Upon its initial reading, the section of chapter 20 dealing with the Milleneum seems pretty straight forward with little need for interpretation, until one remembers that this is part of the Book of Revelation. As our introduction to these studies points out, things are not necessarily as they seem in the Book of Revelation as it was written not as literal text but in code or 'signature' that requires the interpretation of its symbolism. Thus, the things we read about in the Book, including those about this One Thousand years, must be viewed as signatures or symbols of something else. That includes the very duration of time stated here.
Of all the symbolism in the Book, this is the part that is most often taken literally, mainly because we no longer refer to it by its symbolic reference (one thousand years), but as the millennium. This word, which does not appear in the text or anywhere else in the Bible for that matter, pre-conditions us to think of 1,000 x 365 days, rather than the symbolic meaning of one thousand. In Bible numerics, the number ten is man's number of finality and order. The number three symbolises divine perfection and denotes unity and fellowship. A thousand is calculated as 10 to the power of three, or 10 x 10 x 10. By symbolising this era one thousand years, iChapter 20 is not speaking of an era of 1,000 calendar years but an era of divine order and completeness for man, and of unity and fellowship both with God and with his/her fellow man. This might explain why it comes after the Church's journey through the first six eras - the stock take has been done, those who don't make the cut have been removed, and those found to be in the inner sanctuary are entering their promised land.
The word 'angel' is most accurately translated as 'messenger', When the Book of Revelation speaks of angels, unless it identifies the angel by name, it is safe to assume the messenger is not a heavenly creatures with wings. Unlike the other messengers in the Book of Revelation who have to be given keys in order to fulfil the prophesy, this one already has a key. The many references in the New Testament point to that messenger being Jesus.
What Jesus does with that key is takes hold of the Dragon, the Great Serpent of Old who is the Devil and Satan, and locks him away for a thousand years. Remembering that the picture revealed here is being described using symbols, so the Dragon and the Great Serpent of Old, and possibly the Devil and Satan, are symbols. A Dragon symbolises a persecuting monarch. A serpent sybolises the seduction of humans into sin or falsehood by trickery - the Great Serpent of Old might well be a refrence to the sepent who tricked Adam in the Garden of Eden.
In Jewish belief, Satan is a messenger spirit who tempts humans to sin, to accuse the sinners, and to carry out God's punishment upon them. In the New Testament he is refered to as "the accuser of the Brethren". The Devil performs a similar function, but is more like the child who irritates their sibling so much they respond by doing something naughty, leading the first child to dob their sibling for misbehaving. He is the cheeky rascal, who sets up situations just to see another person get into trouble, which explains the general view of the Devil having horns, cheeky attitude and sitting one one's shoulder constantly trying to get one into trouble.
Whether the Devil and Satan are one and the same, or are actual physical or spritual beings or merely spirits or attidudes is not relevant to this study. We are reading a book written in symbols and what those symbols mean is our focus. What they mean is persecuting monarch (in this instance, the Beast, which represents the human authority established to control God's church); the seduction of humans into sin or falsehood by trickery; our false accusers - Jesus has authority over them and has put them in a place where they can't do their dirty work unless he lets them. Furthermore, those who passed the test are now reigning with him during this time divine completeness for them. As they are reigning (have power and auhority) with him, what He has power and uthority over is what they have power and authority over.
There are plenty of verses in the New Testament that speak of this power and authority as having already been given to the followers of Jesus, see Colossians 2: 14-15, Hebrews 2:14 and I John 3: 8. These are all written in the past or present tense. In John 16: 8 and 11 he makes it very plain that now is the judgement of the Prince of this World and sentence is already passed on him. That was in 33 AD, nearly 2000 years ago! What John is describing here is not something that is going to happen in the distant future - it has already happened. These forces and accusers that vexed the followers of Jesus on their journey through the first six ages of the true church of Jesus are now locked up and can't touch those who have passed the test and are now in the seventh church age unless they use the key and let them out again.
As well as Jesus, John sees thrones and people sitting on those thrones. John says these people are the martyrs, those who had been beheaded for the sake of Jesus Christ. They are those who refused to take the mark of the Beast, refused to bow down to the False Prophet. If we refer back to other parts of Revelation, these people have the mark of the Lamb as opposed to the mark of the Beast. That authority Jesus has over our spiritual adversaries has been passed on to them, Jesus has given them all spanners to throw into the works that habe grinding away in their lives.
Many who attend mainline Protestant Churches have been led to believe this period of one thousand years is all going to happen after the rapture of the church, but the Book of Revelation paints a different picture and other scriptures support it. When Jesus began His ministry, he preached that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand (Matt 4: 17), which means 'right now'. In Matthew 5: 3 and 10 He said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor in spirit and those who find God's favour (present tense). Throughout the Gospels Jesus taught the same message, that His Kingdom had arrived. He only had one kingdom and since it has already arrived, then he must already be reigning right now. After all, Ephesians 1: 20-23 says, "... He raised Him (Jesus) from the dead and seated Him at His right hand of God in Heavenly places, far above (over) all principality and power and might and dominion ... " If he is reigning right now, so also must all those other people who John saw sitting on thrones alongside Him.
In my early days I often used to wonder who or what we (the followers of Jesus) were going to reign over. The symbolism of he Book of Revelation answers that question. I also used to wonder what we were all going to do after the thousands years was through; where we going to enter a new one thousand years' reign? Perhaps we were all going to be moved from the New Heaven to the New Earth and reign over it, and if so, again - who were we going to reign over and whare did they come from? All puzzling questions if you don't realise the Book of Revelation was written using the literary device of symbolism, and that in order to read it with understanding, you first have to translate its symbols into realities.
Now let's look at the second half of the section of Revelation 20 about the 1,000 years: "When the thousand years are completed Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations." All the way through the book of Revelation you will note that at the end of its series of Visions there is reference to a little time when Satan is released and a little power is given back to him. The two witnesses were silenced at the end of that vision. Another vision speaks of the River Euphrates drying up so that the enemy can walk into the city. In another place it said that out of the mouth of the False Prophet and of the Beast and of the Dragon came evil spirits, and they gathered together for a showdown at Armageddon.
Let's check our list of symbols to see who or what the players are here. There's Satan (seduce with falsehood by trickery); the False Prophet (teaching of a gospel other than what Jesus taught); the Beast (governing body presiding over God's people); the Dragon (persecuting religious governing body); the nations (groups of people with a common belief); the two witnesses (Old and New Testaments?).
So here's the scenario: we have a false doctrine being broadcast by a teacher of a gospel other than what Jesus taught, who was associatd with the persecuting, governing body presiding over God's people.
The two witnesses were silenced at the end of the time when Satan is released and a little power is given back to him. If the two witnesses are the Old and New Testaments, they were silenced on 17th June 1789, therefore the speading of falsehood (false doctrine) by trickery took place before 1789. Was the "thousand years" completed (completed translates as 'in place in its completion' and not 'reached its ending') by that time? If the "thousand years" is an era of divine order and completeness for man, and of unity and fellowship both with God and with his/her fellow man, then there were most definitely christians at that time who fitted that description, so yes, the "thousand years" were most definitely 'in place' and being enjoyed by the true followers of Jesus.
As the letter to the church at Ephesus congratulated them for rejecting a false teacher who claimed to be an apostle but wasn't, and history shows that the only person they rejected was Paul - he claimed to be one of the 12 apostles but wasn't - let us look and see if Paul's doctrine was the "false doctrine" that was was released by trickery prior to 1789, since it is was the starting point of the message of the Book.
Without doubt, the Holy Roman Empire was the persecuting, governing body presiding over God's people prior to 1789. Was there a teacher within the the Holy Roman Empire who had a little power given to him, who taught Paul's doctrine? Yes there was - Martin Luther, a priest and Augustinian monk who, from 1518 onwards, re-introduced Paul's gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sin through his death on the cross. This brought the nations (groups of people with a common belief) to a place where they had to choose (Armageddon) which doctrine they pledged their allegance to. Some chose to stay in the Roman Catholic Church, while other chose to join the Protestant Reformation, which grew into the Protestant churches of today, comprised of many groups of people with a common belief ("nations" plural).
It would be wrong to say that Martin Luther re-introduced Paul's doctrine by trickery, however he was tricked by the doctrine itself that salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sin through his death on the cross was the message Jesus taught. Luther strongly disputed the Roman Catholic Church's claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money via indulgences. He argued that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin, and used Paul's long forgotten doctrine of salvation by faith to support his argument. This doctrine became the cornerstone of the Protestant movement. Interestingly, Luther did not deem the two books of the Bible that seem to criticise Paul and his beliefs - the Epistle of James and the Book of Revelation - to be divinely inspired, and even attempted to have them removed from the Biblical Canon.
Another point to explore is that the Angel had taken Satan, and "bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss and shut it, and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed." As we know what the "thousand years" refers to, this indicates that Satan (deception through trickery?) had been locked away so that its message could not decieve the followers of Jesus (nations) who were living in a state of "divine order and completeness for man, and of unity and fellowship both with God and with his/her fellow man".
Throughout the era of Papal rule, Paul's gospel had been 'locked away' from church congregations because they were forbidden to read The Bible. Besides, it was written in Latin, which most couldn't understand anyway. Later, many churchgoers who gained access to the Bible through non-Latin versions, embraced the teachings of The Gospels, and were now enjoying the 'one thousand years' of unity and fellowship both with God and with his/her fellow man. The Roman Catholic Church did not teach Paul's gospel, as they believed his writings were not God-inspired, so their congregations remained unaware of or unaffected by Paul's teaching until Martin Luther brought it to the Church's attention.
I put this scenario to readers as just that - a scenario. I am not saying it is 100% what the author of the Book of Revelation was refering to, given that we are trying to understand a book written in symbols which can be and has been interpreted in an infinite number of ways. All I am saying is that the scenario is the only one I have seen or heard where all the players are acting out their parts in accordance with the prophecies within the timeframe indicated by the "Sevens" of the Book of Revelation.
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