A Delayed Millennium? — Part 3

Some prophetic models teach the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 is in our future. They say this “millennium” is the kingdom age. Christ will reign for a literal thousand years.

Inmillennialism maintains the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 is figurative. This symbolic number represents the entire Messianic Age. Christ established this age during his life on earth. He will end it by defeating his last enemy, death, in the bodily resurrection.

Our current series of posts shows how we arrived at this conclusion. We interpret Revelation 20 by using less symbolic passages. This allows the clear passages to interpret the unclear.

Our last post brought us to John 5. Before continuing, let’s do a quick review.

Review

The Millennium in Revelation 20

Here are some of the millennium’s leading features:

1. Christ has bound Satan. He is unable to continue his deception of the nations (Rev 20:1–3).
2. A resurrection of the faithful occurs at its beginning (Rev 20:4).
3. The souls of the faithful reign with Christ in his kingdom (Rev 20:4, 6).
4. The second death has no power on those who take part in the first resurrection (Rev 20:6).
5. God looses Satan at the end and allows him to lead a rebellion (Rev 20:7–9a).
6. God then defeats Satan and judges him (Rev 20:9b–10).
7. After a second resurrection, God conducts the final judgment (Rev 20:11–15).

The Millennium in 1 Cor 15

We looked for less figurative passages to help us interpret Revelation 20. The timing of the millennium was of special interest to us. First Corinthians 15 provided much helpful information.¹ Other passages supplied needed details:

1. Christ’s bodily resurrection occurred at the start of the kingdom age (1 Cor 15:20).
2. His resurrection saved those who believe the gospel (1 Cor 15:1–11).
3. When Christ rose from the dead, the faithful rose with him (Eph 2:4–7). They will never die in the most important sense of that term (John 8:51). Their souls will live with the Lord after their bodily death (2 Cor 5:8).
4. Christ reigns in his kingdom until he defeats all his enemies (1 Cor 15:25).
5. Christ overcomes his final enemy—physical death—in the resurrection. This will happen at the end of the Messianic Age (1 Cor 15:26, 35–50).

Paul’s scheme in 1 Cor 15 matches Revelation 20 to a remarkable degree. A “first resurrection” occurred at the start of the kingdom age. Christ now reigns in his kingdom. The souls of Christians go to be with him after physical death. A “second resurrection” will occur in our future, at the end of the kingdom age.

The Millennium in John 4

In our last post (here), we looked at two other non-symbolic passages. They combine to serve as a second witness to the millennium as a present reality.

From the first passage (John 4:19–30) we made the following observations:

1. Jesus saw the kingdom through an “hour that comes—hour that comes, and now is” framework (John 4:21–23).
2. Events during a short period—an “hour”—would soon bring an age change. The Mosaic Age would end. The Messianic Age (i.e., the millennium) would continue.
3. The coming age would bring a profound change in worship. During the Mosaic Age, the Temple in Jerusalem served as the worship center. Soon, men would worship “in spirit and truth.” They would not regard geographic location or physical buildings (John 4:23–24).
4. The effects of Messianic Age were already present in Jesus’s generation. Men already worshipped God as they would in the future.

This completes our review. Let’s take the next step in our analysis.

The Millennium in John 5

The second passage we mentioned in our last post is John 5:17–30. Here, Jesus used the same kingdom (i.e., millennial) framework, but reversed the elements. He said, “the hour is coming and now is—the hour is coming” (John 5:25–28).

This slight change is significant. It accommodates the new subject—resurrection. The first resurrection of which Jesus spoke was already happening. Jesus said, “As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will” (John 5:21). The verb “gives life” is in the present tense. This resurrection was already underway when Jesus spoke. That explains why he described it by using “the hour is coming and now is” part of his framework.

This first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection based on Christ’s resurrection. All saints rose with Christ their representative when he left the tomb (Eph 2:4–7). But, believers experience Christ’s resurrection life through their own individual spiritual resurrection. God gives life to each one of them (John 5:21). Christians are individuals “that are alive from the dead” (Rom 6:13).

The apostles viewed believers this way. They gave the identifying marks of this resurrection. By them, “we know that we have passed from death unto life” (1 John 3:14).

These individual resurrections will continue throughout the Messianic Age. This is how the saints have “part in the first resurrection” (Rev 20:6).

Jesus spoke of a second resurrection. This is the physical resurrection when “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice” (John 5:28; emphasis added). Some will experience it as “the resurrection of life,” others as “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).

Jesus does not say the hour for this resurrection “now is.” Its “hour is coming,” but it was not a present reality in Jesus’s generation. As we have seen, it will occur at the end of the kingdom age (i.e., millennium; 1 Cor 15:26, 35–50).

Conclusion

The Apostle John described the resurrection—millennium—resurrection sequence in two places. Inmillennialism uses his non-figurative account in John 4–5 to interpret Rev. 20.

According to John, Jesus saw the kingdom age (or millennium) as a time already present. This new age was bringing a great change in the public worship of God. People already worshipped in a new way. This would continue throughout the Messianic Age (i.e., the Millennium).

The coming age was also one of resurrection and that of two kinds. The new-age spiritual resurrection of individuals was already underway in Jesus’s generation. The other resurrection was of physical bodies. Its hour had not arrived, but it would occur at the end of the Messianic Age.

Both resurrections depend on the bodily resurrection of Christ. Paul connects our individual spiritual resurrection to Christ’s physical resurrection. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. . . . Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:9, 11). Our present resurrection-status results from Christ’s resurrection.

Paul also links the coming physical resurrection to Christ’s bodily resurrection. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom 8:11).

This resurrection sequence permeates the New Testament. As we have seen, Paul’s non-figurative account in 1 Cor 15 confirms this perspective. In another place, Paul says, “we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth [lit., “who is raising”²] the dead.” He uses three tenses to describe this resurrection-work. In the past, God “delivered us from so great a death” by the resurrection of Christ. In the present, he “doth deliver” through individual resurrection. In the future, “he will yet deliver us” in the bodily resurrection at the end of the Messianic Age (2 Cor 1:9–10).

This is the resurrection—millennium—resurrection sequence of John 4–5 and Revelation 20. The first resurrection is not an event in our future that starts the millennium. It is the resurrection of Christ that occurred at the start of the kingdom age. Our individual spiritual resurrections flow from it.

The millennium in Rev 20 is a present, ongoing, and glorious reality. It is the age of resurrection.

SaveSave

1. See A Delayed Millennium? — Part 1.
2. Per Young’s Literal Translation.