There’s a reason end times junkies resort to charts. Timelines are easier to grasp visually.)
Amillennialists (or “amils”), on the other hand, believe that the one thousand years are symbolic—10 x 10 x 10—and everything between Jesus’ ascension and his return is included in this number, so there’s no literal millennium coming. Hence “a-millennial,” since “a” is a Greek prefix meaning “no” or “not.”
Amils read Revelation 20 a little differently. They see the millennium not as a coming, future thousand-year earthly reign of Christ, but as a metaphor for the age we are living in now. For them, the “thousand years” in Revelation 20:2 refers to the entire time between Jesus’ first and second coming. This means we’re in the millennium now, and that Satan is “bound” during this time in a limited sense, meaning he can’t deceive the world like he used to.
You might ask, “Didn’t Revelation 20:4 say that believers will be resurrected during this time to reign with Christ?” Good point! Amils believe this refers not to an actual bodily resurrection of believers but a spiritual resurrection in which we’re united to Christ now. We already reign with Christ spiritually, from heaven.
If you aren’t satisfied with my summary of the amil position, don’t fret: I’ve got another Summit staff member (and top-tier theologian) who will make the best case for the amil position next week. In the meantime, let me tell you why I think the premil approach is better:
1. Future Language
First, so much of Revelation is written in sequential, futuristic language. Chapter 20 opens up by saying, “Then I saw,” and then this happened, and then this happened. The whole thing reads like something that will happen, sequentially, in the future, not as a bunch of overlapping symbols all happening at once. Furthermore, John told us at the beginning of Revelation that he was writing about things that “must soon take place,” meaning (as I read it) future things, not symbols of what was already happening.
2. Satan Bound?
Second, the rest of the New Testament doesn’t seem to present Satan as bound and sealed and shut up in a pit right now. Revelation 20:2–3 says, “Satan is bound and shut up in a pit with the top sealed over him,” a state amils believe he’s in right now. But consider these verses:
- 1 Peter 5:8 – “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
- Acts 5:3 – Peter attributes Ananias’ deception directly to Satan (which means it was Satan himself doing it).
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 – Paul calls Satan the “god of this age” (NIV) and says that he’s the one at work in the sons of disobedience (see also Ephesians 2:1–2).
Does that sound like a Satan chained up and sealed in a pit? Not to me!
3. Tribulation = Millennium?
Third, and related to the second, is Satan really “bound” during the time of the Tribulation? Many—though not all—amils believe that the thousand-year reign of Christ and the seven-year tribulation are really just two overlapping depictions of the exact same period.
Respectfully, I want to ask, “How?” It’s hard to imagine two events more divergent than the Tribulation and the Millennium. The Millennium is Christ ruling in victory; the Tribulation has the Beast ruling in terror. That’s tough to reconcile.
It’s also difficult to synthesize the dual depictions of Satan here. If the Tribulation and Millennium describe the same period, is Satan active during them or not? Is Satan “bound and shut up and sealed in a pit so that he can’t deceive the nations” (the Millennium)? Or is he manifest in the Antichrist and false prophet who, during the Tribulation, deceive the nations through the power of Satan? I struggle to see how Satan can be leading the world in deception and bound in a pit at the same time.
4. Anastasis
Finally, “anastasis” in the New Testament always means physical resurrection. The word for resurrection used in Revelation 20:4 is ἀνάστασις: “They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years … this is the first ἀνάστασις.” This word ἀνάστασις occurs 42 times in the New Testament, and in literally every other place it refers to a bodily resurrection. To treat it here as a purely spiritual metaphor seems odd.
So there it is in a nutshell—my premil defense of Revelation. If four points and a chart don’t convince you, maybe Kirk Cameron and I will have time during the first one hundred years of the Millennium to try again.
