Revelation 20 - Millennialism

There are three views concerning this millennium described in Revelation 20

Premillennialism.  This is a reference to those that believe the 2^nd coming happens before the millennium.  A premillennialist takes the Bible literally and believes that only Jesus, on David’s throne, will establish a perfect kingdom.  Christ will reign over the nations of the earth and Israel will enjoy the blessings promised through the prophets.  Premillennialist hold to these points:

• Christ will return at the end of the great tribulation with His saints and He will reign for a thousand years. 
• Israel will experience the blessings God promised Abraham and David.  New Testament believers will likewise share in those blessings. 
• Today’s church is not completely experiencing the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel. 
• The millennium is an intermediate kingdom before the establishment of the eternal state.

Amillennialism.  The prefix a means “no”.  So, an amillennialist are those that believe there will be no literal reign of Christ for a thousand years.  These are those that take the Millennium as allegorical (or “spiritualized”).  (Allegory - a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.)  They do not take the millennial reign of Christ in a literal sense.  Amillennialism began with Augustine (A.D. 345-430).  Upon conversion of Constantine, his Edict of Toleration made the Christian Church legal throughout the Roman Empire.  Constantine’s successors later made it the official state religion.  However, the traditional “premillennial” view – that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to return to rid the world of its evil leaders – was unpopular with then current Roman leadership. 

The allegorical methods, adopted by theologian Origen, led to Augustine developing the “amillennial view” – that Jesus was to rule “spiritually” rather than literally.  This view ultimately became the dominant view of the Roman Catholic Church.

Some basic points to this view are:

• The millennium or kingdom of Christ and His saints is the existence for the period of time between Christ’s first and second coming.  We are in the millennium right now.
• There will be no future reign of Christ on earth prior to the new heaven and new earth, and the word thousand is a symbolic number indicating a long period of time.
• The promises to Israel are being fulfilled in a spiritual sense in the church.  They were conditional and have been transferred to the church because Israel did not meet the condition for obedience.
• Christ is ruling now in heaven where He is seated on the throne of David, and Satan is presently bound.  This binding relates primarily to Satan’s inability to stop the preaching and spread of the gospel to the nations.

Postmillennialism.  Postmillennialist are those that believe Christ’s second coming will occur after the millennium.  They do not expect a literal and historical second coming (evangelical post millennialist do expect one however).  A few notes of this view are:

• The church is not the kingdom, but it will bring in the kingdom to the earth through the preaching of the gospel. 
• Christ will not be on the earth during the kingdom.  He will rule in the hearts of His people.
• The term thousand is symbolic of a long period of time, therefore the millennium is not a literal interpretation.
• The church, not Israel, will receive the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and David.

Many people have different views on this.  Daniel Akin makes a strong point to say that this topic is not one worthy of Christians being divided over.  It can be discussed and debated, but it should not divide Christians as they follow Christ.

Here is an overly simple graphic of the three views.  It is worth noting that all views end at the same place: a new heaven and a new earth.

I, personally, am more of a premillennialist.  I think this view has the best answer to the descriptions of prophecy in the Scriptures and the apocalyptic nature in the rest of Revelation.  A few distinctions regarding the way this is presented here in chapter 20.  No where in Scripture is the word year written and used with a number where the number is not interpreted literally.  Here it is written six times in this way.  Romans 11 makes it clear that the New Testament believers are grafted onto the promises to Israel.  The fulfillment of the covenants for Abraham and David have not taken place yet.  Also, the prophecies of the first coming of Christ were fulfilled literally.  It should be expected that the prophecies of His second coming will be fulfilled in the same manner.  

However, ultimately, I am a pan-millennialist.  I think God knows what He's doing and it will all pan out.