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Amillennialism
What is Amillennialism?
Ed Jarrett
Christ is returning for his church. On that,
nearly all Christians agree.
But there is no universal consensus as to what
that second coming will be like.
Over the history of the church, there have been
a number of frameworks developed to describe Christ’s return and the events
surrounding that return.
And at the center of each of these is a short
passage in Revelation
20:1-10.
This passage describes the binding of Satan; the
resurrection, judgment, and a thousand-year reign of martyrs along with Christ;
followed by the loosing of Satan, a final battle, and judgement on Satan.
The thousand-year period in the middle of this
passage is termed the millennium. And each of the major frameworks is
identified by how they understand this period.
Premillennialists understand
Christ’s return to come prior to this millennial period.
Postmillennialists and
Amillennialists understand Christ’s return to occur after the
millennial.
They differ in that Postmillennialists see the
millennial as a physical reality on earth while Amillennialists see it as a
spiritual reign in heaven.
What is Amillennialism?
Amillennialism is actually misnamed. The ‘a’ at
the beginning means ‘no’, indicating the proponents of this position believe
there will be no millennial reign.
But that is not accurate. A better title would
be something like ‘realized millennialism’, indicating that we are currently in
the millennium.
Amillennialism is not new. Many throughout the
history of the church have held it.
And by the time of Augustine, it had become the
dominant view of the church.
It is still the dominant view of the Eastern
Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and many Protestants.
And it was the view of the reformers, including
Calvin and Luther.
Amillennialism understands the Kingdom
of God proclaimed by Jesus and his apostles to be synonymous with
the millennial kingdom of Revelation
20:4-6.
The kingdom of God is a present-day reality with
Christ ruling from heaven. And it is a kingdom populated by all those who have
given their lives to the lordship of Jesus.
The Millennium
So how do Amillennialists understand these 10
verses in Revelation
20 that talk about Satan’s binding, the thousand-year rule of Christ,
followed by the release of Satan?
First, we do not understand them to be symbolic.
They are describing real events.
Secondly, we do understand that there is much
symbolism throughout the book of Revelation.
And, finally, that Revelation was written to
give encouragement to the church of its day. While it does point to end times,
it was also about what was happening in the first century.
Satan’s Binding
Satan’s binding seems to usher in this
thousand-year rule. So, when does this binding occur?
While some will point to this being a future
event, the Bible gives plenty of clues to indicate that it has already
occurred.
· In Matthew
12:28-29 the strong man (Satan?) is tied up and his house robbed.
· In John
12:31 Jesus, just prior to the cross, says that the time for judgment
has come. And the prince of this world would be driven out.
· In
Colossian 2:15 Paul says that Jesus triumphed over satanic powers by the cross.
· In Hebrews
2:14-15 we read that Christ, by his own death, destroyed the power of
the devil.
· And,
in 1
John 3:8, John says that Christ appeared to destroy the work of the devil.
Satan’s influence over the world seems great
right now. But he is bound and limited in his ability to deceive the nations.
But that binding will come to an end at some
time in the future.
The First Resurrection
Revelation
20:4-6 is less about a thousand-year rule and more about what it calls
the first resurrection.
This resurrection involves only believers.
Believers who have given their lives for Jesus and refused to worship the
beast.
These believers will reign with Christ for this
thousand years and will not be harmed by the second death.
The rest of the dead do not come to life until
the thousand years are over.
So, who are these who participate in the first
resurrection?
While some would argue that they are limited to
only tribulation martyrs, Amillennialists believe that these include all
believers who have died.
In Philippians
1:23 Paul expresses that he longs to depart and to be with Christ. He
anticipates that at his physical death he will enter the presence of
Christ.
We see this resurrection not as being a one-time
event at some point in the future. But rather as an ongoing harvest of
believers.
Each of us, when we leave this life, is ushered
into the presence of Christ and rule in his kingdom.
Duration of the Millennium
Amillennialists believe that the millennium is a
heavenly rule inaugurated at the death and resurrection of Christ and
concluding at his return.
The thousand-year span given in Revelation
20:1-10 is not a literal thousand years.
Rather it symbolizes a long period. It
represents the entire church age from the cross to the second coming.
The Last Battle
In Revelation
20:7-10 Satan is released from his prison, deceives the nations, and
gathers them together to do battle.
He leads his army against the camp of God’s
people, but fire from heaven destroys his army and Satan himself is cast into
the Lake of Fire.
The same Lake of Fire holds the Beast and the
False Prophet, and that will hold those whose names are not written in the Book
of Life.
But this is not the only great battle mentioned
in Revelation.
In Revelation
16:12-14 the sixth angel pours out his bowl, and a great army gathers
for the battle on the great day of God almighty.
There is no mention of this battle being fought.
But it would seem to be the same battle described in Revelation
20:7-10.
In Revelation
19:19-20 the Beast and False Prophet gather the kings of the earth and
their armies to do battle against a heavenly rider on a horse.
A rider that appears very much to be Jesus. And
the result is the same as the battle in Revelation
20:7-10. Destruction and the Lake of Fire.
Rather than three separate battles, these all
appear to be the same battle mentioned three different times.
This battle is fought at the end of the age, and
ushers in the final resurrection and judgment of the dead along with the New
Heaven and Earth. It represents Satan’s final attempt to thwart God’s plan for
his creation.
Summary of Amillennialism
Amillennialists believe in a literal reign of
Christ, along with his resurrected saints. But we believe this reign is a heavenly
one rather than on the earth.
We believe it is a present-day reality. And that
it involves all believers, in particular, those who have died and are with
Christ.
Ed Jarrett is a long-time follower of Jesus and a member of
Sylvan Way Baptist
Church. He has been a Bible teacher for over 40 years and regularly blogs
at A Clay Jar. You can also follow him
on Twitter or Facebook. Ed is married, the
father of two, and grandfather of two lovely girls. He is retired and currently
enjoys his gardens and backpacking.
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