The Consummation of the Ages

Bimillennialism

(On Matthew 24:34)
"The term “preterism” is derived from the Latin praeteritus, meaning that which has past. (Praeteritus is the past participle of praeterire, to go before: prae (comparative of before) ire, to go.) The term is derived from Matt. 24:34 where it occurs in the Latin to describe the time of Christ's Second Coming: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass ("non praeteribit haec generatio"), till all these things be fulfilled." (What is Preterism?)

(On James 5:8)
"The nearness of Christ's Second Coming is affirmed over and over.  Paul said "But this I say, Brethren, the time is short."  (I Cor. 7:29)  James said "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh...the judge standeth before the door."  (Jm. 5:8,9)  Peter stated "the end of all things is at hand." (I Pet. 4:,7)  The Hebrew writer makes several unmistakable statements to this effect when he says "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry."  (Heb. 10:37)  The nearness of the day is seen in the fact that his readers would "see the day approaching."  (Heb. 10:25)

  The apostle John indicated the nearness of the end when he stated they were in the "last time" (Grk. hora, "hour"):  "Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."  (I Jno. 2:18)  The nearness of Christ's return is repeated over and over throughout Revelation in unmistakable terms, saying the "time is at hand"  (Rev. 1:4; 22:10), "Behold, I come quickly" (Rev. 2:5,16; 3:11; 22:12,20), "Behold, I come as a thief"  (Rev. 3:3; 16:15), and the things of the prophecy "must shortly be done." (Rev. 1:1; 22:6)

There is nothing difficult in any of this language; all who will may plainly see that Jesus and his apostles taught the first century church to be in expectation of the Lord's return.  The difficulty arises not so much from the announced time of Christ's return, but understanding its manner.  Because men have been taught that Christ's return would mark the end of the universe, its continued existence beyond the specified time frame has forced them to explain away the express statements of time by resort to theories of delayed fulfillment or double fulfillment, and assertions that Christ and the apostles were simply wrong.  Preterism rejects all such theories, maintaining that the time elements cannot be disregarded or explained away consistent with the doctrine of verbal inspiration.  The very authority of the scriptures is at stake." (What is Preterism?)

(On The Millennial Reign of Christ)
" Perhaps the simplest argument demonstrating that the subject text contemplates two millennial periods is the grammatical structure of the passages. In Rev. 20:2, John uses the indefinite article (“a”), saying an angel bound the Dragon “a thousand years.” However, in Rev. 20:3, John uses the definite article (“the”), saying a seal was set upon the Dragon that he should not deceive the nations until “the thousand years are fulfilled.” The definite article in verse three is referential; it refers back to the original mention of a thousand years in verse two. The Dragon was bound until which thousand years were fulfilled? The thousand years previously mentioned in verse two. However, verse four introduces a new subject, another thousand years. This is seen by use of the indefinite article, saying, “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus...and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Had John intended us to understand that this thousand years was the same as the thousand-year binding of the Dragon he would have used the definite article thus: “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus…and they lived and reigned with Christ the thousand years.” Had it been used, the definite article in verse four would have been referential, like its use in verse three, pointing back to the original thousand years introduced in verse two. To the question, “The saints reigned until which thousand years were fulfilled?” we would again receive the answer, “The thousand years the Dragon was bound.” However, use of the indefinite article obviates this possibility entirely; our attention is not directed back to the thousand years previously referred to, it points ahead to a new thousand years. Hence, the Dragon was bound a thousand years and the martyrs reigned with Christ a thousand years, two separate periods, each signified by the indefinite article. This same pattern (“a…the…a”) may be seen in numerous passages of scripture; whenever we encounter it, two subjects are identified." (What is Bimillennial Preterism?)

"I notice in Matthison's book that he faults Preterism for not having a viable theory of "the" millennium. He complains (rightly) that the 40 yr. transitional model of King et alia is too short. I agree! This is place where Bimillennialism can save the day. The millennia-equal-hades model is not subject to any complaint of this sort. The earthly, historical referent of the dragon's binding is something like 26 years (Stephen to Nero), but the symbol of the 1,000 years speaks to the timeless nature of the hadean realm. I think this obviates Matthison's objection." (8/25/2004)

(On the Olivet Discourse)
"A good deal of the confusion about the manner of Christ's Second Coming stems from a fundamental misunderstanding concerning the nature of the world that was to suffer dissolution and the nature of the world that would take its place. It is clear from the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21) that the world which was passing away was intimately connected to the city and temple of Jerusalem." (What is Preterism?)

(On the Nature of the Resurrection)
"Since physical bodies are no part of the first resurrection, what basis is there to believe they will be part of the second resurrection of the soul in heaven?" (Resurrection of the flesh)

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

(Others on the "Two Millennium" concept)

Thomas Brightman (1562-1607)
"believed that the rule of the Byzantine Empire of 306-1300 CE was the thousand years of the binding of Satan (Smolinski 38). Brightman did not believe the binding and the reign of Christ were concurrent but instead consecutive; 1300 to 2300 would be the period of Christ's millennial reign and Judgment Day would follow (38)."

A.E. Knoch (1921)
"THE MILLENNIUM" has become a much abused and overworked phrase. Many use it for all future bliss. Its definition has vanished into a nebulous mist. There are two distinct periods of time in the day of the Lord, each of which is a thousand years in duration. So there are really two millenniums, one of which begins and ends a bit before the other. Satan is bound for a thousand years seventy-five days before the saints are roused to reign, and he is loosed a like period before their rule is over." (The Unveiling of Jesus Christ - The Two Millenniums)

Jim Millay, Editor, Christadelphian Advocate
Question or Topic Scripture  -   "Satan" bound for a thousand years Revelation 20

"We read in Revelation 20:2,7 that "the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan" is bound for a thousand years and then loosed. There are at least two opinions on how these words should be interpreted. How would you recommend dealing with the lack of agreement?

Answer

We would normally avoid this subject. It is one that is very controversial. Whenever brethren attempt to discuss this issue, it often leads to confusion and strife, rather than edification. It is worth our consideration however, that this a subject over which brethren have earnestly contended for years, without making the interpretation a matter of fellowship.
We have consented to respond to this question in the hope that there may be some benefit in a review. This issue may demonstrate how we can weather disagreement on other matters, without further division.

Two Opinions

There are two main opinions on this subject. The traditional opinion was introduced by the pioneers, including John Thomas and Robert Roberts. Their opinion was that these verses refer to the binding of "sin in the flesh" during the 1000 year reign of Christ, and that afterward, there will be a rebellion. This view is widely accepted and is the easier of the two concepts to support, at least on the surface.

The other opinion is that there are two one thousand year periods in the chapter, and that the dragon is bound and then loosed to deceive the nations, including God and Magog, prior to the 1000 year reign of Christ. An effective defense of this opposing view requires more in-depth study." (http://www.christadelphian-advocate.org/qbox/page25.html)

Daniel Steele
"There is no evidence here that a single millennium is spoken of. The best scholars, and among them Bengel, Wesley, and Dr. Owen, assert that there are two distinct periods of a thousand years spoken of in verses 1-7. The Greek article sustains this view. The first period extends through the repression of Satan which, Bengel says, indicates the great prosperity of the Church. The second is the reign of martyrs. Both of these periods are before the second coming of Christ. Thus Bengel and Wesley, instead of being Pre-millenarians, were, in fact, what most modern Methodists are, post-millenarians. Bengel styles those who confound these two distinct millennial periods, "pseudo-Chiliasts." The Prophetic Conference thus falls under Bengel's censure as pseudos. He says: "Whilst Satan is loosed from his imprisonment of a thousand years, the martyrs live and reign, not on the earth, but with Christ; then the coming of Christ in glory at length takes place at the last day; then, next, there is the new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem." Thus the coming of Christ is two thousand years plus a little season after the binding of Satan. A harmless sort of Chiliasm is this. Says Bengel: "The confounding of the two millennial periods has long ago produced many errors, and has made the name of Chiliasm hateful and suspected." (A Substitute for Holiness, Chapter 14. Difficulties with the Thousand Years)

OTHER ADVOCATES OF THE "BIMILLENNIAL VIEW"

John Wesley's Bimillennialism



[The following is taken from Wesley's Commentary on Revelation. As the reader will see, Wesley was of the opinion that there are two distinct "thousand-year" periods contemplated by Revelation 20:1-7, not one as urged by most modern exegetes. With some qualification, we agree with Wesley that the first millennial period begins and ends before the beginning of the second. However, in our view, the first (the binding of the dragon) spoke to the reign of Claudius who enforced the religio licita, restraining persecution of the church, ending with the persecution under Nero. The second (viewed exclusive of other deceased saints) speaks of the blessed state of the martyrs in hades paradise who died under Nero (the beast). Thus, the one takes up where the other leaves off.][1]



Verse 4

[4] 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.

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"A thousand years — It must be observed, that two distinct thousand years are mentioned throughout this whole passage. Each is mentioned thrice; the thousand wherein Satan is bound, verses 2, 3, 7; the thousand wherein the saints shall reign, verses 4-6. The former end before the end of the world; the latter reach to the general resurrection. So that the beginning and end of the former thousand is before the beginning and end of the latter. Therefore as in the second verse, at the first mention of the former; so in the fourth verse, at the first mention of the latter, it is only said, a thousand years; in the other places, "the thousand," verses 3, 5, 7, that is, the thousand mentioned before. During the former, the promises concerning the flourishing state of the church, shall be fulfilled; during the latter, while the saints reign with Christ in heaven, men on earth will be careless and secure."
Verse 5

[5] But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years — Mentioned, verse 4.

Were ended — The thousand years during which Satan is bound both begin and end much sooner. The small time, and the second thousand years, begin at the same point, immediately after the first thousand. But neither the beginning of the first nor of the second thousand will be known to the men upon earth, as both the imprisonment of Satan and his loosing are transacted in the invisible world. By observing these two distinct thousand years, many difficulties are avoided. There is room enough for the fulfilling of all the prophecies, and those which before seemed to clash are reconciled; particularly those which speak, on the one hand, of a most flourishing state of the church as yet to come; and, on the other, of the fatal security of men in the last days of the world.



Notes:

[1] Viewed from the perspective that paradise and the first resurrection were inclusive of the righteous from Abel until the general resurrection, there would be an overlap between the two millennia, but from the perspective of only the martyrs who died under Nero, the second millennium would follow the first.

DANIEL STEELE, S.T.D.



CHAPTER XIV

DIFFICULTIES IN THE THOUSAND YEARS

[Editor's note: Steele wrote against Premillennialism as taught by the Plymouth Brethren. We include chapter fourteen of his work here because of his comments that there are two millennia in Revelation twenty. Steele's book may be visited on-line at http://www.gospeltruth.net/Antinomianism/antinom_toc.htm].

We object to the millenarian scheme, because it is grounded chiefly on those portions of the Bible which are symbolic, and enigmatic, and difficult to be understood. The personal reign of Christ a thousand years is not found in the Gospels, nor in the Acts of the Apostles, nor in the Epistles of Paul, Peter, James or John, but only in the Apocalypse, which is the darkest book in the New Testament. Its striking symbols and gorgeous imagery impress the imagination and awaken the feelings. The visitor in London will find in one library a thousand commentaries on this book, all professing to unfold its mysteries, all differing, so that only one of them can be true. These writers have tried to interpret the apocalyptic numbers, and they have signally failed. From Bengel's date of the binding of Satan in 1836 down to the present time, the years fixed for the coming of Christ have passed away, and the expositors who have survived their disappointment have courageously tried again, by shifting their ground into the safer future. There are three great schools of interpreters of the Revelation: (1) The Preterists, or those who teach that the whole, or by far the greater part, has been fulfilled. Some of the most eminent German expositors, as Ewald, De Wette, Lucke, and Dusterdieck, belong to this school; also Dr. Davidson in England, and Moses Stuart in America. (2) The Historicals, who hold that the Revelation embraces the whole history of the Church to the end of the world. (3) The Futurists, who insist that this book, after the third chapter, relates entirely to future events. Some include the first three chapters, and assert that they refer to the future also.

This is the grand outline of opinions held by men equally learned and honest; yet on a book whose interpretation is in so great dispute, the doctrine of a thousand years' personal reign of Christ on the earth before the last judgment is grounded by those who would interpret the plain and the literal teachings respecting the last things by the symbolic and typical, thus inverting an acknowledged canon of interpretation. The twentieth chapter of the Revelation is the basis of pre-millenarianism. Let us now examine this chapter, and see what is not proved by its testimony.

1. There is no mention of the second advent of Christ before the thousand years. The chapter opens with the vision of an angel descending from heaven with a chain in his hand. This angel can never be proved to be Christ. Says Alford: "Angelos, in this book, is an angel; never our Lord." Thus far in the Apocalypse there is not the slightest intimation that He has made His second advent in visible term. In chapter xix. 11-21, He wars against the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies; but the assumption that this is a literal battle fought on the earth by Jesus in person, riding on a white horse, with a sharp sword going out of His mouth, is a literalism which cannot be endured, besides being a begging of the very question in dispute. John saw the things in the opened heaven, and he saw "the armies which were in heaven." The Scriptures are unanimous in making heaven the fixed abode of Christ, until He shall come to judge mankind at the last day.

2. John saw only the souls of the martyrs. He makes no mention of their bodies. There is a grave doubt whether a bodily resurrection is here intended; but we are inclined to the literal resurrection of these martyrs. In John v. 25, we have a resurrection of souls, followed in verse 28 by a bodily resurrection. This, in the opinion of many, explains the first and the second resurrections in this chapter. The passage is obscure, admitting of different interpretations.

3. There is here no proof of the resurrection of all the righteous dead, but only of the beheaded martyrs; so that allowing the literal resurrection of these does not prove that all the saints rise at this time. Every man is to rise in his own order. Some arose at the Resurrection of Christ, and doubtless were His convoy to heaven. It may be that a special honor and blessedness await the beheaded martyrs in the fact of their resurrection and translation to heaven before the rest of the dead saints: "for one star differeth from another star in glory." This does not preclude these from standing with Enoch and Elijah, in holy boldness, before the judgment seat of Christ in the last day. This may explain Paul's aim at a martyr's death and the resurrection of the beheaded (Phil. iii. 10, 11). "On such the second death hath no power." The dying of these martyrs, in a manner so heroic, utterly vanquished the mighty enemy. An early restoration from the dominion of death, suffered prematurely for Christ, is an eminently appropriate reward: "Holy and blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection."

4. There is in this chapter a total absence of proof that these raised martyrs reigned with Christ on the earth. The visions thus far have been located in heaven. Consistency with the whole context requires that they should reign with Christ in heaven, and not that Christ should reign with them on earth. Bengel, Wesley, Moses Stuart, and many others, say, "in heaven and not on the earth."

5. There is no evidence here that a single millennium is spoken of. The best scholars, and among them Bengel, Wesley, and Dr. Owen, assert that there are two distinct periods of a thousand years spoken of in verses 1-7. The Greek article sustains this view. The first period extends through the repression of Satan which, Bengel says, indicates the great prosperity of the Church. The second is the reign of martyrs. Both of these periods are before the second coming of Christ. Thus Bengel and Wesley, instead of being Pre-millenarians, were, in fact, what most modern Methodists are, post-millenarians. Bengel styles those who confound these two distinct millennial periods, "pseudo-Chiliasts." The Prophetic Conference thus falls under Bengel's censure as pseudos. He says: "Whilst Satan is loosed from his imprisonment of a thousand years, the martyrs live and reign, not on the earth, but with Christ; then the coming of Christ in glory at length takes place at the last day; then, next, there is the new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem." Thus the coming of Christ is two thousand years plus a little season after the binding of Satan. A harmless sort of Chiliasm is this. Says Bengel: "The confounding of the two millennial periods has long ago produced many errors, and has made the name of Chiliasm hateful and suspected."

6. It is a very important point for the millenarian to prove, that the judgment of the dead before the great white Throne is that of the wicked dead only. But this vital point is not proven by this chapter. In fact, the bringing forth of the Book of Life and the casting into the lake of fire of those whose names aren't written therein, imply that some were found inscribed. Dr. Brooks' declaration that this Book of Life is a blank book, is a baseless assumption. This is not proved by the words, the rest of the dead lived not," etc. Says so eminent a Greek scholar as Dr. Owen: "Yet as the words here stand, we cannot, without, great violence, make 'the rest' (in Greek) embrace any other than the class of the pious dead, from which the martyr saints have been previously taken to participate in the first resurrection." We quote Dr. Owen, not to endorse him, but to show the difficulty of proving that this is a judgment of the wicked dead alone.

We believe that it is the general judgment of the race described in Matt. xxv. 31-46, and that "the rest of the dead" include all the human dead, both righteous and wicked, except the martyr saints, and that the good and the bad will be raised in the general resurrection and sentenced in the general judgment.

7. We look in vain, in this account of the millennium, or millenniums, for any reference to the Jews as being gathered to Jerusalem. The Revelation strangely omits to associate them with either of these chiliads. In chapter seven, the angels seal exactly twelve thousand of each of the twelve tribes, but there is no hint of the restoration of the Hebrew nation to their own land. After the day of general doom, the last great day, there descends a new Jerusalem into the new earth which has no more sea. Even then "the tabernacle of God is with men," not with the Jews.

Considering the fact that the old Testament prophecies are constantly quoted by the millenarians in proof of the personal reign of Christ on earth, with the Jews as His most loyal supporters, it is to us an insuperable objection to the doctrine, that the book of Revelation omits to place the restored Hebrew nation in any such relation to Christ, either in the old or the new Jerusalem.

If there is to be a personal reign of Christ on the earth, during a thousand years, to subdue the nations, as a substitute for the conquest now being made by the Holy Spirit, it is remarkable that these seven essential facts should be absent from the only account in the whole Bible where the millennial period is spoken of.

These important items are culled from dark prophecies, often violently wrenched from the context, and are fitted together on the pedestal of this chapter of a book which has been an inexplicable enigma to the scholarship of all the Christian ages. This style of interpretation may be satisfactory and convincing to those who accept imagery for doctrine, symbol for substance, and rhetoric for logic; but there are Christian minds which have an unconquerable aversion to stitching together selections from the symbolry of the prophets, literalizing the whole patchwork, and holding it up to the world as God's truth. Yet this is what the pre-millenarians are perpetually doing. They opened their recent Conference with the disclaimer that they had not brought their ascension robes with them. But such is the perilous fascination of their method of prophetic studies, that they will soon be attracted to an interpretation of the apocalyptic numbers and a determination of the year and day when, in the language of Mr. Barbour, "Christ is due," as we say of an express train. History always repeats itself. This has been the outcome of every great millenarian movement. The leaders may keep their own intellectual balance quite well, but by deluging Christendom with their literature, they will soon shake the minds of Christians of less steadiness who will insist on bringing to the next Prophetic Conference their arithmetical charts of Daniel's animals, if not their ascension robes. We who survived 1843 know the sequel.
 

Bengel's Bimillennialsim

Excerpts from

John Albert Bengel's

Gnomon Novi Testamenti



[Editor's note: Bengel was a great Greek scholar, but wrote his treatise on the New Testament in Latin. Below is a translation by Weidner, published in three volumes by Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, Chicago, Toronto (1867). With some qualification, we agree with Bengel that the first millennial period begins and ends before the beginning of the second. However, in our view, the first (the binding of the dragon) spoke to the reign of Claudius who enforced the religio licita, restraining persecution of the church, ending with the persecution under Nero. The second (viewed exclusive of other deceased saints) speaks of the blessed state of the martyrs in hades paradise who died under Nero (the beast). Thus, the one takes up where the other leaves off.][1]





Rev. 20:4 Thrones - Judgment-seats. Beheaded - Gr. ton pepelekismenon

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A thousand years - Two millennial periods are mentioned in this whole passage, each three times: the former is the millennium in which Satan is bound, ver. 2, 3, 7; the other, that of the reign of the saints, ver. 4, 5, 6. "There is," says Lange, "no foundation fore two periods of a thousand years, either in the text, or in fact, in the connection of the parts of the Apocalypse." But the second millennium extends even to the resurrection of all the dead, ver. 5; the former comes to a close before the end of the world, ver. 7, etc. Therefore the beginning and end of the former is before the beginning and end of the second.

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Rev. 20:7 - The thousand - Those thousand years only, during which Satan was bound; for now again Satan is treated of. The article is used demonstratively, to point out the former of the two subjects or periods of a thousand years. So the article to, the beast, ch. xiii. 15, refers not to verse 11, but to verse 1. Comp. Sept., 2 Sam. xxiii. 19, 23.



Notes:

[1] Viewed from the perspective that paradise and the first resurrection were inclusive of the righteous from Abel until the general resurrection, there would be an overlap between the two millennia, but from the perspective of only the martyrs who died under Nero, the second millennium would follow the first.

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Date:

30 Dec 2004

Time:

14:19:24

Comments

I was wondering why you do not have the New International Version of the Bible in your selection? Bob