Rev. 20:1-3: And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
What now of the millennium?
Literalists see an actual thousand year reign; those who know OT imagery see merely "a very long time" indicated by a round number.
Ps. 50:10, "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." The cattle on the 1001st hill belong to God also; this only means that all cattle are His. So how long is the 1000 years? It cannot be said.
HERE: A "thousand years" / a "thousand hills"
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"Revelation 20 is the ONE AND ONLY place in ALL of Scripture that suggests a thousand year reign of Christ. And it happens to appear in the MOST FIGURATIVE book in all of the Bible. The thousand year reign of Christ is simply another image for the kingdom of Christ - - and in a book FILLED with non-literal images.
All interpreters recognize abundant symbols in Revelation. Do we not see creatures filled with eyes (Rev 4:6)? Locusts with faces of men, teeth of lions, crowns of gold, and tails like scorpions (9:6)? Lion-headed, scorpion-tailed horses belching fire and smoke (9:17)? Fire breathing prophets (11:5)? A seven-headed red dragon with ten horns and seven crowns who pulls stars down from heaven (12:3-4)? A woman with eagles’s wings standing on the moon (12:14)? A serpent vomiting a river of water (12:15)? The seven-headed beast compounded of four carnivores (13:2)? Frogs coming out of the mouth of a dragon (16:13)? A prostitute riding the seven-headed beast while she is drunk on blood (17:6)? Christ returning with a sword in his mouth and on horse from heaven (19:15)? A city the size of a 1500 mile high cube floating down out of heaven (21:10, 16)?
THIS is the type of book establishing the premillennial construct!
The thousand year reign of Christ is another image for the kingdom of Christ. After all, it is the KINGDOM that is prophesied by the Old Testament prophets; it is the kingdom that is declared by Christ and the Apostles. Neither the Old Testament prophets nor the New Testament apostles speak of a "millennium" (except in the single, debated, figurative passage in Revelation). AND the thousand year reign of Christ is most definitely a "kingdom," in that Christ "rules and reigns" in it. Why is the millennium not the kingdom prophesied in the OT and declared in the NT? Why not the very kingdom that Christ himself established in the first century?
In fact, this connection is virtually assured by comparing Christ’s teaching in Matthew 12 and John’s in Revelation 20. The "binding" of Satan in Revelation 20 issues forth in the kingdom rule of Christ. But Jesus informs us in the first century that he has ALREADY bound Satan and therefore has ALREADY established his kingdom rule. Indeed, the binding of Satan is the PROOF the kingdom has come: "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the KINGDOM of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first BINDS the strong man? And then he will plunder his house" (Matt. 12:28-29).
And if this is not enough, the very opening verses of Revelation declare the PRESENT rule of Christ with his kingdom of priests. Revelation 20:6 informs us of the millennial rule: "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." But Revelation 1:6 informs us: "He HAS MADE us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."
The Bible speaks only of a "second" eschatological coming. Hebrews 9:28 says: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the SECOND time without sin unto salvation." In regard to His physical coming to earth, the Bible speaks of His coming again (Acts 1:11), not of His "comings" or His "coming again and again" or of a "third coming."
And there are various angles whereby we may see that the Bible allows for only one eschatological resurrection at the end of history, a resurrection of both the saved and the lost.
(1) The resurrection is to occur on the last day. "And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:39-40). Christ says the resurrection will be simultaneously of "all who are in the graves" (John 5:28). John’s gospel record is quite clear on this matter (John 6:44, 54; 11:24). The resurrection occurs in conjunction with "the end" and at the "last trump" (1 Cor. 15:23-24, 52).
(2) The Lord’s teaching in the Kingdom Parables demands a general resurrection. "But he said, `No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. `Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matt. 13:29-30; see also vv. 49-50). If anything this parable teaches that the resurrection of the wicked precedes that of the righteous!
(3) Since there is but one resurrection, there is no resurrection centuries from the end. "There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust" (Acts 24:15). "The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).
(4) The resurrection is that which signals the destruction of death: "But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:23-26). Clearly the "last enemy" is destroyed at "the end," and both occur in conjunction with the resurrection. ..." Kenneth Gentry
1 Corinthians 15:23 (New International Version, ©2011) But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
1) Christ obviously
2)comma (I like the comma) the firstfruits church rapture
3)when he comes, those who belong to him after Armageddon when the kingdom come to earth. Old testament and tribulation saints.
During the millennium I am a bit confused. Only those who rebel die probably at 100 years old. When do the millennial saints get their glorified bodies? I do not know.
This concludes the first resurrection
Revelation 20:6 (King James Version) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The second resurrection is at the end of time when death is defeated finally and all the dead unbelievers from all time are judged and sent to the lake of fire.
There was a neat discussion recently on FR why this was the case. Maybe I can find it. It had to do with God fulfilling all his promises to Israel.
Here is the text I was thinking of from the long article.
It is, of course, true that the figure of one thousand years is only found in Revelation 20. But it is recorded six different times in this one text, and if repetition tries to do anything, it certainly endeavors to make a point. While it is true that the millennium (that is, one thousand years) is found only in Revelation 20, the belief in the Messianic Kingdom does not rest on this passage alone. In fact, it hardly rests on it at all. The basis for the belief in the Messianic Kingdom is twofold. First: there are the unfulfilled promises of the Jewish covenants, promises that can only be fulfilled in a Messianic Kingdom. Second: there are the unfulfilled prophecies of the Jewish prophets. There are numerous prophecies of the Old Testament that speak of the coming of the Messiah Who will reign on David's Throne, and rule over a peaceful Kingdom. There is a great amount of material in the Old Testament on the Messianic Kingdom, and the belief in a Messianic Kingdom rests on the basis of a literal interpretation of this massive material. The only real contribution that the Book of Revelation makes to the knowledge of the Kingdom is to disclose just how long the Messianic Kingdom will last-namely one thousand years-for which the term Millennium is used. This is the one key truth concerning the Kingdom that was not revealed in the Old Testament. It is in light of this that it is possible to understand why so much of the book is spent on the Great Tribulation and so little on the Millennium. While much of the material in Revelation 4-19 is found scattered in the pages of the Old Testament, it is impossible to place these events in chronological sequence using only the Old Testament. The Book of Revelation provides the framework by which this can be done. A great portion of the Book of Revelation was used to accomplish this goal. On the other hand, all of the various features and facets of the Messianic Kingdom have already been revealed in the Old Testament. It portrays the general characteristics of life in the Kingdom, which do not raise the problem of an order of sequence. Hence, there was no reason to spend a great deal of time on the Messianic Kingdom in the Book of Revelation. Most of what was needed to be revealed was already known from the Old Testament. However, there were two things about the Messianic Kingdom which were not revealed in the Old Testament. The first was the length of the Messianic Kingdom. While the Old Testament prophets foresaw a long period of time of a peaceful messianic reign, they did not reveal just how long this would last. To answer this question, the Book of Revelation states that it will be exactly one thousand years. A second thing that was unknown from the Old Testament prophets was the circumstances by which the Kingdom would come to an end and how this would lead into the Eternal Order. This is also revealed by the Book of Revelation. These two items are all that Revelation 20 added to the knowledge of the Messianic Kingdom. The belief in a Messianic Kingdom does not rest on this passage, but is based on the numerous prophecies of the Old Testament prophets.