The Thousand Year Reign of Christ

Recently, a friend of mine asked me what I thought about the thousand years that are mentioned in Revelation 20.  I have still not answered her because I wanted to study more.  So, for the past few days I have been enjoying digging into Scripture.

That being said, my faith is always a work in progress.  I know I don't have all the answers and know that I never will.  However, careful study has led me to the conclusion I will lay out here.  May my view change?  Of course!  With any new insights into Scripture I happen upon, I always reevaluate.  Here's what I believe now.

Before addressing the millennial reign of Christ, the first place I should start is with a question:  when does Christ's kingdom begin?  If we answer that question, then Christ's thousand year reign comes into focus.

Let's look at Scripture!


Luke 4:5  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  6  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish."


Satan claims that he has authority over the kingdoms of the world


John 12:31  "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out...."
John 14:30  "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this wold is coming, and he has nothing in me...."
John 16:11  "...because the ruler of this world is judged...."


Jesus is speaking each time and refers to Satan as the "ruler of this world."  So, for a time, Satan was ruler of the world.

Next, let's look at how Jesus's arrival changed this paradigm.

Mark 1:24  "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are - the Holy One of God!"  25  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  26  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.

The above scenario was repeated dozens of times throughout the gospels not only by Jesus himself, but by His disciples as well.  Demonic activity was affected with Christ's arrival.

Matthew 12:28  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  29  Or how can one man enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.


Jesus here implies that He has bound the "strong man," Satan.  All throughout Jesus's ministry, we see his authority over the demonic.  This was a big change for the nature of reality.  Prior to Christ, Satan had dominion on earth.  After Christ, we see the kingdom of Satan overthrown and the Kingdom of God established as the new reality.  Satan was the ruler of the world.  But now Jesus is challenging that.

I John 3:8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Again, we see this play out as Jesus and his disciples' ministry continue.  They continue to cast out demons.  And then something amazing happens:

Luke 10:17  Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."  18  And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you...."

This very revealing passage indicates the moment that Satan had indeed been beaten down by the expansion of Christ's Kingdom.  Demonic influence, while still present, had been greatly minimized.  Satan is no longer the ruler of the earth.  He is on a leash, the length of which God determines.

Colossians 2:15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.


Hebrews 2:14  Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil...

Let's keep looking at the progression of the diminishing kingdom of Satan and the expanding Kingdom of God.  Peter, in Acts 2:25-28 points to a Psalm of David.  Here, Peter interprets that Psalm:

Acts 2:29  "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  30  Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.  32  This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witness."   


Peter says that God raised Christ to sit on the throne and they witnessed that reality.  Christ's ascension signaled his ascending to the throne.  He is the King.  And His Kingdom is established.

Daniel 7:13  "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven!  He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.  14  Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed...."


Here, we see Daniel seeing Jesus's first coming as the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

Through Christ's death, burial and resurrection, Jesus defeated death.  Satan no longer holds the keys to death.  Satan's rule will continue diminish as Christ's Kingdom expands.  Christ's ascension was an ascension to the Ancient of Days, to the right hand of the Father.  Jesus is now the King.

So, now we get to the millennium spoken of in Revelation.  Here is the passage in question:

Revelation 20:1  Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  2  He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3  and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.  But after these things he must be released for a little while.  And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.  Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.  And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  5  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.  6  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.  Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.  7  Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

So, here we see that Christ, the angel, has the keys to the bottomless pit.  Satan no longer has them.  And as I explained, this occurred with Christ's first coming.  Christ has usurped Satan's rule by defeating death.  Christ is now the one who has the power.  Christ's Kingdom is growing.  Satan's power has been severely diminished.  And while there is certainly still demonic activity, it is limited compared to before Christ's coming.  So, if Satan is bound right now then why does verse two say "for a thousand years"?  It has been nearly 2,000 years since Christ's first coming when he was bound.

As you probably are aware, numbers have significance in Scripture.  Let's always look at Scripture to interpret Scripture.  When we look at the number 1000 in Scripture, we see it used to indicate vastness of quantity.

Psalm 50:10  For ever beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills."
Psalm 84:10  For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
Psalm 90:4  For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past...
Deuteronomy 1:11  "May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you."
Deuteronomy 7:9  "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments."

Does this mean the cattle on the 1,001st hill, is not God's?  No, when he is saying the "cattle on a thousand hills," he is saying all the cattle on all the hills.  If a day in God's courts are better than a thousand, what about a thousand and one?  Of course!  Will he keep his covenant only to a thousand generations?  No, he will keep it to all generations.

Likewise, I believe it is fair to say that the thousand years that Satan is bound is a large, undefined number which has already lasted 2,000 years and may last for 2,000 more.

So, we see Satan "bound" for "a thousand years", but not destroyed (yet).  We are told he is bound in order "that he should deceive the nations no more..." with the reason being to prohibit him from gathering them for battle (verse 8).  This is important.  Satan cannot have the power to battle Christ until Christ says.  Therefore, he will be bound and is still bound to this day.  And only when he is released will he be able to "deceive the nations" for "a little while."  And that he will do only because God has allowed it.  After that seemingly short battle, verses 9 and 10 describe Satan being thrown into the lake of fire to be tormented there forever, then the judgment (verse 11).  That battle has yet to happen.

So, we are currently living in the thousand year reign of Christ.  Satan is bound right now, not powerless, but limited.  He will be released for a battle at the end of history, after which is the judgment.  Currently, Christ is the King.  Christ's expanding kingdom has severely limited Satan's power.  Demonic activity, while still active, is limited for two reasons:  1)  Satan is no longer the ruler of this world and 2)  Christ's Kingdom will continue to expand.

So, we have reason to be optimistic!  Here is the expectation you should have going forward until Christ returns.

Acts 28:28  "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"
1 Corinthians 15:25  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
Daniel 2:35  "...And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth...."
Matthew 13:31  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.  33  The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till is was all leavened."


The thousand year reign of Christ has been in effect since his first coming.  It continues to this day (2,000 years and still going strong)!  And it will continue until his second coming.  There will still be battles.  There will still be and struggles.  We still live in a fallen world.  But, there is something substantively different about the world we live in now versus the world prior to Christ's first coming.  The Kingdom of God is a present reality that will continue to expand just as the whole of the New Testament explains.  It will start small (with just 12 disciples) and grow to many nations, like a mustard seed that grows into a large tree.

Isaiah 11:9  "...For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."


Amen!

Thank you for reading this huge post!  Comments?