Revelation 20:6

Revelation’s fifth beatitude reveals that those who participate in the first resurrection are blessed and holy. The "second death" is final death beyond physical death (cf. Revelation 20:14; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 21:8). It involves death of the soul (whole person) as well as the body (Matthew 10:28). Specifically, the first resurrection involves deliverance from the lake of fire. Those who participate in the first resurrection are also blessed because they will be priests of God and Christ, and they will reign with Christ for 1,000 years. Priests have unlimited access to and intimate fellowship with God. Exactly how they will reign remains to be seen, though the extent of their authority under Christ seems connected with their previous faithfulness (cf. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27).

Note that many of the promises to the overcomers in the letters to the seven churches find their fulfillment in the Millennium (cf. Revelation 2:11 with Revelation 20:6; Revelation 2:26-27 with Revelation 20:4; Revelation 3:5 with Revelation 20:12; Revelation 20:15; and Revelation 3:21 with Revelation 20:4). This seems to indicate that the rewards Christians receive from the Lord at the judgment seat will also involve serving under Him in the Millennium (cf. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27) and beyond (Revelation 22:3; Revelation 22:5).

The phrase "a thousand years" occurs six times in this chapter (Revelation 20:2-7). Since God revealed that events will occur both before and after Christ’s thousand-year reign, we should interpret this number literally (cf. Revelation 11:2-3; Revelation 12:6; Revelation 13:5; Revelation 20:3). John specifically located this reign yet future in this verse. This is a strong argument against interpreting it simply as Jesus Christ’s present reign in human hearts, or His reign throughout eternity, as many amillennialists do.

John gave us no information here regarding what life will be like on earth during the Millennium, but many Old Testament passages provide this revelation. [Note: See John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom, pp. 296-323, for a full discussion of government, spiritual life, social, economic, and physical aspects of the Millennium.] The main point here seems to be that the Millennium will follow Jesus Christ’s second coming, the main event in the Book of Revelation.

There are three major schools of interpretation that deal with millennial prophecies. Amillennialists interpret the Millennium figuratively and believe it does not correspond to any specific era. Some of them teach that it refers to Jesus Christ’s rule in the hearts of His people presently living on earth. For example, Arthur Lewis wrote that the Millennium of chapter 20 is not a perfect state, but the future messianic kingdom is a perfect state. Therefore the Millennium of chapter 20 cannot be the future messianic kingdom, but it is the present age. He believed the kingdom age is really the eternal state of chapters 21 and 22. [Note: Arthur H. Lewis, The Dark Side of the Millennium: The Problem of Evil in Revelation 20:1-10. For a good critique of this book, see Jeffrey L. Townsend, "Is the Present Age the Millennium?" Bibliotheca Sacra 140:559 (July-September 1983):206-24.] Other amillennialists teach that the Millennium refers to Christ’s rule over His people in heaven throughout eternity. Berkouwer articulated the view of many amillennialists regarding this pericope.

"This vision is not a narrative account of a future earthly reign of peace at all, but is the apocalyptic unveiling of the reality of salvation in Christ as a backdrop to the reality of the suffering and martyrdom that still continue as long as the dominion of Christ remains hidden." [Note: G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ, p. 307.]

Postmillennialists hold that Christ will return after the Millennium. Some of them believe we should interpret the thousand-year reign of Christ figuratively as referring to the present age in which we live. Others believe it is a literal thousand-year period yet future. Postmillennialism has not been very popular since the First World War. Since then it has become increasingly clear to most people that the world is not getting better and better but worse and worse. While there has been progress in many areas of life, it seems clear that worldwide peace and the other millennial conditions that the prophets described will never come without divine intervention that will change the course of history. Postmillennialism teaches that world peace and all millennial conditions will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Premillennialists take the revelation in these passages more literally as a description of events that will proceed chronologically in order. We believe the Second Coming will precede a literal earthly millennial reign of Jesus Christ. [Note: For more information on these views, see John F. Walvoord, The Millennial . . ., pp. 263-75, or idem, The Revelation . . ., pp. 282-90. See also the diagram of premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism at the end of my comments on chapter 6 in these notes.] Among premillennialists there are two main groups. "Historic premillennialists" (Covenant premillennialists) believe that God will fulfill His promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 12:7; et al.) through the spiritual seed of Abraham, namely, believers whom the Old Testament writers called Israel and the New Testament writers called the church. "Dispensational premillennialists" believe that God will fulfill His promises to Abraham through the physical seed of Abraham, namely, the Jewish people whom the writers of both testaments referred to as Israel.

Jesus Christ’s earthly reign will be the fulfillment of many prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the reign of a completely faithful descendant of David (2 Samuel 7:10-16; et al.). God promised David that one of his descendants would reign over the Israelites forever, that His kingdom would have no end. Most dispensationalists have believed that this reign will begin after Jesus Christ returns to earth at His second coming, and it will continue through the Millennium and on into eternity forever. We believe that since David’s kingdom was an earthly kingdom and since David and his successors ruled on the earth, the coming fulfillment of Davidic kingdom promises will take place on the earth. Progressive dispensationalists, on the other hand, believe that Jesus’ rule as David’s successor began when He ascended into heaven following His resurrection and that it will move to earth at the second coming and will continue throughout eternity. They view the promised Davidic kingdom as having heavenly (already) and earthly (not yet) stages. Almost all dispensationalists believe that what is in effect now is some form of God’s kingdom program (cf. Matthew 13). The difference of opinion is over whether the present form of the kingdom, the church, is a stage of the Davidic Kingdom or distinct from it.