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The Truth Of The Touted Millennium
A rational understanding of the New Testament favors Amillennialism to be the true Christian interpretation of Revelation 20:1-10. Amillennialism teaches that the one-thousand years expression in Revelation chapter twenty is an apocalyptic symbol that portrays this present Christian age. While technically different in some ways, both Postmillennialism and Amillennialism stand opposed to the theory of Premillennialism, which sees the second coming of Jesus Christ happening before (i.e., pre) this one-thousand year period begins. Now here are TEN basic common-sense arguments that prove Premillennialism is wrong.
1. No thousand year period of time after the second coming of Jesus Christ, called the millennium, is mentioned anywhere in the Bible at all, except as advocates of such a theory derive it from the manner in which they interpret Revelation 20:1-10.
2. There is no evidence anywhere in Scripture to indicate that Christ only begins his messianic reign after His second coming, as premillennialists assume to be taught in Revelation chapter twenty. Acts 2:29-36 clearly indicates that Christ began His messianic reign at the time of His resurrection and ascension two-thousand years ago. He is now reigning in His kingdom in accordance with the revelation of the true messianic ideal given in the New Testament. In addition to Acts 2:29-36, please read Daniel 2:44; 7:13-14; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 13:33-34; I Peter 3:22; and Revelation 4:2-3. Premillennialists follow first century Christ-rejecting Jews in their failure to understand this revelation.
3. There is no rational basis for the assumption that the events of Revelation 20 verses 1-10 must follow chronologically in time the events of chapter nineteen. The picture of Christ riding the white horse in 19:11ff. is not a literal description of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Acts 1:11 informs us that Jesus will return from heaven in the same manner that He ascended to heaven. Did Christ ascend to heaven riding on a white horse? Then neither will He return riding on a literal white horse either.
4. The binding of Satan in Revelation chapter twenty has no reference to a literal binding of Satan by physical chains, for Satan is a spiritual being and how is it possible to incarcerate a spiritual being in physical chains? Once this symbolic application is acceded to, that is, that the "chains" that bind the Devil are spiritual and not physical in nature, then the entire woodenly literalistic premillennial argument falls flat on its face. Nor is it honest to hide behind the metaphysical dualism which assumes that spiritual matters are not real or "literal" entities, for this assumption ties, philosophically speaking, into a form of ancient Platonism that does not reflect the biblical revelation.
5. Logical consistency demands that if one part of the Revelation 20:1-10 passage is manifestly spiritual, then other elements in the passage cannot be ruled out as being spiritual in application as well. Nor does interpreting the passage spiritually renders it in anywise non-literal, for spiritual realities are just as literal and actual as are all physical or material substances. Thus, it is much more logical to embrace the idea that the entire passage is spiritual, rather than that the entire passage is literal, a concept premillennialists mistakenly tend to equate, we repeat, with things only physical or material in nature, forgetting that spiritual things are "literal" realities, too!
6. There is no reason to suppose, as some premillennialists do, that Revelation chapter twenty contains an admixture of both literal and spiritual elements, for if that is so, then who is to decide which parts are what? The Book of Revelation is just that, a "revelation," and is not intended to generate confusion on the one hand, or absurdity on the other. A thorough-going spiritual interpretation is thus the only one that is logically self-consistent and makes any common sense. Jesus spoke in parables in the Gospels. Is it wrong, then, to believe that He would also speak in parables in the Book of Revelation as well? Of course not! The Book of Revelation contains parables that reveal the nature and course of this present age between Christ's first and second advents. Revelation 20:1-10 is only one of these such parables.
7. The ascension of Satan, who is also called the beast, from the bottomless pit in those passages in the Book of Revelation prior to chapter twenty (i.e., 9:1-11; 11:7 and 17:8) should be determinative for the way in which that latter passage must be interpreted.
8. Internal thematic evidence adequately demonstrates that Revelation chapter twenty recapitulates back again to the first advent of Christ, and carries forward to His second coming, thus forming, by way of summary overview, a fitting conclusion to the main apocalyptic section of the book, just as Revelation chapter six provides an introduction to the body of what follows by the same method.
9. John Wesley taught in his notes on Revelation chapter twenty that two literal 1,000 year periods of time were to happen before the Great White Throne Judgment scene depicted at the end of this chapter, which Great White Throne Judgment he equated with the single second coming of Jesus Christ. We also have evidence to demonstrate that the binding of Satan, for the singularly declared purpose that he should not use Isreal to deceive the nations any longer took place between the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the beginning of the Crusades in the Eleventh Century, when interest in "earthly Jerusalem" began to replace the dominance of the Heavenly Zion in the thinking of many European Christians.
10. Lastly, there is good evidence to indicate that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20:1-10 is a symbol intending to indicate that entire period of time now lying between Christ's first and second advents, in much the same way that the number one-thousand is used symbolically in Psalm 50:10. For a more complete hoe down on this, and many other related issues, please read our books, which you may purchase now from the products page of this web site. Also, you may learn more by reading the articles from our newsletter posted below: