GIRS syllabus: Survey Studies in Reformed Theology Unit Index: Eschatology

Escatolology - Lesson 3
The Millennium of Revelation 20
by Pastor Bob Burridge ©2004

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Messiah came to rule on the throne of David
The kingdom of God became more visible on earth under David than it had in any previous age. God promised that ancient king an unending dynasty. But the promise obviously went far beyond David's immediate descendants. It would be through his family line that the Messiah would come.
Among the passages that make this promise clear is 2 Samuel 7. The outline of the key section of that chapter is as follows ...

7:12-13	God promised that a descendant of David would be established to rule over a kingdom forever.
7:14	The Davidic king would be like a son to God.
7:16	David's house and kingdom will endure before Jehovah forever, and his throne will be established forever

This means that David's rule and God's rule are bonded together in some way. But King David's physical, political dynasty lasted only about 400 years, then it ended. How can this rule be understood as lasting forever?
The New Testament interprets the Old Testament promises making it beyond dispute that Jesus fulfilled that promise in his incarnation when he came to reign on David's Throne.

Luke 1:32-33 is Gabriel's announcement of the birth of Jesus to Mary:
"... the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end."

John the Baptist announced the Kingdom's coming
Matthew 3:2 "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
The same message was later proclaimed by Jesus in Matthew 4:17.

Isaiah identified the Messiah with the Davidic king
Isaiah 9:6-7 "unto us a child is born ... the government shall be upon His shoulder ... of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever."

Peter identified the reign of Jesus with David's throne in Acts 2:29-32. There he pointed out that David spoke in Psalm 16:8-11 of one of his descendants who would reign upon his throne. Peter clearly identified Jesus as fulfilling that promise.
Hebrews 1-3 makes many references to this truth as it speaks about Jesus. Hebrews 1:2 identifies Jesus clearly as heir of all things, and the Creator. In this verse he is called the Son of God just as the promise in 2 Samuel 7:14 said that the promised Davidic king will be like a Son to God. Just as an earthly king's son continues his rule, this Promised One would not merely be a son of king David, he would more importantly rule as God on earth, the one who represents and continues the authority of the Creator himself.

Hebrews 1:5 merges Messianic sonship with Davidic sonship by quoting from Psalm 2:7 "Thou art My Son".

Hebrews 1:8 identifies Jesus with the Messiah by quoting Psalm 45:7 "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever".

In Matthew 1:1 we see how this "Son of God" became by birth a "son of David".

Jesus did not come as the kind of Messianic King the Jews expected
The Jews had come to expect a perverted form of the promised kingdom. They imagined that the Messiah would be a political/military figure who would cause the Jews to gain superiority over the Gentiles. Some at that time expected him to overthrow the Roman Empire.
Jesus corrected their misconceptions of the kingdom. First, they needed to understand that the Kingdom would be primarily spiritual and invisible rather than physical and political. He told Pilate "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). He refused the foolish efforts of some who offered to recognize him as their earthly king.
Jesus made it clear that depraved man cannot bring in this kingdom by his own power and efforts. It will be sovereignly established by a supernatural work of God. It is entered only by repentance and the new birth as he explained in John 3:3,5 "unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
God's Kingdom and the church is made up of the covenant people only. "The visible church is an earthly embodiment of his kingdom" (Vos). The purifying of the church by discipline is spoken of as the perfecting of the outward form of the kingdom on earth.

Historical Background:
The Jewish branch of the early church continued to expect an earthly physical and political kingdom which was to come before the final end of the earth in judgment. The Gentile branch of the early church was not influenced by that Jewish expectation.
As a united body, the early church did not expect the kingdom in that way. There were at various times some individuals within that body who held that view. There was support from a few early spurious writings known to us as the writings of Barnabas and Hermas. To that we could add the writings of Papias.
In the brief period from 150 to 250 AD Irenaeus and Tertullian taught a millennialism that expected that an earthly kingdom of God would be brought about by the destruction of the then present Roman Empire, by the coming again of Messiah to establish an earthly reign for a thousand years. The term Millennium is used to describe the 1000 reign of the saints with Christ in Revelation 20:1-7 which they identified with this future earthly kingdom. Both of these early writers record as proof seeing a Judean city lowered down from the sky every morning and disappear as the day advanced during the Parthian war. Their interpretations of the classic texts are very fanciful and would probably not be published today by any proponent of modern millennialism.
Each of the classic views (A- Post- and Premillennialism) has historic roots with the exception of the Dispensational form of Premillennialism. That latter view's founders openly proclaimed it's recent origin (early 1800's). Non-dispensational premills are usually called "historic premils". They reject the idea that God revealed new information about the ages to the founders of Dispensationalism.
The earliest writers did not form a confessional view of the millennium. The historic creeds do not affirm that an earthly millennium would be established after the age of the church. The Nicean Creed states that Jesus "... ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. and he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end." The Apostles' creed essentially states the same position as that of the Nicean Creed. After this church age comes the final judgment, not a whole new era. The belief was that the millennial kingdom was coexist with the church age.
An earthly millennial kingdom after the coming of Christ was not embraced by the Reformed confessions. The Westminster Confession (chapters 32-33) makes no mention of any future millennial kingdom on earth after the present church age. Christ is said to return and then comes the judgment. The idea of an earthly and physical millennial kingdom is openly condemned as "damnable heresy" in the Augsburg Confession, and rejected in the 39 Articles of the Church of England. The view is also ruled out by the wording of the Belgic Confession.
Only recently did some denominations begin to insert a view of a future earthly millennium into the Reformed Church's doctrinal statements. Bible Presbyterians in 1938 modified the Westminster Confession to require their view of historic Pre-Millennialism.
Jesus did not accommodate these early kingdom expectations of the Jews. He clearly opposed them and corrected them (as we will see).

Matthew 12:22-29
22 Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.
23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and began to say, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."
25 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand.
26 "And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?
27 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges.
28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

The basic teaching of this passage is given in verse 28. Jesus said, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you."
Since Jesus did cast out demons by the Spirit of God on that occasion, there can be no doubt about his message, the Messianic form of the Kingdom had come. It was established at the first coming of Messiah. We will see in other passages that this same kingdom will become perfect and eternal at his second coming.
The Kingdom is a dominant theme in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. The word "Kingdom" is used 158 times in New Testament. It would be impractical to try to summarize all those references here. A simple look through a concordance will illustrate the prominance of this theme.

Jesus spoke of the kingdom as if it was being established in his first coming.
He often spoke of the Kingdom as then being "at hand" (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, 10:17). Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is "in your midst" (Luke 17:21). This is the obvious translation of of the Greek phrase used here. The Pharisees had asked him "when the kingdom was coming?" (17:20). His answer was to show them that it wasn't a matter of what physical location it will have, but that the Kingdom was already (present tense) in the midst of them.
In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus presumed that the Kingdom was attainable by those to whom he spoke. In Matthew 6:33 he told his followers, "Seek ye first the Kingdom ..." In his model for prayer he told them to pray, "thine is the Kingdom", and "Thy kingdom come."
John the baptist's ministry marked the end of the period before the Kingdom's full realization in the reign of the Messiah. But after him the promised Kingdom was established in a way that surpassed it's form under the Law and the Prophets (see Matthew 11:12 and Luke 16:16). John, as one acting in the spirit of Elijah, announced "the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Those in the kingdom will be greater than John (who still lived under the old Kingdom order).
Jesus gave Peter the keys to the "kingdom of heaven" in Matthew 16:19. In Matthew 16:18 we have the first direct reference in the New Testament to the "church." Jesus repeated his lesson about this binding authority to the other Apostles in Matthew 18.
Jesus taught many "Kingdom Parables". (For example see those in Matthew 13: the sower, wheat & tares, mustard seed, leaven, hidden treasure, pearl of great price, fish net, householder's new and old treasure.) These all speak of the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. It's called the Kingdom of God in Mark and Luke. Matthew used "Kingdom of Heaven" meaning the same thing but was careful to use terms that accommodated the mind of his Jewish readers at that time.
Jesus often promised that his contemporaries would see the kingdom soon.
Mark 9:1 "there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power." (Lk 9:27) And in Matthew 16:28 he said, "there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
Matthew 26:64 Jesus said to the high priest at his trial, "you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mk 14:62) In Luke 23:42-43 the Thief on the cross said, "remember me when you come in your kingdom" Jesus answered, "Today, you shall be with me in paradise"
At the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem we see in John 12:15 that it was in fulfillment of the prophesy in Zechariah 9:9 about how the Messiah-King would come into his kingdom.
Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 "all authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth." What is kingship and sovereignty if it is not having full authority over all things in heaven and on earth?
Jesus clearly announced the intended immediate establishment of the kingdom. Those who choose not to accept the church as spiritual Israel for doctrinal reasons, need to place the promised kingdom at a time after the church age. The Dispensationalists have explained that when Jesus offered the Messianic Kingdom, the Jews rejected it. They suggest that the kingdom was postponed from what God originally intended and inserted the church age. They have said that the Kingdom will again be offered to the Jews after this age at the second coming of Jesus. But by proposing this, they admit that the clear teaching of Jesus was that he intended and expected the Kingdom to be established at his first coming 2000 years ago.
In Acts 1:3 the resurrected Jesus taught his disciples about the "Kingdom of God". Six times the preaching of the apostles is called the preaching of "the Kingdom."

The testimony of the entire New Testament:
After the earthly life of Jesus, the Apostles and other writers of the New Testament continued to teach that the Messianic Kingdom had come and is present. In Acts 2:30-36 Peter affirmed that Jesus by his resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God, now sits as King on the throne of David. It says, "let all Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ"
In Colossians 1:13 the Apostle Paul writes, "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son"
Hebrews 12:22-24 states that believers in Christ are now come to Mt. Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem. (Galatians 4:25-26 says the present Jerusalem is from "above" and is therefore to be taken spiritually.)

The kingdom does not come all at once, it comes progressively.
It grows in visibility, and expands throughout this present age in which it grows by the gospel of Grace. The kingdom parables show what the kingdom of heaven is like. For example, in Matthew 13 several parables indicate a present and growing kingdom. Among them are these:
The parable of the wheat and tares shows that both good and bad are yet intermingled in the kingdom. It is not yet perfect but will be one day when the final judgment comes.
The parable of the mustard seed shows the kingdom as a growing organism that progresses from seed to a great tree.
The parable of the leaven compares the kingdom to an expanding small lump of leaven that eventually penetrates the whole loaf.
The parable of the net cast into the sea shows how the gathering into the kingdom includes both the good and the bad. They are taken in together to be separated "at the end of the age".

The Kingdom is not in its final form yet, but it has been established during the earthly ministry of Jesus. Then it expanded becoming increasingly visible on earth. The kingship of Jesus became more and more evident in his resurrection, ascension and session. It's glory was further revealed in the greater work of the Holy Spirit beginning at the outpouring at Pentecost and which continues through the church era. It grew by means of missions and the expansion of the church beyond the descendants of Israel. It is evidenced in the obedience and sanctification of individual Christians transformed by grace, and in the faithful practice of evangelism and discipline by the local churches.
At the second coming of Jesus Christ the kingdom will be perfected for eternity. It will then take on its final, and completed form.
1 Corinthians 15:23-28 explains that the end comes when Jesus delivers up the kingdom to the Father. At that time all will be subjected to him (even death :26), and "He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet"
The Kingdom Parables show the distinction between the immanent and eschatological comings of the kingdom. On the one hand it has a present, gradual and increasingly visible character. On the other hand it will reach a final, complete and fully visible state. But clearly, it is the same Messianic Kingdom, the one promised in ancient times and realized in the life of Christ on earth.

The Bible teaches that Satan was restrained by the ministry of Jesus, particularly in his work of atonement. At the ascension of Jesus to the throne of the Messianic Kingdom, Satan is no longer permitted to keep the gentiles from becoming partakers of the gospel. The Kingdom of God expands beyond the Jews during this era and spreads throughout all the nations. The primary text that teaches this is Revelation 20:1-7.

1 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss
and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years,
3 and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him,
so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years
were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony
of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the
beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead
and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ
for a thousand years.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were
completed. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection;
over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God
and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
7 And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be
released from his prison,

In what way does this passage say that Satan is bound?
The Greek verb used for "bind" in the original text is from the common word deo. It's used 44 times in the New Testament. The leading Greek Lexicons agree that it means "bind, tie, chain, and imprison". The word is used in several ways in the Bible: literally, legally and figuratively.
Literally: There are examples where this word is used physically meaning "to tie up or bind things, often in bundles." In Mark 11:2,4 it is used of the colt found tied up by the door. In Acts 21-22 it is used to describe Paul's being bound and arrested. It's the word used in John 11 to describe how Lazarus was bound in grave clothes after he died. It's used in Matthew 12:29 to describe how a strong man must be bound up before his things can be taken from him.
Legally: The word is used to describe how persons are bound by a contract or obligation. In the rabbinic writings it is used for declaring what is forbidden. In this case someone or something is bound by the judgment of the Rabbis (Mt 16:19, 18:18). It is contrasted with the loosing of someone or something by the Rabbis when restrictions are lifted and something is permitted. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament explains this rabbinic use of the words to bind or loose as "to impose or remove an obligation." Dr. Hendriksen explains that these expressions were used when a person persisted in what was forbidden, he would have to be bound, restricted, disciplined. But if the bound person repented the restrictions would be lifted and he would be loosed.
Figuratively: The word is used of the bond between a husband and wife in Romans 7:2, and 1 Corinthians 7:27, 39. 2 Timothy 2:9 says that the word of God is not bound. Acts 20:22 Paul says, "now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there." It is use for the binding of spirit beings in Luke 13:16 and Acts 20:22.
Here in Revelation 20:2 the figurative meaning is the only one that is consistent. Satan is a spirit and cannot be bound with physical ropes or chains. He can't be held back by a closed door even when a physical seal is placed on it. The meaning most consistent with the actual use of the word elsewhere in Scripture is that some kind of restriction or limitation is imposed upon Satan. As in these other uses it does not necessarily mean a total confinement.

What is the abyss?
The English word used in verses one and three is a transliteration of the Greek word abussos which appears here. It was used by the Jews at that time to represent the Old Testament Hebrew word tehom. That's the word used in Genesis 1:2 when it said that darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Abussos and tehom were used in ancient times of the primitive ocean, the place of the dead, and in later Judaism of the interior of the earth where they believed corpses caused defilement.
In the New Testament it's used only nine times. Seven of them are in the Book of The Revelation.
- It's used in Luke 8:31 when the demons ask not to be cast into the abyss.
- It's used in Romans 10:7 when Paul asks who shall descend into the deep?
- It's used twice in the present text about the confinement of Satan
- Five other times it's used in the Revelation: It's a place which when opened it emits smoke ( 9:1,2,11 from which comes locusts), a beast comes out and makes war (11:7), a beast comes out to bring destruction (17:8)

The term is not identified with a specific place. It appears to be a general term used to represent some place where evil is kept restrained. No physical prison holds Satan since we see him active in the world and his complete isolation is contrary to what Revelation 20 says about his binding for the thousand year period. The term is therefor not to be taken in a topological sense, but in a figurative sense as it represents the limits placed around this enemy of God.

To what extent is Satan bound?
Binding is not equivalent to total restraint. For example, even the literally tethered colt in Mark 11 was was free to move about. When I was young my grandfather kept a garden in our yard. To keep my dog from digging it up we chained him to an overhead cable so he could freely run around the yard but couldn't get near the forbidden garden. When Lazarus was bound by the grave clothes in John 11 he was limited but not unable to come out of the tomb when called. The binding of husbands and wives is limited to their marriage obligations and moral fidelity, not that they must never be physically separated during the day while they go about their duties.
Satan's binding is also limited in nature. It does not say it extends to all of Satan's evil activities. In Revelation 20:3 it says that he is bound in one very particular way. He is no longer free to deceive the nations as he had during most of previous history. The Greek word here is ethnos. It is translated either as "nations" or "Gentiles". The time of the Jews was coming to an end. The era of the Gentiles had come. Nothing more is said. This is the only way the Bible says Satan is bound during the thousand years.
I've heard some critics show their lack of understanding of this text when they ridicule the view I've outlined by saying, "If Satan is bound today, then he must have a very long chain!" Of course Satan is active today. Very active. All the while he is bound in this one specific way, he remains very active in every other way.
The era of the binding of Satan is to be an age where men from all nations come to the Savior.

When Does Satan's Binding Take Place?
This binding marks the boundaries of the thousand years of Revelation 20:1-7. The term millennium means "a thousand years". It's used to describe this period only in Revelation 20. There is a strong difference of opinion about other passages of the Bible, whether they describe this same period of time or something else. There is no other direct mention of this thousand year period in any other passage of the Bible.
The millennium begins with the binding of Satan (20:2-3), and ends with his being loosed for a little season (20:7). This final assault of intense fury will precede the second coming of our Lord in Judgment. It will be a releasing of pent-up desires to deceive the nations. We don't know how long this "little season" will be. But it will be a time of a massive and renewed deception of the nations. The a-mil people see the binding of Satan as taking place at the time of the victory of Jesus Christ on the cross. The pre-mil and post-mil supporters see this as a yet future event.

The Bible tells us directly that the deception of the nations already ended. Before the coming of the Messiah, the Gentiles (the nations) lived in deception and heathen darkness. Romans 9:4 speaks about the Israelites, "to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises..."
Acts 14:16 says, "in the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways." The Gentiles had no part in the covenant aside from becoming Jews. Before the coming of Jesus, very few Gentiles came to the Lord. It was a time when they were as a whole held in blindness to God's truths.
After the completing of the work of Jesus the nations became the main focus of the church. In Acts 9:15 Paul was sent by Jesus to "bear My name before the Gentiles". In Acts 11:1 it says, "the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God." Then in Acts 13:46 Paul and Barnabas say, "we are turning to the Gentiles".
Many times in the New Tesament the nations (the Gentiles) are seen coming in faith to Christ and are welcomed into the covenant community. Handling this change was the reason for the calling of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.

The New Testament directly teaches that restraints were placed on Satan. Jesus implied that Satan was bound in Matthew 12:22-29 when he said, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you."
The obvious implication is that Jesus was in fact casting demons out by the Spirit of God, therefore the Kingdom of God had come. But first, the strong man had to be bound (Matthew 12:29).
The context of this passage makes it clear (verses 24-27) that this strong man was Satan. First he had to be "bound" (this is the same word used in Revelation 20:2 of the binding of Satan), then the house of the strong man may be plundered.
Just what was it that Jesus was going to taken from Satan? In the context of this passage in Matthew, men were being freed from demonic possession. Satan was about to lose his possessions, the souls of captives were to be set free. Psalm 68:18 is directly appied to the finished ministry of Jesus Christ in Ephesians 4:9. The Psalm says, "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captive Thy captives"
In Luke 4:17-21 Jesus spoke in the synagogue using Isaiah 61:1. That passage says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, To bring good news to the afflicted, He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners." Then he said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
The reasoning of Jesus was that Satan could not be the one casting out Satan. Jesus was doing it by the Spirit of God. Therefore, the Kingdom is upon you. The strongman (Satan) had been bound. and he was plundering his possessions by setting the captives and prisoners free.
In John 12:31 Jesus said that Satan was to be cast out at that time. "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out." Then in verses 32-33 Jesus spoke of his coming crucifixion as the event that will accomplish this casting of Satan from areas where he formerly moved freely. He will no lnger be able to keep the Nations of the world out of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said He saw Satan fall from heaven in Luke 10:17-18. This was when the 70 had been sent out by Jesus and they returned with great joy. They remarked in verse 17 saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." To that Jesus responded in the next verse, "and He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning." In the ministry of these sent out by our Lord, something was happening to the power of Satan. He was beginning to be limited in a way he had not been restricted before.
Later, after the asending of Christ and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostle Paul reflected back on the work of Jesus and assured the Colossians that Satan was defeated. He wrote in Colossians 2:15 "When He (Jesus) had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him."
The writer of Hebrews assures us that the Devil had already been defeated and his ability to hold men captive was taken from him. In Hebrews 2:14-15 it says of the work of Jesus, "... that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."

The Bible makes it clear that during the earthly ministry of Jesus, Satan's liberty began to be bound. In the death of Messiah that binding was advanced. Satan's power over the hearts of men is limited so that he no longer is free to bring massive deception over them. Like a mad dog on a chain, he is very dangerous but his area of deception is now limited.
With the binding of Satan, he is no longer free to keep the nations in darkness. This unleashed the spread of the gospel which through missionary efforts that still go on has gathered in believers from all nations, no longer just from the race of Israel. It gives us the assurance that in this age our efforts in evangelism can and will bear real fruit. Satan is not able to freely decieve the hearts of the nations as he had up to the time of Christ.

Revelation 20 is the only passage of Scripture that mentions the 1000 year period which we have come to call the Millennium. In the previous section we saw that it begins when Satan in bound (Revelation 20:2-3) so that he will not be able to deceive the nations as he had previously.
As we saw in our historical sketch of this issue in the Summary of the events of Revelation 20 in Lesson One of this unit, the most broadly accepted view of the early church was that the millennium had begun and would end after 1000 calendar years. The main issue that divided those dedicated to an infallible view of Scripture was how the term 1000 was to be interpreted. Since the coming of Christ took place almost 2000 years ago, either the a-mil view must be rejected, or the number must be taken figuratively. To avoid repeating the material from that earlier chapter it would be wise to review that section before reading on.

How is the term translated as "1000" used in Scripture?
The term for "1000" here in Revelation 20 is chilia. It represents the Hebrew word eleph which comes from a root word meaning "ox, cow, kine". A symbolic drawing of an ox head became the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is called "aleph", similar to "alpha", the first letter of the Greek alphabet and similar to the letter "a" in English. These words came to be used to represent the number 1000. There are over 385 uses of this number in the Bible. Many of them are figurative uses establishing that the number has a non-numeric meaning which God used in his word.
Those in the early church who believed in a physical and political earthly kingdom that would last exactly 1000 years after the church age were commonly called, "Chiliasts". This view was strongly condemned and argued against by Augustine, Luther, Calvin and many others who were the great exegetes of the Bible in their times.

Like many biblical symbols, its figurative meaning was established in the writings of Moses and appears with the same meaning in other Old Testament texts. The Book of Deuteronomy is often called the "Covenant Book" of the Bible. Many biblical symbols are first established there. There are two passages there which seem to use this number in a way that does not make much sense if taken as a literal number.

Deuteronomy 1:10-11 "The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. May the Lord the God of your fathers increase you a thousand-fold more than you are ..."
Even more clearly is the reference in Deuteronomy 7:9 where God "keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments."
If a generation is taken to be about 20 years, this would mean that from the time of Moses, God would keep his covenant for 20,000 years. This would mean that God has set a limit on the time of his love for his people. Does this mean that the final judgment will still not come for another nearly 16,000 or 17,000 years while we are here on earth to keep his commandments? Or that a few thousand years into our eternal stay in heaven after Christ's coming God's love suddenly lapses toward his children? No serious bible scholar has interpreted this in that way. It's taken as a figurative expression.

In Psalm 50:10, we are told by God that, "every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills."
Certainly there are more than 1000 hills in this world! 1000 isn't even close! There are many thousands of hills in the land of Israel alone! God hasn't made a counting error here, and he isn't saying that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills but that those on the many thousands of other hills are not his. In verse 12 of that Psalm God assures us that "the world is Mine, and all it contains". This would have been understood figuratilvey . It is the way the word was often used by those who would have read Psalm 50 at the time it was written.

In Psalm 90:4 where we read, "For a thousand years in Thy sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night."
Does this mean that 1000 years is actually, numerically equal to 24 hours (the length of yesterday), and at the same time is exactly equal to 4 hours (the length of a watch at night)? Obviously not. God is not implying some mathematical equivalency of this sort. But if understood in it's common figurative sense, such an odd understanding of mathematics is not required.

Another example occurs in Psalm 91:7. "a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand"
The expressions "side" and "at your right hand" are use as synonyms in Hebrew literature. They follow a typical poetic form known as "synonymous parallelism." But if taken as a specific number it presents a strange image of 1000 enemies falling at the person's side, and at the same time 10,000 falling by their side. But the figurative use of the number fits exactly with an expression like that.

Figurative meaning of 1000 supported by Scripture:
Just assuming something is figurative is not a sound approach to the Bible. If our understanding of a passage seems best if we look for a figurative meaning, the obvious place to begin is with the Bible itself. We want to know how God has employed this word in other places. If a figurative use is clearly presented in the Bible, then it can be considered in passages where there is controversy about interpretation.
The number 1000 is used 20 times in the Book of the Revelation. The book is filled with figurative uses of numbers. This doesn't mean that the actual numeric values have no correspondence with what they represent. The number 12 is often used to represent the covenant people of God. There were 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles, etc. The number is used in other places to represent divisions or representatives of God's people. It doesn't mean that there weren't actually 12 apostles or 12 tribes. But there seems to be a symbolic reason why this number came up so often in relation to the covenant
The number 10 is also used in the Bible in places where it has a clear symbolic meaning attached beyond simply reporting how many things there are. It is used as a number representing completeness. There were 10 Commandments that presented a summation of God's moral law. There were 10 Plagues that completed God's judgment on Egypt. Other uses reveal that this was a common number God chose for such things.
When symbolic numbers were squared or cubed the Hebrews thought of it as showing extremes in what they symbolized. If 12 represented some way the covenant people were represented or divided as a unit, then 12 times 12, 144, represented the covenant people in some more completed sense. 10 times 10 times 10 = 1000, a number often used to show the fulness of completion. When 144 is multiplied by 1000 we get the number God used in Revelation 7:4 indicating the complete fulness of the covenant people. It is there that the 144,000 are sealed.
This is the way these numbers were commonly used and understood in the literature contemporary with our Bibles. It was the language and culture God used when giving us his written word.
In applying this Scripturally confirmed symbolism to the passages we studied in the section before this, they make perfect sense.

In Deuteronomy 1 we see that God's blessings exents to 1000 generations. That would mean to the completeness of the generations or, as is commonly translated, "to all the many generations." In Psalm 50, God doesn't just own the cattle on 1,000 hills and the rest belong to someone else. He owns the cattle on the hills taken as a whole, completely, "all the many hills." Psalm 90 means that to God, all the many years we experience are to him like a day is to us.

If this same meaning carries over into the Book of the Revelation, the mystery of why the end didn't come 1000 years after the time of Christ is easier to understand. Satan will be bound for a complete period of time, for "all the many years" while Christ and his people reign in some particular way. The number is used here as it is by God in other places. Not that Christ reigns for only 1000 years until his final judgment. But that Christ reigns for all the many years between his first and final advents. God is giving us a warning, not a schedule or calendar.

This topic will be continued in the next lesson where we will deal with the nature of the kingdom itself, the state of souls after death and of persons after the resurrection at the time of the last judgment.