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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

MILLENNIUM*

Biblical term (taken from the Latin word meaning “a thousand”) referring to the thousand-year reign of Christ. The primary biblical context for the doctrine of the millennium is found in Revelation 20:1-6 (where the Greek word for thousand is used five times). The idea of a thousand-year reign may also be supported by passages such as Acts 3:19-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:23-26, which speak of a future restoration and reign of Christ. This doctrine, however, is explicitly taught only in the book of Revelation, and is characterized by differences of interpretation, as well as considerable uncertainty about its importance.

The amillennial (no millennium, at least of a visible, earthly nature) interpretation stresses the symbolism of Revelation and holds that now, during the present age, Satan is bound and the church is experiencing the millennium. Perhaps the most serious difficulty with the amillennial view is that it interprets the two resurrections of Revelation 20 differently. Though the same Greek word is used for both, the first (v 4) is interpreted as a spiritual resurrection, and the second (v 5) as a physical resurrection, while the passage itself does not indicate that the writer intended a difference of meaning. Hence, the amillennial position is often accused of improperly spiritualizing the meaning of the Bible. Another perspective on the amillennial position is that the thousand-year reign of Christ is a symbolic expression of Christ’s unlimited rule—as opposed to an actual reign of 1,000 years.

The postmillennial (Christ will return after the millennium) view sees the progress of the gospel as producing the millennium. The essential idea in this interpretation is progress. It may be held that this era of peace is yet future or that it began with the first advent of Christ and is continuing on until the gospel triumphs over the world, with the majority being won to Christianity. However, the variant forms of postmillennialism stress that Christ does not return until after the millennium. It is not the second coming of Christ and his visible presence that brings about the millennium.

Different from the above two views is the premillennial (Christ returns before the millennium) interpretation, which maintains that Christ will return to earth and establish his peaceful reign in a visible and powerful manner.

The premillennialist emphasizes that the visions of the book of Revelation must be interpreted sequentially. First is the return of Christ in chapter 19, followed by the binding of Satan for a thousand years and the first resurrection of the saints to reign with Christ for the thousand years (20:1-6). This, in turn, is followed by a release of Satan and the battle of those deceived—“Gog and Magog”—against Christ and his people and the final destruction of the devil (vv 7-10). Next is the account of the final judgment and the last resurrection (vv 11-15), followed by the new heaven and new earth (ch 21).

The premillennialist strongly affirms that this sequence demands that the millennium, the reign of Christ, be understood as a real, future event following Christ’s return. None of the variations of amillennialism or postmillennialism that see the millennium in the present church age before Christ returns or even in the future before Christ comes again, adequately accounts for the sequence of events in Revelation.

In addition to the literary argument, there is the theological point that the premillennial position places the real triumph of Christ within history. That is, the victory that the church believes was accomplished through Christ’s death on the cross will be made visible to the world and the forces of evil at Christ’s return and reign on earth. This is not faith in a merely spiritual or heavenly triumph, but faith that God will genuinely intervene in the course of the world to bring justice and peace.

However, implicit within this is the greatest weakness of the premillennial viewpoint. The Bible does not explain the details of how Christ and his resurrected saints will reign over an earth not yet made new and over nations still living in their natural state. This unresolved problem has led many interpreters to explain Revelation 20 by one of the other interpretations.