The Millennium

Introduction

The millennium is a subject about which there is a great deal of variation in belief about the events and the timing. Of course, since they can’t all be right, there is also much misunderstanding. This study will focus on this important topic and try to make it plain by allowing the Bible to explain itself.

A couple of studies on this site that are related to the subject of the millennium (because they happen near the beginning of it) are:

1. an examination of the words “taken” and “left” as they relate to the topic of the rapture
2. a study of the phrase “without form and void” to determine what the state of the earth will be by the time of the Second Coming.

This page will lay out the events in order which will help to assess the validity of popular beliefs about the millennium. It will cover the resurrections mentioned and answer the question of whether there is a second chance for anyone.

The details of the millennium are found mostly in Revelation chapter 20 which, when carefully examined, reveals the order of events. In the presentation below on the events of the millennium, the verses of Revelation 20 are highlighted. The diagrams in the discussion build on each other. With each new diagram, the new elements being added are shown in red letters. Links are provided to several related topics covered on other pages. You may wish to read those also to gain additional clarification on the points in question.

Note that the word “millennium” comes from the Latin words “mille” which means a thousand and “annum” which means a year. The word “millennium” actually never appears in the Bible but the concept is definitely there. The thousand years, as the Bible terms the millennium, is only mentioned in Revelation 20 and it is used there six times. This study will concentrate on that chapter. First, we will consider the major events of the millennium and a few of the terms before going through Revelation 20 verse by verse.

Pre- or Post millennialism The terms premillennialism and postmillennialism refer to beliefs that the Second Coming occurs either at the beginning or at the end to the millennium respectively. The majority of people are premillennialist, believing that the Second Coming occurs before the millennium.

Popular Belief About the millennium “Millenarianism (also millenarism) is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed.” (Wikipedia)

Details of beliefs vary considerably but most believe that, while the start of the millennium marks a major change, life still continues, although in a much altered form, on earth.

What is the Rapture? The rapture is the event at which the saved are taken to heaven. There are many variations in belief about its nature and timing: pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation. Hal Lindsey, of best-selling Late Great Planet Earth fame, and the very popular Left Behind series both promote a sudden, secret “catching away of the saints” before the tribulation (pre-tribulation). This seems to be the most popular belief. This study will determine the correct place of the rapture. The diagram below shows the position of the (theorized) pre-, mid- and post-tribulation raptures:

In general, the order of major events is: tribulation, Second Coming, millennium (on earth, in the popular understanding) and the final judgment. As we go through the events, the correct timing of the rapture will become clear.

Two General Resurrections Let’s first establish that there are two separate general resurrections mentioned in the Bible. There are many special Bible resurrections involving only one person or a small number. Those raised in a special resurrection still fall into one of the two classes involving all people – the saved and the lost.

The general resurrections will involve all of the saved in the first general resurrection and all of the lost in the second general resurrection.

The general resurrections are distinguished from each other in these verses:

“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:28-29)

“And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:14)

There are two resurrections (life for the just and damnation for the lost) for two distinct classes of people.

The order of events of the millennium can be determined by going through Revelation chapter 20 verse by verse and comparing with other, related verses.

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,’ (Rev 20:1-2)

This passage tells us that there is a period of 1000 years and that Satan is bound at the beginning and, as is further implied and then established by verse 3, released at the end of it.

What is this Bottomless Pit? And where is it? “Bottomless pit” is translated from the Greek “abussos.” The Septuagint uses the same Greek word (translated “void” in Gen 1:2) to describe the earth before creation week.

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:2)

What is a “bottomless pit.” It is one that you can’t get out of. This is a situation, not a place, that Satan cannot get out of.

Chains not Literal. Here is a verse showing that chains don’t have to be literal, confining chains of something like steel. In this case, they are figurative “chains of darkness” but the suggestion is still that they prevent Satan from something.

“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartaroo], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;” (2 Pet 2:4)

“And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” (Rev 20:3)

Little Season The “little season” can be added to the diagram. The length of time is unspecified but it must be short (“little”) relative to the 1000 years of the millennium. During the millennium Satan cannot deceive (“that he should deceive the nations no more”), he is in the bottomless pit and he will be able to deceive again at the end of the millennium (“deceive the nations no more, till …).

Why is Satan Cast into the Bottomless Pit? Verse 3 gives the effects of his being bound – “that he should deceive the nations no more.” It is a case of being bound by circumstances. We would say “my hands are tied” meaning that, under these conditions, I cannot do what I want to or normally could.

“When used with reference to intelligent beings, abussos seems to imply isolation from other beings and the inability to escape from the situation-as of a man in death or confined alone in a dungeon.” (SDA BC 5 p605)

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” (Rev 20:4)

Who Sits on the Thrones? If anyone is going to judge and reign for a 1000 years and this is in connection with the millennium, then they must be raised in the first resurrection at the start of the millennium. Here is a better translation:

“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.” (Rev 20:4, NASB)

Some verses that identify the saints as those that will be involved in judging are:

“Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” (Dan 7:22)”And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (Dan 7:27)

“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?” (1 Cor 6:2-3)

Thrones. The reference to thrones also helps to identify these people. They are the overcomers mentioned in Revelation:

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Rev 3:21)

This is not just a giant throne that can seat many people but shared authority. It’s “reign with Him” not simply “sit in a chair with Him.”

“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (2 Tim 2:12)”He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Rev 21:7)

What does “all things” in the verse above include? What do you reign over? – a dominion. What is His dominion? Man was originally intended to have a vast dominion:

“Thou madest him [man] to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:” (Psa 8:6)

There is another verse in Revelation that talks about a longer reign beyond the 1000 years of the millennium:

“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev 22:5)

Judgment Before the Second Coming. Here is an interesting point. There must have been a judgment before the Second Coming because there is obviously a separation at that point between the saved and the lost.

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt 24:30-31)

To better understand why the saints would be involved in judgment during the millennium we should consider the three phases of the last judgment.

Why Do the Saints Judge? If God has already made an investigation and judicial decision, the question is: how does the judgment referred to here (“judgment was given unto them”) fit in? After all, this is after the Second Coming when, logically, every case must already have been decided.

The answer lies in the openness of God Himself.

“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa 1:18)

In fact, there is a sense in which God Himself is being judged to assess whether all of His actions have been appropriate.

“God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Rom 3:4)

Wouldn’t You Want to Know? The millennium is a time of investigation for the benefit of the saved – God already knows who is lost and who is saved. One thousand years should be plenty of time for them to have all of their questions answered. And there will be questions. Wouldn’t you want to know – if you were in heaven and a loved one was not – why they were not there?

As I am writing this, the current news is about the question of whether or not to have a public inquiry over the trial of British Columbia’s serial-killer Robert Pickton. This is after a trial that has already taken years and cost 120 million dollars resulting in his conviction on six counts of murder and sentencing to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. The purpose of such a public inquiry would not be to re-evaluate his guilt or innocence but to examine the judicial process, to see that justice was fairly given. Even in our earthly court systems we value openness and justice.

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” (Rev 20:5)

Which Resurrection? Are you suddenly confused? Does that verse sound like the resurrection at the end of the millennium is the first resurrection? You might ask: “wasn’t there a resurrection at the start of the thousand years?” The reason is that this verse contains a parenthetical statement. John is telling us, as a side note, when the rest of the dead will be raised – at the end of the millennium. He then returns to his topic – the discussion of the first resurrection from verse 4 and states that this (what was described in verse 4) is the first resurrection. John does that many times in his writings. A prime example is in John 12; one that, when it is understood to be a parenthetical statement, clears up a major point of confusion on the timing of Passion Week. This is covered in my book In the Heart of the Earth. The other gospel writers also use parenthetical statements but not as frequently as John.

Lost Slain. The rest of the dead are those who died at the Second Coming (and those of the lost who had died anytime previously):

“And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” (rev 19:21)

From this, “lost slain” can be added to the diagram.

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev 20:6)

The Saints in Heaven. John is now talking again about the saved – “he that hath part in the first resurrection” and describes what they will doing during the thousand years. Where will they be? The evidence is that the saints reign in heaven, not on earth, during the millennium. Of course, this verse also implies that those who are not part of the first resurrection will be subject to the second death.

When Christ returns He takes the saved to where He has been preparing a place for them. At the Second Coming the saints are gathered together:

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt 24:30-31)

They are taken to meet the Lord in the air:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [rapture] together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thess 4:16-17)

Then they go with Him to the place He has prepared:

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

“But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Heb 11:16)

Ever With the Lord. It will be evident later that at the end of the millennium there is a return to earth of the saints with the Lord and the holy city. The “…and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” of 1 Thess 4:17 is not saying the saints will always be in heaven but that they “shall ever be with the Lord.” When the Lord returns to earth at the end of the millennium (the Third Coming) the saints return with Him.

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (Rev 21:2-3)

Basically, heaven moves to earth after the millennium.

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. ” (Rev 20:7-8)

Satan Loosed. At the end of the millennium, “Satan shall be loosed” and can deceive again because the lost are raised; they are there to deceive again. We have already added this to our diagram, from verse 3. The new information here is that he raises an army for his final assault against the government of God. And he will have a great selection of generals and military leaders to use.

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” (Rev 20:9)

Attack on the New Jerusalem. He then leads them to attack the New Jerusalem which is described in other places as descending from heaven at the end of the millennium:

“… new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven …” (Rev 3:12)”And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev 21:2)

“And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,” (Rev 21:10)

Why Attack the City? I heard an interesting theory about this that may or may not be correct. The lost, having been through death and a resurrection, in some cases thousands of years later, are keenly aware of their own mortality. They know or perhaps have been told that inside the city is the tree of life. They may have the concept that if they can eat from that tree they can life forever and thus desperately desire access to it – they don’t want to die again.

The city descends, the lost, prepared for an attack, surround it and the fire comes down and devours them. There is a lot of detail omitted in between these events. We will see in a couple more verses that there are other events that happen between the surrounding of the city and the final destruction of the lost. Verses 7 to 10 give a quick overview of events after “the thousand years are expired” (verse 7) and then verse 11 opens a new scene in which what is often called the great white throne judgment is described.

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Rev 20:10)

The Devil’s End. The final event is when the devil himself, the originator of evil meets his fate. Misunderstanding of phrases like “shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” has lead to wrong concepts of the final fate of the lost. It is “eternal punishment” not “eternal punishing.” What does “eternal destruction” mean?

“Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” (2 Thess 1:9)

The following verse explains everlasting destruction in relation to Satan:

“All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” (Eze 28:19)

“Never shall thou be any more.” Satan is eternally destroyed not eternally being destroyed. Once he is destroyed he remains destroyed (in a state of destruction) forever. The same applies to all of the lost. They are not writhing in agony in hell with Satan stoking the flames. What a sick picture of the love of God! Read more on the correct meaning of eternal fire and how it applies to the lost.

Here we have the executive phase of judgment, where the guilty receive the punishment, the consequences of their choices.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)

The wages of sin is death, not eternal life.

The Beast and the False Prophet. “Where the beast and false prophet are” would be better translated “where the beast and false prophet had been thrown in” as is described in Rev 19:20:

“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Rev 19:20)

This is an event that happens before the millennium. The beast and the false prophet are not individuals (although they may, at times, be represented by certain individuals) but systems. They come to an end at this point just as hell and death come to an end when they are cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14) at the end of the millennium.

Final Judgment. This scene describes in more detail the “great white throne judgment.” It is at this point when everyone who has ever lived is in the presence of God. The saved have come down with the New Jerusalem after spending the 1000 years of the millennium in heaven. The lost have been recently resurrected and have surrounded the city to attack it. This is when the final judgment takes place.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” (Rev 20:11-13)

This judgment is different from the pre-advent investigative judgment where the guilt or innocence of each case was decided by God or the judgment during the millennium where the saved investigated the records and verified the judgments of God. This judgment, while it looks again in the books for evidence, includes the executive phase of judgment where the sentence is carried out.

The final sentence is expressed in the words of Jesus:

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Matt 25:41)

The setting of this verse shows that “before him shall be gathered all nations.” Clearly, this is at the end of the millennium when the resurrected have been raised.

“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:” (Matt 25:32)

The pre-advent investigative judgment is when God judges, the millennium is when the saved judge and the great white throne judgment is when the lost get to see the justice of their own sentence. The Bible suggests that, ultimately, everyone will acknowledge that God has been just in all of His judgments:

“But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Rom 14:10-1)

To end forever the existence of any being created and designed to live forever is a pretty drastic thing to do. God will not allow it to happen without removing every question or doubt from those who might question it later or even from those directly involved. As mentioned before, God is open in all that He does.

The Lake of Fire. Could the “lake of fire” be an expression like the one describing the idea that Satan is bound for a thousand years? Could it be an expression describing a set of circumstances rather than a place?

The final sentence is not “burn” (more on this below) but “depart from me.” It is final separation (a result of the choices of the lost) from God who is the source of all life.

Dead People Standing? The reference (verse 12) to the dead standing before God is speaking of those who had been (only recently) dead or it could be a reference to those who are spiritually dead. Here is a verse that might help with this:

“I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matt 22:32)

Jesus, quoting from Exodus 3:6, said that God is God of the living but at the same time He is the God of men who have died. This could be if the men mentioned although physically dead were spiritually alive in that they were saved and destined to rise in the resurrection of life. Similarly, people who were physically alive but destined for the second death could be spoken of as dead.

The End of Death and Hell and Sinners and Satan

“And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:14-15)

Verse 14 tells us that the lake of fire “is the second death” – it is an experience, not a place. Remember the point made earlier about the bottomless pit into which Satan was cast? Both the bottomless pit and the second death are situations not places that Satan and the lost will experience. Notice the similar wording:

“… cast him into the bottomless pit …” (Rev 20:3)”… the devil … was cast into the lake of fire …” (Rev 20:10)

“… death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. …” (Rev 20:14

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:15)

The second death marks the final end of something, the point at which it is blotted out of existence. It is in this sense that “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.” Death cannot burn because it is not a physical object, it is an experience. Being an experience it can happen for the last time and then never happen again:

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev 21:4)

Note also that in this verse “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” This does not happen until after the millennium because during the millennium, as the saved are able to judge whether God has really been just in His judgments, there may be some tears shed over lost loved ones. Another verse that goes along with the verse above is:

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor 15:26)

We commonly equate hell with the lake of fire. How can hell be cast into hell? It can’t. Rather, hell, the place of the dead, the state of death is no longer because the dead are not just dead but have ceased to exist. There is “no place found for them” because they have been blotted out of existence. That is why no place can be found for them or, we could say, they can’t be found anywhere or any place. Not even corpses remain. At most, they are in the form of ashes:

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. … And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Mal 4:1,3)

Revelation’s description of the millennium has separate scenes each introduced with “I (John) saw.” Verses 11-15 focuses on events surrounding “the great white throne.” The people standing there before God (verse 12) have already been described as devoured (verse 9) so there is obviously some overlap in events.

An important distinction to make is that people are cast into the lake of fire (v 15) whereas the fire that devours them “came down from God out of heaven ” (v9). Really, the fire that comes down from God out of heaven just burns up the dead corpses, it does not kill them. There is a fire that will cleanse the earth before it is restored to a state of Edenic beauty but that is not the same as the “fire” that kills the wicked. Satan’s end is described:

“… therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” (Eze 28:18)

There is a fire that comes from within him (“from the midst of thee”) that kills him and then his body, along with others that have similarly died, are consumed in the cleansing fire that comes down from God. Here is an interesting verse that gives us a clue about the fire from within:

“Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” (Rom 12:20)

The idea here is that a good deed done to one’s enemy (presumably someone who has done wrong) will smite their guilty conscience. This is described as “coals of fire” which is a metaphor for a conscience overcome by guilt. This is seen when a person is caught in a wrong act and is obviously guilty. They will, in fact, feel some heat as they blush in shame. Now scale that up to when a person has every wrong act of his life exposed in the judgment. They are in the very presence of God and realize that they have lost eternal life.

“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” (1 Cor 4:5)

Implications Regarding God’s Character. God does not tell us to love our enemies and then He kills His own enemies by burning them with fire – a horrible way to die. This consistency of God in all his dealings with His created beings is covered in a study of God’s character.

Summary The start of the millennium surely will mark a major transformation of society, far more of a change than most people imagine. The events during the millennium will wrap up the events of this whole great controversy and prepare the way for God to bring about the very last events in a way that will leave no one questioning His judgments or justice.

The events of the millennium, when laid out in order, show that there is no second chance to be saved during or after the millennium. It is also obvious, with all the talk of life on earth during the millennium, that many people have been deceived into a non-Biblical understanding.