The thousand year kingdom

There are many disputes about the 1000 year kingdom, which has spawned many theories. Let’s take a look at the text and its context and get a new, fresh look.

First, let’s start with some questions about the text and what we think the text says:

• Who will reign over whom and where?
• Why not just a new heaven and a new earth? Because in the New Heaven and New Earth we are all sitting on clouds and playing harps?
• Where else in the Bible do we see the concept of a 1000 year kingdom except in this one verse?
• What kind of reigning in the 1000 years are we assuming?

The 1000 year kingdom is part of a larger context called a chiasm, which organizes things not linearly but symmetrically. So an old theme could be repeated from a different perspective.

A little word with big consequences

The 1,000 year episode begins with a simple word: “and” and the meaning is a big debate.

“And I saw” could mean temporal: After this (the final battle) the devil is bound for a 1000 years and things happen after that.

“And I saw” could mean visionary: John has a new vision afterwards where he sees the devil bound for 1000 years.

To understand this better, let us look at how “and” is used elsewhere in the book:

• “And” is usually used as a visionary link between or among blocks or visions.
• When “and” is used temporally as between verses and phrase, while the context is given in the larger paragraph.
• The “and” as temporal is rather an exception (the beast and the prophet were captured after the lost battle, all the people were killed, then all the bird fed on the corpses, maybe Jesus had the battle after the wedding), which are 4 out of 35 usages.
• “And” together with an ascension or descent of an angel is a new vision with temporal delay (as with the angel with the little scroll) or a temporal flashback (as with the angel with the seals of the living God or the judgment of Babel which was described in the previous chapter). Most commentators who us a temporal “and” in this chapter agree to understand the visionary “and” in the other chapters.

Two final battles?

There are strong parallels between

• Jesus battle “before” the 1000 year kingdom,
• the battle of Gog and Magog after the 1000 year kingdom and
• the two visions of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39

because of the

• huge gathering for war,
• a, “end times battle” with huge army,
• Gods overwhelming and final victory.

If this is the case, then Jesus’ battle in chapter 19 would be the same as the battle with Gog and Magog in chapter 20, and the 1,000-year kingdom would precede the events of chapter 19 in time.

Or could it be that these are two different battles? Well, there are some concerns that need to be answered:

• Chapter 19 (destruction by sword) and chapter 20 (destruction by fire) seem to point to different battles because God uses different weapons, but exactly the same we have in both visions in Ezekiel, where both are used in both visions: the sword and the fire in chapter 38, and the sword and the fire in chapter 39.
• Chapters 19 and chapter 20 could be different degrees of fulfillment, but in both chapters there is a similar description, similar to the end-time battles in Ezekiel, Zechariah and Zephaniah — all are final.
• While chapter 19 describes human armies, chapter 20 describes demonic armies, but where it is written that the armies in chapter 20 are demonic? In both chapters we have Satan leading human armies, read those verse again carefully and check the sixth seal.
• Could you conclude from the order of events in Daniel chapter 7, that there are several battles as the devil is defeated after the reign of the saints, but Daniel is very repetitive (the reign of the saints is in verses 8, 13–14, 19–22, 23–25 and 27, while the judgment of the beast is in verses 9–11 and 26). Also, the opening of the book comes before everything else.

Further arguments for one battle

• During the actions of the sixth seal the armies are gathered (at Armageddon which refers to a mountain), so the battle is yet to happen. In the seventh bowl the defeat is announced (which is followed by a detailed description of the defeat of the harlot Babel and as a counter action the wedding of the bride), where the battle is described in detail in chapter 19.
• At the beginning of the bowls it is stated that these are the final plagues which would be the destruction of the devil’s kingdom which is done in chapter 19, any further battle after that must be a recapitulation of chapter 19.

The binding of Satan

The beginning of chapter 20 describes the binding of Satan which has a strong connection to chapter 12, which describes the fall of Satan as a result of the death of Jesus.

• Chapters 12 and 20 describe a heavenly scene.
• In chapter 12 there is a battle of angels against Satan and his accomplices and in chapter 20 there is a supposed battle of angels with Satan.
• As the result Satan is thrown on the earth in chapter 12 and in the abyss in chapter 20.
• He is called with the same complex phrase: “that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan” and “dragon, that ancient snake, who is the devil, or Satan”.
• In chapters 12 and 20 it is mentioned that he deceives the world and the actions there put an end to it.
• In chapter 12 Satan knows he has only a short time, and in chapter 20 he is released for a short time.

But aren’t there also differences?

In chapter 12 Satan is thrown to the earth, in chapter 20, he is thrown into an abyss, but in both cases an angel comes down from heaven and throws him down and the abyss may be on earth or the place of death, which can be on earth.

The deception increases after Satan is cast out in chapter 12, while it is stopped in chapter 20, but it is not so convincing that the deception increases because the mystery of faith is revealed and the church cannot be deceived and stands their as a witness. Also, the sealing in chapter 20 does not necessarily mean complete binding, but having authority as in Daniel or Matthew.

Like many texts in the Bible these chapters talk about the same event and complement each other.

The binding of Satan is also mentioned as an act that Jesus did at His first coming.Furthermore he (the son of lawlessness) is released just shortly before Jesus’ second coming, where he attacks the church.

The “son of lawlessness” or the lawless one is used in the Old Testament in the Psalms and Isaiah as personification of the evil. This passage also mentions that he exalts himself above God, which is a reference to Daniel. It is Satan, and the one who restrains him is the angel in the story in Revelation.

What about the prophecies?

But shouldn’t there be many prophecies that can only be fulfilled in the 1,000-year kingdom? You probably have in mind something like

“But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. ‘Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,’ says the Lord.” from Isaiah chapter 65, verses 18 to 25.

These prophecies have not yet been fulfilled and will not be fulfilled on this earth, so they must be fulfilled in the 1,000-year kingdom, right? But let’s look at the verse before that: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. The former things shall not be remembered, nor shall they come to mind."

This clearly refers to the New Heaven and Earth described in Revelation chapter 21. So this raises some questions:

• What picture do you have of the New Heaven and Earth, or the New Jerusalem?
• Which of the prophecies cannot be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem and why?
• Where in the Bible was the “pre-New Heaven and Earth” announced? What is the spiritual reason?
• Do you think the Millennium will be better than the New Heaven and Earth? If so, in what way? If not, why should people wait 1000 years and not receive the real thing immediately?

What is the story line?

The story roughly follows the prophet Ezekiel:

• 37/1–14: Resurrection of the people of God by the Holy Spirit which would refer to the resurrection in chapter 20 which would refer to Pentecost.
• 37/15–28: The Messianic Kingdom, referring to the reign of the saints in chapter 20 which would be the time of the church’s witness between Jesus first and second coming.
• 38–39: The battle of Gog and Magog which would be the second coming of Jesus.40–48: The final version of a new temple with New Jerusalem with would be chapter 21.

What’s about the second death and the first resurrection?

“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”

This is a rather puzzling text that we have not looked at closely. We have just decided that it is between Jesus’ first and second coming. When we read the text, it sounds like this:

• People are beheaded because of their testimony.
• They are now souls.But they will come back to life and reign.

There is another oddity that is gently handled in this translation. Literally, the text begins, “And I saw throne, and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them”. But when you look back what “they” and “them” are you are lost, because there is nothing before that would explain what they are. The last one is the devil! Furthermore they all have the same tense (all aorist) and there is no temporal relationship visible between these actions.

Obviously they are explained afterwards: “those who did not worship the beast and did not receive the mark”.This type of pattern is called hysteron-proteron (the last before the first) and is the story told in reverse. This is done to emphasize the first part.

There are also a few examples in the book of Revelation is you look for them

• hold onto it and repent,
• I am rich, I have required wealth,
• turn your stomach sour, but it is sweet in your mouth.

So if we read the story backwards it makes more sense: They reign because they did not worship the beast and did not take his mark and were beheaded for this.

Will we be beheaded?

Why is it said that we will be beheaded? Or will only people who have been beheaded reign?

No, e.g. the parallel with the souls under the altar shows that this refers to all the killed witnesses.

This statement is actually a(nother) parody, because in the Roman Empire only people of high rank are beheaded which means that by dying for the faith we are dying as kings!!

So only people who that die for their faith will rule? Not really.

Because also in the book we have different kinds of witnesses and their suffering:

• John in exile,
• overcomers as did not love their life (did not consider it that precious),
• faithful in the face of death,
• faithful to Jesus.
• And we are all called kings (and priests) who rule.

So anyone who is loyal to God will rule, even if it is (only) economic or social pressure

So what is the second death?

“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”

When we are born we have our “first life” in the old creation. When we are born again we have our “second life” which we could call the first resurrection. The second death is that of not having the second life which means they are spiritually dead in God.

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