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Index Below
Introduction.. The Millennium in Revelation
The word Millennium comes from a combination of the Latin mille, which means "thousand", and annus (year). Biblically, the Millennium refers to a literal period of 1,000 years mentioned six times in Revelation 20...
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; (3) and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
(4) Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (5) The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. (6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
(7) When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison (8) and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. (9) And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (10) And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:1-10 NASB)
In summary, Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Unfortunately, there will be one last set back when at the end of the millennium he will be loosed out of his prison for a short time during which he will once again go out to deceive the nations and gather them together to war against Christ.
As numerous as the sand on the seashore, this army will surround Jerusalem but will be devoured by fire from heaven. Satan will then be thrown into the lake of fire to join the beast and the false prophet and, as chapter 21 goes on to tell us, God then establishes a "new heaven and a new earth" for all eternity. [See What and Where is Heaven?]
The Timing of The Millennium... Three Views
There are essentially three views regarding when Christ will return in relationship to the millennium ...
Pre-millennial: The prefix 'Pre' denotes 'before'. That is, Christ will come after the Great Tribulation and will then physically rule the earth from Jerusalem for a thousand-year period of peace and security.
Post-millennial: The prefix 'Post' denotes 'after'. That is, Christ will come after the millennium. Post-millennialists believe that the church will progressively bring righteousness to the world or control it to the extent that there will be "peace on earth" for 1,000 years. Following a brief time of tribulation, Christ will return to earth and establish a new heaven and a new earth for eternity. The Latter Rain/ Joel's Army/ Manifest Sons of God/ Kingdom Now/ Restoration/ Reconstruction movements etc. are all largely based on this view. See Dominionism
A-millennial: The prefix, 'a' means 'no'. Although the name suggests that a-millennialists do not believe in the millennium at all, this is not true. Rather than a literal 1000-year reign of Christ, they believe that the millennium mentioned in Revelation 20 refers to the 'church age'... that is the period between Pentecost and Christ's Second Coming. In other words, Christ is already reigning from heaven. After this period comes to a close He will return to judge the living and the dead and will establish His kingdom for all eternity.
Quite obviously only one of the three views can be correct.
Why Post-millennialism Cannot Possibly Be True - HERE
I suggest you seriously rethink your views if you really believe in a long period of peace and prosperity that precedes the return of Christ. The danger lies in the fact that although there is going to be a time of relative prosperity and peace on this earth before Jesus returns, it will not be a righteous Godly kingdom but is described by Scripture as the kingdom of the beast established by the antichrist.
Believers expecting revival, a church sponsored millennium, and the return of Christ, will soon find itself face to face with the antichrist and facing persecution on an enormous scale.
Pre-Millennialism Vs. Amillennialism
The Facts Vs. The Fairy Tales HERE
Pre-millennialism: Unfortunately, even Christians who believe in/teach pre-Millennialism have often succeeded in thoroughly muddying the waters with unbiblical nonsense. Pre-millennialist beliefs can get incredibly complicated, occasionally seeming to involve several dispensations, multiple covenants, two second comings, three or four resurrections, and at least four judgments. While I am guilty of some exaggeration here, it is true that many teachers have to resort to detailed charts to try and make themselves understood.
Some Pre-millennialists even claim that that the defeat of ALL death occurs at the second coming of Christ.
To complicate matters even further and in complete opposition to what the Bible clearly says some pre-millennialists believe that the millennium kingdom will be occupied by two groups of people... those with normal physical bodies and those with glorified bodies.
A-millennialism: On the other hand A-millennialists argue that Jesus could not have brought in the kingdom at His first advent because we are certainly not living in any kingdom conditions. Certainly no one has beaten their swords into plowshares
Pre-Millennialism (The Sabbath Millennium) HERE
In the Bible a 'type' is an actual historical event or ritual which was a glimpse of one or more actual events yet to come. In many cases someone in the Old Testament typified or foreshadowed the Messiah in some way.
While the mere resemblance between two persons or events does not automatically make a type, a Biblical event or person that served as a prototype for another person or event does. A repeating and escalating pattern of events is very often seen in the Scriptures.
The Sabbath was no exception. In Exodus 20:8 God commanded the nation to keep the Sabbath day holy. Just as He 'rested' on the seventh day the nation was to abstain from all work on the seventh day.
That was not the end of the pattern which will eventually culminate in six thousand years of labor followed by the Sabbath millennium - the 1000 years when humanity and God will both rest.
Besides which the Sabbath Millennium was foretold in a number of biblical and non-canonical books - Enoch, 2 Peter, and the Epistle of Barnabas.
How And Why Did The Change From Pre-millennialism
to A-millennialism Come About? HERE
For the first two-hundred years of Christian history the utopian millennium described by the Apostle John in The Apocalypse was understood as a literal period of a thousand years that would follow Christ's physical return to earth.
When and why did the change in belief come about?
Also See
Gog and Magog - HERE
Any one who believes that Ezekiel’s prophecy about the destruction of Gog and Magog was only aimed at various countries of Ezekiel's day has missed one of the most fascinating aspects of Hebrew prophecy.
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