Revelation 20 is a chapter which, for obvious reasons, I like to call “The Thousand Year Chapter”. We know that in the Apocalypse symbols are used for a great variety of purposes, for time periods, for individuals, for bodies of people and for nations, for men’s and for God’s operations. Yet here is a period of time which appears to mean just what it says. No less than six times in this chapter we have reference to the reign of Christ and the saints for 1,000 years.
“He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years” (v.2)…”that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled” (v.3). We read of the saints who “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (v.4)…” the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished (v.5). “They… shall reign with him a thousand years” (v.6), and, “When the thousand years are expired” (v.7)
It is remarkable that in a book almost one hundred per cent sign and symbol we have one period given at its correct value. It is as if the long period of time through which the saints were to wait for the kingdom, the long period of down treading and oppression, was given by God in terms which would not discourage the waiters, while the period of consummation to which all have looked is given in the expressive, lofty and round term of 1,000 years.
Other periods of history have been given a diminutive symbol – 15 years cessation of warfare depicted as “silence…for half an hour”; the 105 years during which the witnesses’ bodies were lying dead is reduced to 3-1/2 days, which is about the maximum time that corpses could be left lying exposed. The life of a beast, though representing an empire, requires being expressed in a way which compares with natural conditions. The “seven times” of Gentile domination are expressed as two periods of 1,260 days, and we marvel at the use of such a number as 2520.
This number is the multiple of four important numbers in Scripture: 3,7,10 and 12, which are themselves expressive of perfection. 3 indicates completeness, 7 spiritual perfection, 10 ordinal perfection and 12 governmental perfection. 2520 is also the lowest common multiple of all the 9 digits, enabling God to divide this period into any division He desired, and all the various symbolic times are divisions of 2520. But when the Spirit wished to express the seventh day – the sabbath rest of 1,000 years – there was no appropriate diminutive which could be used except the day for a year principle, based on Creation and used of Israel’s revival (Hosea 6:2); and though the day of the Lord will be 1,000 years, yet to Him (and to those who gain redemption in that day) the 1,000 years will seem as but one day in the larger vistas of eternity.
It has been suggested that the 1,000 year period should be interpreted on the day for a year principle to give 360,000 years; but it is logical, on the basis of a seven day week, for 6,000 years of evil to be followed by 1,000 years of peace; and when we consider the mission of the millennium – to bring men to a knowledge of God – such a long period of time as 360,000 years would be unnecessary and quite incompatible. Further, if we consider the productiveness of mankind and the longevity of human life during the millennium without war – we can imagine the population explosion which might develop in much less than 1,000 years.
The Binding of the Dragon
In Revelation 18 John sees an angel descending from heaven with great power. He gives John that graphic description of the great whore and her final destruction at the hands of Christ and his saints. In chapter 19 follows the great Hallelujah Chorus and the vision of the rider on the white horse, again symbolic of the King of Kings, followed by the armies in heaven on white horses, as they prepare to overcome the opposition of the world’s rulers. In vv.19,20 we have a striking picture of those mighty assailants, and two of the three divisions of mankind are mentioned (the dragon, the beast and the false prophet), namely the ten-horned beast and the false prophet or great religious delusion. They are both cast alive into the lake of fire – principally Europe made a lake of fire by divine judgments on the obstinate and unrelenting powers of mankind.
This leaves the dragon still to be dealt with, and it is in chapter 20 that we have probably the same angel coming down out of the new heavens established in Zion to take hold of the dragon and to bind him for 1,000 years. The dragon phase of the old Roman Empire was headed in Constantinople and represented human governments and their power over men; and as they rule according to the dictates of the flesh, the dragon represents sin in human nature in all its forms. As the fighting power of men, seen in the beast, has been crushed, and the religious power in the false prophet has been over-thrown, only the civil rulership of mankind in the world remains to be cast down and superseded by divine administration of the Lord Jesus Christ and his immortal associates, all wise, all powerful, yet understanding human nature.
This great work is done by the angel having the key to the abyss and the great chain. A key represents the power to open and shut – the power to administer, to govern and to rule. The “bottomless pit” is an unfortunate translation’ and is better rendered “the deep” or “the abysms”, and represents the sea of nations – the great abyss of ignorance and incompetence into which the control of men has sunk. The word occurs in three other places, Rev.9:11, 11:7 and 17:8.
In this angel with great power we see the Prince of Peace and his Bride multitudinous, descending upon the civil rulers who are left struggling to hold world affairs together now that their overlords have been destroyed. These are all completely deposed, reduced to the ranks and cast into the great abyss, and their power and influence suppressed during the 1,000 years’ reign. Their positions are given into the hands of the saints who, together with natural Israel, now redeemed, organise every government department, every authority and utility, and direct them upon divine lines, as instructed by the King of kings and Lord of lords. All forms of commercial evil and all manifestations of wickedness in high and low places will be ruthlessly outlawed, and this will make way for the willingness of men and women to come up to the House of the Lord.
We read in 20;2,3 that the angel “laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan…that he should deceive the nations no more.” The same fourfold description was used in Ch.12 which described the overthrow of the pagan Roman administration, replaced by the Christian rule under Constantine. Here is the fourfold description of the evil of human rule, endeavour and wickedness which goes right back to the Garden of Eden. This laying hold is descriptive of the necessary iron rule of the saints until men and women have learned of God’s ways as a result of the new religious teaching which will spread from Zion to the four corners of the earth. No doubt there will be opposition to the new laws and instruction, and I suggest that the saints will probably ignore the folly of the obstinate ones, and will instruct the rising generation in right ways.
A generation of youngsters grown to manhood in the light of the Truth will in turn instruct their children in the way of the Lord. The family unit will be the standard of human life and human values, and two important features of the Law of Moses will be put into operation: first, that men should teach their children right ways, and second, parents would be held responsible for their children’s waywardness, with the proviso that if they should be completely incorrigible, they should be brought before the Lord’s judges. We read, therefore, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them… and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
The Rest of the Dead
Verse 5 contains this sometimes misunderstood phrase: “the rest of the dead” who lived not again until the thousand years were finished. It is sometimes thought that the “rest of the dead” are all those who have died but are not responsible to judgment, and therefore are not raised from the dead at Christ’s coming. But if they were not responsible at the of the 1,000 years, why should they be so at the end? We are told plainly that those who live their lives without the law shall die without it, and they can claim no right to live again. “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish”(Is.26:14). See also Ps.49.
We must think of John in Patmos seeing the vision of the resurrection of all responsible dead: “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.” These were people, most of whom had not been born and had not yet lived their lives, and his words include ourselves. But the divine purpose is still incomplete. Even as Christ, raised at Easter, was the firstborn of the new creation, so the saints will be the Pentecostal first-fruits of a greater harvest to be reaped at the end of the millennium. We see then that John envisages the whole purpose of God, and speaks of “the rest of the dead” as those who come to responsibility but die during the millennium, and these are not raised to judgment until the end of the 1,000 years. John is speaking of the entire reign of death from Adam until the time when the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed, a period of 7,000 years.
Verse 5 concludes with the words: “This is the first resurrection”, that is, the first resurrection to life and immortality of those who will live and reign with Christ 1,000 years. May we so live that we may be acceptable to our Lord and Master when he returns, that we may be part of this first resurrection, and have the honour of assisting him in the great work of ruling and teaching the world until “the tabernacle of God is with men, and h he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev.21:3).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One