Revelation 20 is the only place in the Bible that he talks about. Millennium? ? the millennial reign of Christ triumphant on earth. Nowhere else does Holy Scripture mention this word, so it is necessary to look at related teachings elsewhere in Scripture to understand what it means in Revelation. A good principle of biblical interpretation (used since ancient times by Augustine, Titian, and other early Christian writers) is that the few mentions of a word or concept should be interpreted in light of its length. and of the symbolic through this it manifests itself. It would be contrary to a clear understanding of Scripture to introduce more of the small, or the manifest, into the symbolic. Therefore, we need to understand what Revelation 20, a highly symbolic book, says about the millennium in light of the myriad of other biblical passages that tell us more clearly (and less symbolically) what occurs between the resurrection of Christ, his ascension to heaven and his last return to earth to complete his victorious work. With that in mind, let us seek Biblical help in deciphering the first thing that would happen in this thousand-year period between the two adventures of Christ: the arrest of Satan.
Revelation 20: 1-3 says that a mighty angel of God held the devil for a thousand years; specifically, verse 3 says that he is prevented from deceiving nations during this period. Something happens with Satan’s ability to keep the nations of the earth blind. to see who God is and what the gospel means to them. As a result of Christ’s complete work by dying on the cross, becoming raised from the dead, ascending to the Father, and being crowned to the throne of glory, Satan has lost his power to deceive the millions of heathens who previously kept the saving truth blind. Gods.
- Job’s old story can give us an important understanding of this great reduction in Satan’s power over the idylather nations.
- Job 1.
- 6-12 describes Satan as possessing the ability to approach God’s immediate presence.
- With other angels.
- Or?Children of God? (v.
- 6) He used this position of power to do great harm to Job.
- But according to what Christ says in the Gospels.
- Satan has lost that privileged access to the heavenly atriums as a result of Christ’s incarnation and work.
- : 18-19.
- The seventy disciples return with great joy to their successful mission of preaching the gospel.
- Healing the sick.
- And expelling demons.
- Christ then explains how they were able to accomplish these wonders: “He said to them.
- “Did Satan fall from heaven like lightning?(V.
- 18).
- Jesus explains Satan’s fall in terms of Christian ministry: “Here I have given you the power to trampl snakes and scorpions and above all the power of the enemy.
- And nothing.
- At all.
- Will harm you?”(V.
- 19).
It is significant that the first beings who recognized Christ incarnate, according to the Gospel of Mark, were demons, Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34 are among the passages that show the demons screaming in terror that the Holy One of God had come to Jesus explained that when he cast out demons by the Spirit of God (Mt 12: 28-29), it meant that the kingdom of God had arrived. In his work, he bound the mighty (that is, the devil), who had previously kept people in the dark and painful prison of unbelief, sin, and righteous judgment.
After the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord, and immediately after his ascension to the Father, he instructed the church to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (28:19). . They were able to do so because of Christ’s victory over Satan, who had long blinded the nations, because Jesus said, “Was all power given to me in heaven and on earth?(V. 18). Satan’s illegitimate power over nations has been taken away from him and placed in the hands of the Lord and legitimate Savior of the world. Now the Christian church can do its job; he can embark on a successful mission anywhere in the world, bringing the good news of the liberation of captivity to those who have long been chained because of sin and disbelief.
Colossans 2. 14-15 clearly shows what happened to the powers of evil because of Christ’s ministry, especially what he achieved on the cross:?, which was harmful to us, removed it completely, put it on the cross; And, depriving the principalities and powers, did you publicly expose them to contempt, triumphing over them on the cross?This indicates that the wicked powers were defeated, in principle, on the cross of Christ. When Jesus made the Atonement of all our sins on Calvary, something happened to Satan, the evil one lost his authority to keep people away from God, he was arrested for what Jesus accomplished.
The Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys to the pagan territories of Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome succeeded in turning ancient nations into darkness into the saving light of God in Christ on the basis of Satan’s imprisonment. Paul says in Acts 28. 28: “Notice that this God’s salvation was sent to the Gentiles. And they’ll listen to him? This has been the driving force behind all Christian missions and evangelization from that day until today.
How long is the millennium? There is no doubt that he began with the finished work of Christ on earth. Revelation 20 follows immediately after Revelation 19, which celebrates the triumph of which is? King of kings and Lord of lords? (v. 16), whose tunic has been dyed with blood (v. 13), and who now leads the nations with an iron scepter (v. 15). But when does it end? Revelation 20 presents it as continuous until the end of time, when after a brief insurrection by Satan, the final judgment takes place (20: 7-11) . This means that the evil one cannot deceive the nations just before the the final judgment is complete. history of salvation.
So why does Revelation use the expression a thousand years? In terms of biblical numbers, ten represents fullness, and a thousand is ten times ten times, therefore, fullness for fullness for fullness. It seems to equal a great many years without being an accurate chronology of human history. Nowhere does the Scripture limit the imprisonment of Satan and the success of the mission of the Church to a specific period before the end of time. Also, there are other places in scripture where the word thousand is used without being a literal number. In Psalm 50, the same number is used in a different context, where does it say God belongs? Cattle on a thousand hills? (v. 10). This cannot mean that the only thing that belongs to God in His creation is a thousand hills, because “Is the earth and everything in it from Jehovah?” (24. 1). It is an expression of fullness. The same occurs in Psalm 68. 17, where it says that God’s chariots are “twenty thousand”. It is highly unlikely that God has only twenty thousand active angels under his command, because Christ on the cross could have called twenty legions of angels (Mt 26,53), which is much more than twenty thousand. The message of Psalms 50 and 68 is complete, and so it is in Revelation 20. Someday the fullness of the elect will be brought into the church and then the end will come. This is not about a thousand literary years, but about God’s secret moment regarding the gathering of his people in union with Christ, however much it may be from our human perspective.
Although the evil one still has limited power in a fallen world, he is much smaller than he was when he was able to stop and blind all nations outside Israel. And believers can still overcome Satan’s limited power, as James 4. 7 commands us: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. “Revelation 12. 11 testifies to believers in the battle that they” defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of testimony they gave. “Thus, in the fundamental truth of Without Satan blinding nations, the church can pray daily: “Come thy reign, shall thy will be done on earth as in heaven?”(Mt 6:10), and find comfort in God’s assurance: “Ask me, and will I give thee for inheritance the nations, and the ends of the earth, for your possession?”(Salt 2,8).