Religion and Theology

The millennium is inaugurated during the period of the church age by God restricting Satan to deceive the nations and to destroy the Church and by the resurrection of the souls of believers to heaven so that they can reign there with Christ. According to Beale, there are three principal views of the millennium and within each perspective are wide variations of interpretation. For instance, some people believe that the millennium is bound to happen after the second coming of Christ, in a view traditionally known as premillennialism. On the other hand, postmillennialism holds that the millennium will occur towards the end of the Church age and also that the coming of Christ will occur at the end of the millennium. In yet another view, some people believe that Christs resurrection marked the beginning of the millennium and will end at the final coming of Christ. This view has come to be known as amillennialism. According to a symbolic interpretation, postmillennialism and amillennialism have approached the passage in a more consistent manner.

In approaching verse 20 1-6, it is vital to remember the genre of Revelation, and more importantly the programmatic nature of 11, which mentions the symbolic nature of the communication from the mediating angel to John. More to this, the I saw repeated introductory throughout the book introduces symbolic visions. For instance, both 20 1-3 and 20 4-6, are introduced by I saw and we can therefore assume that there are three levels of communication in 1-6 which are the visionary level, and it consists of the actual visions that John had when he saw resurrected people and other objects of his vision, the referential level, and this consists of the historical identification of people that had resurrected in addition to all the other objects of his vision, and the third and final level is the symbolic level. This consists of what the symbols included in the vision signify about their historic referents. John for instance uses the words life, one thousand years and resurrection because at the visionary level he saw people who were resurrected and consequently given life for one thousand years. The objects he sees and hears are seen and heard in a vision and are not first to be literally understood but are viewed as symbolically communicated and portrayed. This is the symbolic level of the vision.

Williams refers to the millennium as a future period on earth. That the figure of one thousand years can either be viewed literally or symbolically but in either way one looks at it, the millennium is seen as a coming time for blessings on earth. The millennium is hence understood to be a temporary period on earth before the ultimate consummation in the eternal age. Williams however notes that postmillennialism believe that Christ will come after the millennium while premillennialism believe He will return before the millennium. He argues that in   postmillennialism, through the teaching and the spread of the gospel all over the world, the kingdom of Christ is gradually to enlarge its boundaries so that all Jews and Gentiles are possessed by its blessings and a millennial age is introduced where Christianity prevails throughout the earth. Christ is then expected to return after this. World Wars I and II brought to an end this way of thinking. However, as Williams note, the world is to eventually be Christianized and the return of Jesus Christ is to occur at the end of lengthy period known as the millennium. The age of postmillennialism is clearly stated and it is going to be a future period of blessings, peace, and righteousness, and Christ will then return, according to Williams. He further adds that the millennium will be a period of spiritual prosperity. The changed character of individuals will be seen in an uplifted cultural, social, political and economic life of mankind. Here Christ will return to a full Christianized world where evil will have been reduced to a negligible magnitude. Postmillennialism on the other hand has enjoyed revival in the latest Reconstructionist movement. R.J. Rushdooney, who is the leader of the movement, adds that people of every tribe, nation, and tongue shall be converted, and all over the world the word of God shall prevail. It is a confident and solid Bible-based confirmation that the gospel will be victorious all over the world before the second coming of Christ. Those who remain godly will hence continue to prosper and become powerful while those who are ungodly will not only become impotent but also will continue to become weak. The idea of the godly becoming powerful is a notable feature of Reconstructionist postmillennialism sees Christians taking authority over societys structures, which is not the case in the traditional postmillennialism. Not only will society be governed by Biblical law but the gospel will also be universally victorious.

G.E Ladd, quoted by William, defines premillennialism as the doctrine stating that after His second coming, Christ will reign over the earth for a thousand years before the eventual consummation of Gods purpose of redemption in both the new heaven and earth of the age to come. The millennium on the other hand was seen as the final dispensation of the kingdom that shall follow the churchs present dispensation. Envisioned were separate programmes for the church and Israel which included a secret church pretribulation rapture and a postponed kingdom for Israel. This particular kingdom will include among it restoration of various sacrifices of the Old Testament and also a rebuilt temple.
       
 For the dispensational premillennialism thinking, Christs reign on earth in the Millennium is essential for the fulfillment of Israels Old Testament prophesies. The millennium will be seen to fulfill all the expectations of the Old Testament prophets for Gods Kingdom on earth and will embrace all nations. In addition to this, Christ will reign over Davids throne on earth over a restored Israel as well as the world of Gentiles.  Dispensational premillennialism is therefore seen to stress the political and governmental character of the millennium itself.

Blaising et al explain postmillennialism in the form of a diagram as shown below.

The interpretation is that that postmillennialism changes the focus of the believers hope for the future.  While the New Testament portrays the church in the present age as a church that is continuing to participate in Christs suffering and at the same time awaiting His return at the close of the age, postmillennialism encourages a view of the future focused on a period anticipated to be characterized by blessedness in the millennial kingdom.

Clouse and Ladd note that premillennialists believe that such things like preaching of the gospel to the whole world, famines, earthquakes, wars, a great tribulation and the appearance of the antichrist will precede the return of Christ. A period of peace and righteousness will follow soon after His return and He shall reign as King in person or otherwise through a selected group of followers. Instead of being established by individual souls and over a long period of time, this particular reign will come about suddenly and with an overwhelming power.
       
During this time, the Jews will be converted and will become very important. Nature will not be left behind either. It will share the millennial blessings and will become very productive. Wickedness will be held in check by Christ who then shall be ruling with an iron fist and even wild beasts shall be tamed. At the end of the millennium however, wicked men will rebel and almost overwhelm the saints. During this period, dead believers shall resurrect together with their golden bodies and will interact freely with the inhabitants of the earth. After the millennium, those unchristian dead shall be raised and there will consequently be the establishment of eternal Heaven and hell. Different from the views of premillennialists, postmillennialists add that Gods kingdom is now being extended through Christian preaching and teaching. This activity will result to the world being Christianized and as a result there will be a long period of peace and prosperity, and will be known as the millennium.
The new age however will not be any different from the present. Evil will not be fully eliminated but will have been reduced drastically because the spiritual and moral influence of Christians will have increased. Many problems touching on social, political and economic issues will be solved as the church will have assumed greater importance.  
            
This period will eventually come to a close with Christs Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, as well as the final judgment. According to Clouse and Ladd, amillennialists maintain that the Bible does not in any way predict there will be a period of universal peace and righteousness before the world comes to an end. Instead, they believe that there will be a continuation of both good and evil in the world and this will see the Second Coming of Christ when the last judgment shall be held and at the same time the dead  be raised. Amillennialists believe that Gods Kingdom is currently present in the world as the triumphant Christ is already ruling the His followers by both His word and spirit, although they still look forward to a bright future, perfect and glorious kingdom on the new earth but in the life yet to come. The millennium mentioned in the book of Revelation 20 is interpreted by amillennialists as describing the current reign of deceased believers souls with Christ in Heaven.

Clouse and Ladd add during this period of the millennium, the Jewish temple shall be rebuilt and there is going to be a reinstitution of the entire sacrificial system. This is according to the prophesies of Ezekiel 40-48. There is however going to be a difference between the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the millennial sacrifices in that the millennial sacrifices will be considered a memorial to the death of Jesus Christ. For those others who consider a ritual the millennial sacrifices simply invest the sacrifice with the meaning of memorial therefore looking back to Christs offering.

The context of millennium must also be looked at in the context of the New Testament, and most particularly its Christology. The New Testament does not make Christs reign limited to Israel in the millennium. Instead, its a spiritual reign in Heaven that has already been inaugurated (Smith 2000). Its core purpose is to destroy all the spiritual enemies of Christ, the last one being death. The millennium is said to be part of the Messianic rule through which he puts all His enemies under his foot.  Israel is going to be converted and we are going to witness a true Christian nation for the first time in human history. Details of Israels conversion and role in the millennium are not given in the New Testament. It just affirms Israels future salvation and remains open to the future of God as to the details. Ladd maintains that Israel shall be converted and most probably in the connection with the millennium. He bases his arguments on the book of Romans 1126.

The coming of the millennium can be compared to the coming of summer in that it is slow and on a grander scale.  A number of setbacks and advances are experienced in the struggle between the seasons. Often the first harbingers of spring appear to be later overcome by winter winds. The struggle at times seems to be lost and that the winter sold will not be broken only for the spring breeze to take over and in no time we find ourselves in the glorious summer season (Grudem and Purswell 1999). In the same case, trying to predict when the millennium will begin is likewise almost impossible. The millennium will in no doubt follow the law in relation to all the other great periods in the church history. It is definitely expected to be gradual and uncertain in its approach.

The book of Revelation 201-6 is notably the only passage in the whole Bible which is seen to speak of the thousand years of reign. It is divided into two parts which are verse 13 which is seen to describe the binding of Satan and verse 46 which is seen to describe the one thousand years of reign of souls together with Christ. Premillenialists interpret this and describe Christs millennial reign on earth which is seen to occur only after His second coming. According to Premillenialists, it is then apparent that the millennium of Revelation 201-6 will only come after the return of Christ.
     
Both post and premillennialism share a common view regarding the millennium as a future period in history. Therefore, neither system can cope with evil breaking out at the end of the millennium. Even as postmillennialism foresees a coming period of peace and righteousness and evil having been reduced to its minimal, it still hard-pressed to account for the resurgence by satanic forces after that. Same case applies to postmillennialism and is hard-pressed to give an explanation to similar resurgence after Christs reign on earth for a thousand years. But the solution is at hand when we have the millennium viewed as presently occurring and Christs reign as an ongoing reality.