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.
<You wrote: “The belief in a Messianic Kingdom does not rest on this [Rev.20] passage, but is based on the numerous prophecies of the Old Testament prophets.”
I know. Like Cerinthus, only Darby and his “spiritual” descendents (La Haye, et.al.) have the “key” to Revelation which unlocks “the secret”. How “special” they are and how non-Christian everyone else is who doesn’t agree with their tortured “construct” .
Read again what I posted above here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2716739/posts?page=226#226
[snip]
“...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?”