The Millennium

The faithful people of God have always waited for the revelation.

For hundreds and hundreds of years, in fact, thousands of years, the people of God waited for him to act, for him to do what he said he would do, to fulfill his promise.

The entire Old Testament, the story of the Old Testament anticipates a revelation, the revelation of the purpose of God.

The beginning of the New Testament says that the coming of Jesus, of Nazareth, and the particular shape that his life, death, and resurrection took was that revelation.

It was the revelation of the righteousness of God.

We just finished a series in Romans.

Romans 1, 17 says, In the gospel, the righteousness of God was revealed.

Revealed is the verb of the, the verb form of the noun, revelation.

God's people have always looked forward to a revelation.

And today, August 27, 2023, we too are in that same position.

We await a revelation.

We await the revelation.

Of course, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which the Old Testament looked forward to for us, is in the past.

We do not await the ultimate revelation, but we do await a revelation, the revelation of the end of the story, the end of history, the end of the world.

And so, we opened this book this morning, Revelation, and we get, in these words of Revelation chapter 20, a glimpse, a revelation of what is to come.

And as we come to this text, my point is to say that we join with all of the people of God throughout history in awaiting the revelation of what is coming.

And as we look forward into the future, I think that changes the way that we live now.

So, we're gonna come now to Revelation chapter 20.

I'm gonna read verses one to ten.

It's a long passage, and it's crazy because it's Revelation, but we'll take our time and we'll work our way through it.

So, Revelation 20, verse one.

I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss, and holding in his hand a great chain.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

He threw him into the abyss, and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be set free for a short time.

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 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.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth.

Gog and Magog, and to gather them for battle.

In number, they are like the sand on the seashore.

They marched across the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves.

But fire came down from heaven, and devoured them.

And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.

They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

So that's what the end of the world looks like.

Easy, right?

No, there's a lot of complexity in this passage.

A lot of interpretations which come out of this passage of scripture.

But just from the top, I want to lock in three things that we can all agree on.

Number one, there is a period described as a thousand years, or millennium, of course, is the word which means a thousand years.

During that period, number two, Christ reigns.

Number three, also during that period, Satan is bound.

There's a thousand years, or something described as a thousand years.

Christ reigns, Satan is bound.

Now, this depiction of this thousand years is not the end of the world.

Satan is still present.

We know that in the end of the world, there will be no more evil, but there is still evil.

So this is not the end of the world, but just before the end of the world.

We know in the end, Jesus comes back.

He returns physically.

He comes back to earth.

And so the central question that we're looking at this morning is, how does the return of Jesus fit in with what Revelation 20 talks about in the Millennium?

How does the return of Jesus fit in with a thousand years?

Well, throughout church history, there have been three main options.

Number one, Jesus returns physically in a resurrected body to begin a literal physical rain on earth for 1,000 years.

This view is called pre-millennialism.

I'm going to say words like that about 50 times, so just try and get your head around this.

Jesus returns physically and then the Millennium begins is pre-millennialism.

Option two, Jesus returns physically in a resurrected body at the end of a millennium.

It's called post-millennialism.

Or number three, the 1,000 year picture that Revelation 20 talks about is not literal, but symbolic.

This is called a millennialism.

Atheism means no god, a millennialism means no millennium.

There is not a literal millennium.

Those are the three options.

I want to put it to you, like I said before that, what we believe about the end of the world, the story of what will happen in the future, affects the way that we live today.

What we think about this stuff matters.

And so, we're going to go through these three views.

I'm going to try and be balanced and fair and put them before you for you to work out what you want to believe.

But it matters, is my point.

What we believe about the end of the world matters.

So, I'm going to try and convince you that it matters and be fair as I do so.

Remember, the main question is, how does the return of Jesus fit in with The Millennium?

Option number one is pre-millennialism.

The first view that comes out of Revelation 21 to 10 is that Jesus returns in a physical body, a resurrected body, to kick off, to inaugurate, to begin 1,000 years of a literal physical reign on earth.

Generally speaking, pre-millennialists want to interpret Revelation literally.

What the text says is exactly what it means.

So they read verses four to six, which say this, they referring back to faithful Christians, they came to life and reigned with Christ 1,000 years.

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 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 1,000 years.

because the pre-millennial position interprets Revelation literally, it comes to a couple of conclusions.

Conclusion number 1, 2 resurrections.

If you interpret Revelation 20 literally, you have to say there are 2 resurrections.

They would say that some Christians are resurrected and have physical resurrection bodies when Christ returns.

When Christ returns, all those who have died so far in history, who believe in Christ, are resurrected.

But then, those who are living on the earth when he comes, they have regular bodies like this, ones that die.

So you have 2 resurrections, and the rest of the dead are not resurrected until the end.

So you could be having a conversation with someone, and they have a different kind of humanity, a different flesh, a resurrected body, but you might have a humanity 1.0 body.

Premillennialism insists on 2 resurrections.

Number 2, a physical reign.

The text says that Christ reigns with his holy people.

His holy people have resurrected bodies, and Christ has a resurrected body, so this must be a literal, physical reign.

The premillennial position insists that Jesus returns.

He comes back to earth in a body, and he reigns on earth for 1,000 years.

Premillennialists read all throughout the Old Testament promises that say God will reign in Zion or Jerusalem.

And so they say, well, Jesus, the son of David, will reign in the city of Jerusalem and establish a literal earthly kingdom on the entire planet.

Number 3, peace on earth.

Premillennialists insist that when Jesus comes, Satan will be bound and he will be king.

Jesus will be king over the whole earth.

And so for a thousand years or a millennium, how long that ends up being, they disagree about.

But for a thousand years, Jesus will reign and there will be peace on earth.

All of the promises about the kingdom will come to pass in that time.

Animals will be friends.

The lion and the lamb will lie down together.

Peace on earth will happen.

All peoples will be at peace.

Satan will be imprisoned and he will not be able to deceive and Christ will be king.

Peace on earth.

Fourthly, this is a pessimistic view.

Premillennialists believe that the world will get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.

And then Christ will come and make it better like that.

So generally speaking, they are pessimistic about human history.

We're just going to get more sinful and more broken.

This world will get worse and worse and then Christ will come to make it all better.

That's the outline of premillennialism.

Jesus returns physically in a body that you could touch.

He returns and reigns in Jerusalem for a thousand years.

And afterwards, after the one thousand years, he will judge the earth and renew all of creation.

Premillennialism.

I have a few questions that I would push back on premillennialism.

Number one, two resurrections.

Nowhere else in scripture does it ever mention two resurrections, apart from this one passage.

I would say the general testimony, the direction that the New Testament points, is that there is one resurrection.

At the end of all things, all the dead are resurrected, once.

paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, we will not all sleep, he means to die before the return of Christ, but we will all be changed in a flash in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

That seems like one event, one resurrection.

Frankly, the idea of a resurrected human talking to a non-resurrected human is weird to me.

That might be what happens, but I find that weird.

Number two, my question is, Christ reigns, question mark.

If Christ will return physically to the earth to reign, in what sense does he not reign now?

If that time in the future will be the total reign of Christ, what's he doing now?

Some kind of partial reign?

I see in Matthew chapter 28, the Great Commission, Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been, past tense, given to me.

There's nothing partial about that.

Jesus reigns completely.

And yet the premillennialist has to say that there is a sense in which his reign changes in the future.

The third question I have is, faith required, question mark.

When Jesus comes to bring his millennial kingdom, human beings could still be born in the millennium.

And they could still choose to believe or not to believe in Jesus.

But if you're born in the millennium, you could fly to Jerusalem or even check out a live stream, Jesus live streaming on Instagram and say, that's Jesus.

I can see him.

I can, like Thomas, put my hands in the holes in my fingers in the holes in his hands.

And I can believe in him because I can see him.

To me, that seems completely counter to the impetus of the entire New Testament that requires faith.

It's not faith if you see Jesus physically and touch his wounds.

Jesus said to Thomas, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

So I don't know how faith fits into the picture in pre-millennialism.

The bottom line is, if you want to insist on reading Revelation literally and more power to you, you're taking the text seriously, then you have to come to these conclusions and answer these questions.

And if that is you, the big application is hold on in faith.

because as this world gets worse and worse and worse, you need to hold on in faith as God holds on to you, because He will make all things new.

And if He returns in your lifetime and you get to see Him and glorify Him and partake in His kingdom, awesome.

But if you die and you're resurrected with Him when He comes, that's awesome, too.

Hold on in faith.

That's pre-millennialism.

Christ returns before the millennial, millennium.

Number two, post-millennialism.

The second view that comes out of this passage would state that Jesus returns in a physical body after the millennium.

Revelation is interpreted in the post-millennial way as not literal, but symbolic.

It is a symbolic reign for a thousand years.

Revelation 21 to 3 says, I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

He threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.

Post-millennialism comes to a few conclusions.

Number one, Millennium now.

Post-millennialism believes that in the first coming of Jesus, in his life, death, resurrection, the first coming of Jesus, the Millennium began.

The gospels, in particular Matthew, Mark and Luke, are full of language of Jesus talking about the kingdom of God, the reign of God.

So, Jesus brings the kingdom to earth.

Therefore, the Millennium has begun.

The time has come, Jesus says.

The kingdom of God has come near.

He says that in Mark 1, 14.

The Millennium is real, but it has already begun.

Number two, spiritual reign.

If the Millennium has begun, unless Jesus' inner body is hidden out there somewhere, it's a spiritual reign.

It's not a literal, physical kingdom reign from Jerusalem, like pre-millennialism believes.

When you read Revelation symbolically, it also doesn't have to be a thousand years.

It could just be an extended time period during which Christ reigns.

Number two, it's a spiritual reign.

Thirdly, kingdom growth.

If Jesus reigns now, the post-millennial position believes that the kingdom, the kingdom which he brings to earth now, will grow and grow and grow until the whole world is evangelized.

At that point, we enter a golden age, the millennium.

There will be pretty much no evil because the gospel would have taken over the whole world.

At the end of that golden age, Christ will return.

That's the post-millennial position that believes the world will keep on getting better and better.

So point four, it's an optimistic view.

Pre-millennialism believes the world will get worse and worse and worse and worse and then Christ will come.

Post-millennialism says the gospel will spread, the church will grow, the kingdom will come, the world will get better and better and better, and then as the final culmination, Christ will come.

That's the post-millennial position.

It's optimistic.

That's the outline of post-millennialism.

To be fair, there are a couple of questions that I have for post-millennialism.

Number one, kingdom progress?

Is the world really getting better?

Are we moving like this?

By many metrics, I think the answer is no.

The world is not getting better and better and better.

Interestingly, as a little excursus, post-millennialism came to the highest point of its popularity at points in church history when the church was winning.

When the church was on the front foot, people said, we're doing it.

The kingdom is coming.

We're never going to stop.

The world's going to become a Christian.

Post-millennialism is real.

The millennium has come and Christ will come when the world is converted.

The 19th century was a time of a lot of belief in post-millennialism.

Humanity was just going up and up and up and up and up.

And then the 20th century came.

Two world wars, the Great Depression, and we realized the world is not getting better.

The world is getting worse.

And so post-millennialism declined in popularity during that time.

That's the first question, kingdom progress.

Secondly, Satan bound, question mark.

If the millennium is happening now, and we are in the millennium, that means that Satan is bound now.

because Christ reigns, Satan is bound.

And yet, when you look at this world, which seems to go down and then up and then down, it seems like there is an enemy out there, who is against the purposes of God.

So how does the post-millennialist reconcile that?

Satan is bound.

And yet, the world is not as it should be.

That would be my second question.

That's post-millennialism.

Christ returns after a millennium reign of, a spiritual millennial reign of Christ, then he comes.

The third view that comes out of Revelation 20 is amillennialism.

It's symbolic.

It's not literal.

Amillennialism is similar to post-millennialism in that it doesn't take the thousand years as literal and physical.

But the big difference is amillennialism does not expect there to be a golden age before Christ returns.

Amillennialism doesn't believe the world will get better and better and better, and then Christ will come.

Revelation 20, 7 to 10 says this.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and to gather them for battle.

In number, they are like the sand on the seashore.

By the way, I chopped out some of the verses to fit it on one screen.

So, if you have the Bible in front of you, you can fill in the blanks.

In number, they are like the sand on the seashore.

They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves.

But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.

They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Again, Amillennialism reads Revelation 20 as symbolic, not literal.

because it is symbolic, Christ reigns now.

Amillennialism makes a few conclusions.

Number one, this age will end.

In Amillennialism, the thousand years is the age of the church that we are in.

This age right now is the time when Christ spiritually reigns.

It started when he came the first time, and it will end when he comes the second time.

And so, one of the fundamental conclusions that Amillennialism makes is that this age will not fundamentally change, will not be fully transformed until Christ comes again.

Amillennialism doesn't make any statements about the world getting worse and worse and worse, or better and better and better.

It's gonna stay the same.

Satan is out there doing stuff, thwarting the purpose of God, but the kingdom has also come.

There is good in the world, and so we live in this tension.

That's what Amillennialism believes, that there's a tension, and the world will not be fully transformed until the end, but this age will end.

Number two, now ends not yet.

In Amillennialism, Jesus reigns totally and completely as king, and he brought the kingdom, which is the part of the world where he lives.

He brought the kingdom to earth.

But insofar as the kingdom has not yet fully come on earth, Satan still has some power.

There are still forces that are against the work of God, because the kingdom is not fully here.

And so we find this tension, this now ends not yet.

The kingdom has come, but it's not fully come.

And so there is a tension.

But point number three, King Jesus wins.

A millennialism asserts that even though we live in this tension, Jesus wins every time.

In the cross and in the resurrection, he triumphed over Satan, and he has all the power in the universe.

And so the kingdom always beats the forces of evil that stand against it.

King Jesus wins.

Fourthly, it's a holistic view.

Unlike premillennialism, which believes the world is going to get worse and worse and worse and worse, pessimistically, and unlike postmillennialism, which believes the world will get better and better and better and better, optimistically, the amillennialist steps back and sees all of history holistically.

It says that now we live in this tension.

The kingdom has come, but it's not fully come.

Therefore, there are powers which are against God.

But when you zoom out, Jesus wins and he will transform this world.

And so we don't view the world particularly pessimistically or optimistically, but holistically.

We know Jesus will come back.

That's the amillennial position.

Symbolic 1,000 year reign.

The kingdom is now and not yet.

And so there's a tension.

But King Jesus always wins.

And he will win in the end when he comes back.

Now, cards on the table.

I am an amillennialist.

If you didn't pick that up, I tried to be fair.

I tried to be fair.

In fact, to show you I'm being fair, amillennialism has a pretty serious question that we could ask.

Two resurrections.

It's one thing to say Revelation is symbolic, not literal, but it's another thing to just cross out the two resurrections thing.

It says two resurrections.

This is the first resurrection, and it implies a second resurrection.

So how do you make sense of that in the amillennial position?

Well, I think there is a way to make sense, and I'll give it to you in a second.

We've surveyed the three big positions about how this world will end.

Pre-millennialism, Christ returns before the millennium, post-millennialism, he returns after, or there is no millennium.

It's not literal, amillennialism.

At this point, you're probably more confused than you were half an hour ago.

The point of this message was just to put in front of you the three ways that you can understand this.

And I would say there are faithful, loving believers who sit in all of these camps, who take scripture seriously and who live a life of goodness as the Spirit leads them.

You could sit in any one of the camps.

I, myself, am an amillennialist and I'll give you a bit more of the case for that way of understanding the story, but you can come to your own conclusion, is my point.

For those who are sort of unclear about this whole thing, you've just zoned out for 20 minutes, I want to give you what I think is a cohesive, compelling story of The End of the World in seven points.

The story of Revelation 20, how the pieces fit together.

Number one, the first coming of Jesus defeats Satan.

Revelation 20 verse two says, he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

The thousand year reign began when King Jesus came to earth.

It says in the scripture that the strong man has been bound.

Jesus told that parable.

He has bound the work of the devil in his life.

Every healing, every teaching, every demonic deliverance that the Lord Jesus did in his life on earth was pushing back the forces of evil and establishing the kingdom of God in the world.

The millennium has come now because Jesus has come and he has brought his reign into the earth.

So number one, the first coming of Jesus defeats Satan.

Secondly, the first resurrection is of believing souls.

Revelation 20, verse 4, I saw the souls, underline that word, we're going to come back to that, souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus.

They came to life, underline came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

This is the first resurrection.

paul says in Philippians 1, he desires to depart and be with Christ.

He's talking about death.

He says, if I were to die, I would be with Christ.

Jesus says the same idea when he says to the thief on the cross next to him, as he's being crucified.

He says, today, you will be with me in paradise.

When we die, we depart to be with Christ.

Not yet with the body, because the resurrection hasn't happened, but we are with Christ in a non-physical way.

I think that's the sense in which it says souls.

The bodies do not come to life, but the souls come to life to be with Christ.

I told you to mentally underline came to life as well.

It's actually not the word resurrection there, but it's a word based on za'o, which means live.

It actually means they came to life.

That's a good translation.

It's not that they were resurrected, but they came to life.

So I think the position I'm putting before you, and you can take it or leave it, but to me this is cohesive, that when believers in Christ die, they depart and be with Christ.

They are in Christ, as the scripture says so often.

And they come to life in a sense, though their body has died, their soul comes to life to be with Christ.

So Jesus, the first resurrection is of believing souls.

Number three, Jesus reigns now with the souls of believers.

Revelation 20, verse six.

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.

The Millennium has already started, so we're in the middle of it now because King Jesus brought his kingdom to earth.

And the text says that the souls of those who have died in Christ are in Christ and Christ reigns.

Therefore, believers who have died are with him reigning.

That's what it means to be in Christ.

Fourthly, the rest of the dead, as it says in the text, stay dead until the end.

Revelation 20 verse 5, the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

We're interpreting this thousand years as not a literal one thousand years, but the period between the first and second coming of Jesus.

The rest of the dead, by that he means non-believers, they don't come to life until the end.

So those who are believers, their souls live with Christ and they reign with him, but the rest of the dead stay dead until the end.

Number 5, at the end, the rest rise to be judged.

Revelation 20 verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it, and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.

The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

When this age is over, this thousand years, Jesus returns.

Scripture says that only the father knows when that is.

The son doesn't even know when that is.

But at the appointed time, Jesus returns physically to judge the living and the dead.

And all rise before him to be judged.

Those who are with Christ and the dead who did not believe in Christ, they rise to be judged, to stand before the throne.

The sheep and the goats, as Jesus said in a parable once.

And they are judged according to what they have done in this life.

According to whether they had faith in Jesus, the rest, everyone rises and stands before the judgment seat of Christ.

Number six, the second death is the final end of evil.

Revelation 20 verse 14.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire is the second death.

Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

When all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, those who are not found in Christ receive the second death.

They are judged.

They have no life in them.

The scripture says they are thrown into the lake of fire.

That might mean a termination of their life, annihilationism, all that might mean that they are conscious for eternity.

You can have a different position on that.

But the second death is the final end of evil.

Satan, the beast, the false prophet, unbelievers, all of them are put away with and done.

And so finally, number seven, new body, new heavens, new earth.

Revelation 21, verse one, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

For those who are in Christ, who have put faith in him during their lifetime, when they stand before the throne, and evil is done away with, these are resurrected with Christ.

They receive a new body, new life.

In that moment, Jesus re-creates the whole world.

He redeems it, restores it.

Revelation 21 is the picture of the new heavens and the new earth.

It says there's no more death or mourning or crying or pain, because the old creation is done.

All things are made new, and God will dwell among his people, and they will live forever in the new earth under the eternal reign of God.

The End.

That's the story.

That's one way of looking at the story.

So the question for you and I is, how does that change the way we live today?

There are two types of people in this room and listening to this message.

Those who have put faith in Christ, and those who have not.

And I just ask you to think about where your story ends.

For those who know they are in Christ, we know that whatever happens in this world, Jesus wins.

But more than that, he reigns today.

And he invites us to step into his reign, to come under his reign, to live in the kingdom, to become people of love as the Holy Spirit transforms us.

To advance the kingdom of God on earth.

That's what it means for us today.

I'll tell you as I did in the last message, read the Sermon on the Mount, three times over.

Be filled with the vision of the kingdom of heaven, and then with the Holy Spirit, make it happen.

Bring it into the world, into your world.

But if you don't have faith in Jesus, then your story ends very differently.

And I just put this before you now, in Jesus' name, receive Christ.

Receive the gift of faith that he offers.

Let him die for you, so you don't have to die.

And you can live forever.

You can know how the story ends.

And when Christ appears, you can be in him.

And reign with him.

There's a new heavens and a new earth coming.

The kingdom comes fully in the future, but it's also here now.

And the Holy Spirit wants to bring that kingdom in this church, in our individual lives.

He wants to bring that future reality into the present.

That's the most exciting, compelling thing to me, and I hope to you too.

So would you like to stand as I pray and the band comes up?

Let me pray.

Our Father, we thank You for the Lord Jesus, who in His life and His death and His resurrection, He triumphed over evil.

And now He has the name that is above every other name, and every knee will bow before Him.

So Lord Jesus, we bow before You now and give You the glory that You are so deserving of.

We thank You that You reign above it all, and we will see Your kingdom come in the future.

But Holy Spirit, we don't wait until that day.

We ask that You would bring the Kingdom of Heaven into our life today.

Help us to become people of self-giving love, marked by the fruit of the Spirit, to partake in the life of Jesus in the present.

We thank You that we know how the story ends, because You reign above it all.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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