The Millennial Age

Revelation 20:1-6

Immanuel – 7/31/22

We have been studying Revelation for exactly 9 months, though we’ve had some breaks. Today we finally arrive at the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ. Revelation 20 is the only place in the whole Bible that talks about the Millennium; and yet the debate over when the Millennium will be, and what will the nature of it be, fills countless books.

Different eschatological views – or end times perspectives – orbit around this millennium. Just listen to the different names: pre-millennial, amillennial, postmillennial. Everyone is trying to figure out this Millennium.

As has been said in a few places, the Millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians love to fight about.

By now, you should know I am postmillennial; meaning that I believe Christ will finally return at the end of the millennial period. Thus, we are living in the Millennium right now. And I am fully aware that such a view has raised some eyebrows.

I’m sure some of you have thought, “I agreed with so much of what Pastor Fletch said, until all this postmillennial stuff.” Immanuel may have even lost people because I have been preaching Revelation from a postmillennial perspective.

And as people wrestle with postmillennialism, the two questions I have received the most go something like this:

Look at all the evil in the world, and the deceptive ideologies of our time, how can Satan be bound?

Seems like the world is in pretty bad shape, how can we possibly be living in the Millennial reign of Christ?

But notice how the rational behind those questions comes from people looking at our world, rather than looking at what Scripture teaches us.

Purpose

It is my goal to answer those two questions today. I want to show you why I believe Satan is bound and Christ’s millennial reign is now, and I want to show you this with Scripture.

I hope such a view intensifies your passion for Great Commission activity!

At the end of all this, if you disagree with me, that is ok. Not everyone needs to be postmillennial. No matter what your eschatological perspective, if you believe that we still await Christ’s return, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgement, then we can happily fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ!

Read Revelation 20:1-6

The Binding of Satan

If you remember from last week’s sermon, a massive pivot occurred in part 3 of Revelation. The old covenant was entirely torn down with the destruction of Jerusalem, and then we began to perceive the things of the new covenant, things in which we live today.

This pivot occurs as John hears and then he sees. He heard Babylon had fallen, he heard the church worshipping as a result, he heard that the marriage supper of the Lamb had come. Then, finally, John saw what he had been hearing about. He saw the rider on a white horse: as I said last week, a symbol of the gospel’s conquest of the earth.

Now John sees an angel coming down from heaven. We have seen Jesus depicted as an angel numerous times in Revelation, but I want to draw your attention to one moment in particular.

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over His head, and His face was like the sun, and His legs like pillars of fire. He has a little scroll open in His hand. -Revelation 10:1-2

Consider the locations involved. Jesus descends from heaven unto earth. The little scroll in His hand is the new covenant finally opened, for He was the only one able to open it – as we saw back in chapter 5. All that was in part 2 of Revelation.

Now, in part 3, Jesus descends from heaven unto earth. This is another symbolic picture of the new covenant which only He has the power to bring. We are being shown the effects of the new covenant, of heaven breaking upon earth, of the coming of the kingdom of God. And one massive effect of the dawning of the new covenant is that the Lord Jesus Christ binds Satan.

And within this first verse we find signals that help us interpret what follows. First, as we have noted, Jesus is being symbolized as an angel descending from heaven. But Jesus is not a literal angel; He is God.

Additionally, remember that Satan is a spiritual being; meaning, he does not have a physical body. Therefore, the great chain that binds him is not meant to be understood as a literal, physical chain. Rather, these depictions are symbolic. It signals that we are in symbolic territory.

Read vs 2-3

When the Son of God hung lifeless from the cross, Satan thought the victory was his. For how could Christ now bring the kingdom of God to the earth? Satan must have felt a tremendous sense of pride and self-satisfaction as Jesus was laid in the ground and that great stone shut-up and sealed the entrance. Like every man that came before, Christ was sent into the abyss of death.

Or so the Devil thought. For on the third day Christ rose from the grave, and in a short time He ascended to the right hand of the Father where He reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is even the Lord and King of that ancient serpent – the devil.

In a shocking turn of events, the tomb was the trap, and Jesus was the bait. Satan all too eagerly moved men to kill the Christ, but it was his own defeat. For here in Revelation 20, John is intentionally appropriating language from Jesus’ burial. It is not Jesus who is shut-up and sealed in darkness, it is Satan.

Therefore, this passage does not literally mean that Satan currently exists in the abyss, bound with chains. It is symbolically showing us that Jesus has spelled Satan’s doom with the very implements Satan once used to try to kill Jesus.

The good news of Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension simultaneously pronounce the defeat of Satan.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. -Hebrews 2:14

Jesus definitively defeated Satan. His doom is secured. And in next weeks passage, we will see Satan meet his final doom. But this week he is not destroyed, he is bound.

So let us consider, with Scripture in hand, this binding of Satan.

[God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ]. -Colossians 2:15

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. -1 John 3:8

“Now is the judgement of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” -John 12:31

“The ruler of this world is judged.” -John 16:11

Put all of these together. Satan is disarmed, shamed, his works are destroyed, he is cast out, he is judged. Everywhere you look in the New Testament you see that Jesus both defeated Satan and limited him: or like we read in Revelation 20, Jesus bound Satan.

In parable form, Jesus even spoke about how He bound Satan.

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.” -Matthew 12:28-29

In this short parable, the strong man is Satan, the strong man’s house is the earth, and the strong man’s goods are people. Since Christ cast out demons, clearly the kingdom of God has come. Therefore, with the dawn of the kingdom of God, Jesus entered the strong man’s house and bound him. Now Christ is setting free the captives. Now we who were bound are being freed.

Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” -Ephesians 4:8

Yes, Jesus came to earth, established the kingdom of God, bound the strong man, and ascended into heaven with a host of captives now freed – more on the gifts He gave those captives in a bit.

You see, even while Christ was on earth, He said He would bind Satan. And He has. Now the Devil is disarmed, shamed, his works are destroyed, he is cast out, he is judged. The King has come, and He has bound the dragon!

And there is a critical component of Satan’s binding which we see in verse 2. He is bound as it related to his deception of the nations. This means that Satan’s power on earth has not been eliminated. It means that the way in which Satan used to deceive the nations, during the old covenant age, has been limited by Christ in the new covenant age.

What do I mean?

Before God became a man, Satan was the ruler of this world. Paul goes so far as to say, The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that everyone who walks in unrepentant sin is following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).

Satan’s primary work was to deceive the nations, blinding them that they may not see God; binding them, that they would live condemned in prisons of sin.

But the gospel of Jesus Christ is light and freedom to all who are blind and bound. With good news of God’s grace, Christ has removed the chains from His disciples. And with mighty nail scarred hands, Christ foists those weighty shackles upon the Deceiver of Nations.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, ascended and reigning, are the very cords that bind the enemy. The gospels give us numerous examples of this, but there is one particularly powerful story.

Jesus sent out 72 disciples to bring peace and healing, and to declare that the kingdom of God had come. They were preaching the gospel!

Then we read: The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” -Luke 10:17-19

As the disciples proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of Christ, in prophetic symbolism, Jesus said He saw Satan fall from heaven. The gospel brings an end to Satan’s dominion, and in its place is established the dominion of the Son of God.

And this is all a picture of how the church will tread upon serpents and scorpions, symbols of the demonic. How could the church tread upon supernatural beings if Christ had not first bound them? He bound them with a life perfectly lived, a law fulfilled, a cross stained with blood, a tomb with no body, and now with an everlasting dominion.

And, though it is not how we should form our eschatology, consider the course of history for a moment. In the old covenant, only the Jews, and a relatively small number of converts, had access to God. The rest of the entire planet was governed by the deceptions of Satan.

And look at the gospels; were there not demon possessed people everywhere? No one seems to be surprised when a possessed person shows up.

But since Christ has come, and established a new covenant in His precious blood, billions have come to Christ, demonic possession has been pushed to the fringes, and nations have been founded on Judeo-Christian values.

This is what Christ did when He established His kingdom, and we live in this kingdom today. He is on heaven’s throne and we live in the age where Satan has been bound by the gospel of grace. We live in the Millennium.

To further evidence this, let us consider what else John tells us of the Millennium.

Read vs 4-6

Raised to Reign

Verse 4 clearly talks about resurrection; but we need to think carefully about what John means. First, let us consider these thrones.

So far in Revelation, the only ones to be given thrones are the 24 elders; but back when we studied chapter 4, I showed you that the 24 elders are representatives of the church.

For it is to the church that Christ makes the promise:

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” -Revelation 2:26-27

But we need not wait until the end of time to receive these thrones. Christ has given us these thrones now.

[God] raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. -Ephesians 2:6

What gifts Christ has given to us rescued captives!

Yes, all those who are in Christ have been seated with Christ and reign with Christ. And if we have been given thrones, then what does our reign look like in the Millennial Age? Jesus said:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” -Matthew 20:25-28

Christians reign through serving. We reign in righteousness, peace, and joy. We reign through proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We reign by teaching the nations to live in obedience to Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

And we do not wait for this reign to begin – what a mistake that would be! It has already begun in the new covenant. We reign with Christ today, in the Millennial Age! Christ reigns in heaven, and He extends that reign to earth through His church, His body, His ambassadors.

But what of this resurrection we are reading about in verses 4-6?

John is showing us those who have been martyred for their testimony of Jesus. We were introduced to them in Revelation 6 when they cried out to God for justice. God granted them justice through the destruction of Jerusalem. Now they are present in the blessings of the new covenant. So also are those that do not bow their knee to false gods.

As we read this, we must remember that Revelation does not use time in a conventional way. It both compresses and stretches time. Here, the advent and consummation of the new covenant are compressed into a single symbolic image. A similar thing happened in chapter 7, where the church is numbered on earth yet worships in heaven.

You see, all the saints, whether they lived during the old covenant or new, they were saved through they faith in Jesus. Old Testament saints may not have know the name of Jesus, but they placed their faith in God’s promises that pointed to Jesus. This is whole purpose of Hebrews 11 – the “Hall of Faith.”

There we read,

For by [faith] the people of old received their commendation.

-Hebrews 11:2

Then, Hebrews 12:1 says that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. The saints of old are, in some living way, with the saints of today. Then, later in Hebrews, we read.

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven…and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. -Hebrews 12:22,23,24

You see, all who are alive in Christ are alive together. We are joined in our living union to Jesus, now and forevermore.

And how is this? Because the moment you came to faith in Jesus Christ, you were resurrected. Verse 6 calls this the first resurrection.

Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. -Ephesians 2:5-6

Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. -Colossians 2:12-13

Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. -Romans 6:4

The New Testament heralds the glorious new covenant truth: you have been raised with Christ, made alive together with Christ, so that you might walk in newness of life! This is the first resurrection, and it is a spiritual resurrection.

The second resurrection we will see next week, when the dead in Christ are raised unto eternal life. For those who do not believe, this resurrection is their entrance into the second death – an eternal and spiritual death.

The first death, which we all experience, is when these bodies expire. You see, there is a first and physical death, and then a second and spiritual death. The inverse is that there is a first and spiritual resurrection, and then a second and physical resurrection.

But the first resurrection, spiritual regeneration we might call it, is a reality that exists within the new covenant, in the kingdom of God. It is a reality that exists today in the Millennial Age.

Like verse 6 says, Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! For if you participate in the first resurrection, then the second death, then hell, will have no power over you!

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect (Romans 8:33)? Certainly not the accuser, Satan, for he is bound! If God is for us, then who can be against us (Romans 8:31)!

And as verse 6 ends, God takes us, the redeemed, those freed from captivity, and makes us priests and kings. Does this not also accord with what Scripture says is true right now?

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. -1 Peter 2:9

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. -Revelation 1:5-6

In Christ we are kings and priests right now. We have been raised to reign with Jesus today, in righteousness, peace, and joy; serving – or ministering – to the nations as priests, leading them to God with gospel proclamation. And Revelation 20 tells us that we will reign like this for 1,000 years. Christ has opened the way, and He has bound the enemy for this millennium.

But it has been nearly two millennia since Christ established the kingdom of God. What’s going on with the 1,000 year timeframe?

Let us not lose track of how Revelation literarily works. Every time we have come across a number in Revelation, it held symbolic meaning. 1,000 is no different. In fact, we have already seen multipliers of 1,000 used five different times in Revelation (5:11, 7:4-8, 9:16, 14:1, 14:20). Each time the intention is not a literal number, but a symbol of a vast amount.

There are many places in Scripture that use the number 1,000, not literally, but symbolically for a vast number.

“For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”

-Psalm 50:10

Certainly, God’s possesses more than a thousand hills. He possesses all the hills, a vast number of hills. Similarly:

The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as He has promised you! -Deuteronomy 1:11

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands.” -Exodus 34:6-7

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past. -Psalm 90:4

This is just a small sampling; and in each case, we are going to have some major issues if we try to understand 1,000 literally. Why, then, do so many insist that in one of the most symbolic books of the Bible, 1,000 years is a literal timeframe?

Rather, is seems that 1,000 years, the millennium, is a symbol for a long span of time. For all we know, it could be thousands upon thousands of years. God has not revealed it’s actual, literal, length.

But what we do know, is that it is long enough for the fulfilment of the following passages.

[Jesus] said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” -Luke 13:18-21

Jesus was the seed cast into the earth. We, the church, are the growing tree bearing much fruit. We are the leaven that Christ has placed in the mixture of this earth. He will fold and pound and heat until this leaven has filled the earth with the bread of the new covenant, rather than the unleavened of the old.

Perhaps when things on earth look bad, when it seems like world-ending tribulations are just around the corner, it is God stretching the dough, pressing it down, handling it roughly into order to thoroughly mix the faith of the church in the lump of this world.

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. -Daniel 2:44

Christ’s kingdom was not destroyed at the cross, and it will not be destroyed through the course of history. Instead, the kingdom of men will fall before Him who stands forever!

Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. -Isaiah 9:7

Christ’s kingdom will be one of eternal increase, not a kingdom of an all of the sudden and done.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. -Habakkuk 2:14

The increase of Christ’s kingdom will not end until it covers the planet. The Millennial Age is large amount of time it will take for all of this to be accomplished!

Take note, all these things happen progressively. The world is evangelized progressively as the church fulfills the Great Commission. And as we do, the gates of hell will not prevail against us. Even the binding of Satan, as it occurs through the advance of the gospel, happens progressively.

Now in putting everything in subjection to [Christ], He left nothing outside of His control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. -Hebrews 2:8

This is the work of the church. We are commission to go to the ends of the earth and there be a light; to offer the hope of the nations in the face of Jesus Christ. We are unified to Christ, His body. And He is subjecting the world to Himself through His hands and feet, through His church.

You see, as Scripture clearly teaches, Christ is the second Adam. Because of sin Adam failed and fell from his calling. And what was his calling? To be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over it (Genesis 1:28).

After defeating the sin of Adam, Christ has taken up the calling of Adam. Christ is bearing much fruit, multiplying through the church. He is extending His dominion as He sends out His kingdom of priests. And through the Church, He is crushing the head of Satan.

All of this was inaugurated in Christ, but it actualizes progressively through the work of the church.

This is why Paul can write: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. -Romans 16:20

And the Millennial reign of Christ will go on like this until the end…

When [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. -1 Corinthians 15:24-26

Brothers and sisters, it is my hope that you can see we are living in the new covenant millennial reign of Christ. Through the cross His reign began and He bound Satan. And through faith in the cross, we are extending that reign, and further crushing the head of Satan.

So let us all remember that we are a kingdom of priests, alive unto God and sent into the world. Proclaim the gospel and bring the nations to Jesus. For today, He is setting free captives to live in newness of life. Yes, this is how we reign with Christ!

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power!