Revelation 20:1-2; A Thousand Years

Revelation 20:1-2 (KJV)  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, 

The duration of the binding expressed the extent of time. The sixfold repetition of this number of years indicates its great importance (Lee).

Revelation 20:3-7 (KJV)  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. 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. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 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. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 

Ample good reasons exist for not taking the number “a thousand” symbolically, but there are many good reasons for taking one thousand to be literal (Walvoord).

The kingdom will have a limited phase and will enter its eternal phase after the conclusion of the thousand years. And it will have the ideal conditions described in the Old Testament, but John has no occasion to mention them here.

The conclusion is that the only exegetically sound answer to the issue is to understand the thousand years literally.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 408-409]

The reformers took the view of a symbolic meaning because there was no Israel in the land at that time in the 16th century. Today, Israel is back in the land since 14 May 1948, for well over seventy years. It is also a present reality of the hostility the nation of Israel faces to her very existence. And it is therefore not unfathomable that Christ will return to rescue the nation and rule from Jerusalem for a thousand years.

The Bible-Presbyterian Church in the 1930s began with the understanding of a literal millennium where Christ will rule for a thousand years, taking “the thousand years” literally, learning from the dispensationalist in their eschatology.

Today, the picture is even clearer for us when we read the book of Revelation in the light of geo-political events happening with regard to the events leading to Christ return happening right before our very eyes.

Matthew 24:3-14 (KJV)  And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Amen.