“The Millennium” refers to the time described in Revelation 20:1-5. Since Satan was bound at Christ's first coming (#60) and believers were resurrected in Christ,[1] the “millennium” began with the work of Christ in the first century. The figure of “a thousand years” is symbolically designed to convey a perfect, complete, or vast number of years.[2] A “literal” interpretation of the 1000-year figure based on 2 Peter 3:8 (1,000 years = 1 day = 1,000 years) would calculate the “literal” length of the “millennium” at approximately 365,000,000 years (not counting “leap-millennia”). We have thus completed only the second "day" of Church history.
Notes
1. John 5:21,25,28 (4:23; 16:32); Ephesians 2:1-6; 5:14; Luke 15:24; Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:13
2. Psalm 50:10; 84:10; 90:4; 105:8
References
None of the following works express our thesis 100%, but they are nevertheless valuable reading, when read with A Berean Spirit:
J.S. Russell's Position on the Millennium
The "Millennial Reign" of Christ
The New Heaven and New Earth, Millennium, New Jerusalem - Explained!
Dr. Greg Bahnsen : Hermeneutics in the Book of Revelation (1984)
A Letter From Loraine Or A Covenantal View Of The Millennium
The Sabbath Millennium
Tenth Generation, Seventh Millennium
Sunday, November 9, 2008
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1 comment:
Perhaps a more likely interpretation of Revelation 20 holds that the "thousand years" represents the period in which Satan was prevented from obstructing the spread of the gospel to the nations during "the last days" of the Old Covenant. The "1000 years" symbolizes not a vast length of time, but the thoroughness of the binding of Satan, and the overwhelming and complete success that would attend the preaching of the gospel during the years 30-70 AD (roughly speaking).
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