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READ: Luke 17: 20-21 & 24 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." ... The Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other". Once an older Christian was asked what he thought of the millennium. His prompt reply was: "As little as possible!" Given all of the various interpretations of our passage in Revelation today and the ongoing debates within the Evangelical Churches, that particular response may deserve more popularity.

The reply of the person in our story is in the spirit of old John Calvin, who in his Institutes of the Christian Religion passed over the teachings of the millennialists as not worth dignifying with argument! However, I believe that this issue cannot be ignored in our own particular time. What we think about the final abolishment of the present age and Christ's bringing us into eternal glory does affect our ongoing work within the Kingdom of God. I know of one Pastor, now retired who spent years of his life trying to establish once for all the schedule for the end times. He became so absorbed in this pursuit that he neglected his work, his witness and his family!

We may well remember the fall of 1988 when a particular book predicting the day of Christ's second coming was widely circulated, quoted and laughed at by many after the date had passed. Now, it would appear from the history of the Christian Church that it is in those times where the expectation of Christ's return is heightened that the Church more effectively goes about our Master's business. So we cannot leave the subject of His return unconsidered. But, let us carefully keep our minds about us as we consider the idea of the Millennium. This idea of an earthly reign by our Lord was once prevalent amongst the early Jewish Christians. This idea in fact comes into Christianity from the Jewish expectations. The popular Jewish concept was that all of History would encompass seven thousand years with the last thousand as a period of sabbath rest. The early Church Fathers disputed exactly what John meant when he mentions a thousand years in Revelation. Several of the early Fathers: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Papias taught that there would be a millennium reign. Others, Eusebius, Origen and especially Augustine dismissed the literal, establishment of such an earthly reign because that expectation was too material for Christ's spiritual Kingdom. This material emphasis is still with us and is still dangerous. Certainly we would reject the expectations and images of the modern High Priestess Madonna when she mixes religious images into her own material world of fantasy and myth! Just as certainly the Christian community must reject any modern trends to despiritualize the Kingdom of God with any hope of an earthly material reign.

As we seek a clear and biblical understanding of the idea of a Millennium, we must first be aware of who and what we are. We can illustrate how our minds work by a story of three tramps who found a partially filled bottle of whiskey found along a railroad track. The first hobo picked it up out of the weeds and showed it to his friends. The second hobo told him to throw it away because it was half empty. The third hobo disagreed because he saw it was half full. Here we have three types of people. The optimist who saw the full half, the pessimist who saw the empty half, and the realist who appreciated the contents while the other two argued! By the time the bottle was empty, any and all arguments were only academic!

In this sense as we come to the idea of the millennium, let us consider where our minds really are in relationship to our expectations for Christ's coming again in glory. First, there are sincere Christians who think that the world can only get worse and worse. For this reason, they step aside from any active involvement in the affairs of state and society. These people see only the emptiness of worldly pursuits and like the man of parable they hurry to hide their one talent by burying it away in safety. They sit on the sidelines observing history as it moves towards God's appointed Day of judgment. They see the world being prepared for destruction and their attitude is "Why bother". After all, they have their salvation and in God's proper time they will reign with Him and lord it over creation! While this is not a hard and fast rule, these people generally believe that after Jesus comes, there will be a period of one thousand years of an earthly kingdom enjoyed by His saints.

Second, there are also very sincere Christians who think that quite probably the world can get better and better. For this reason they become quite active in the affairs of state and society. They see great opportunities for the advancement of the kingdom of God and like the man of parable they seek every opportunity to multiply the talents that have been entrusted to them. They see the world as a stage to bring in an age of prosperity and freedom and justice. Idealists like Woodrow Wilson and many many others dreamed of creating a new order where war would be outlawed, poverty eliminated and mankind could be persuaded to do what was right and just. These people generally believe that the Church will be triumphant in establishing some sort of a millennial kingdom before Christ returns.

Arguments abound, and in some places you can be condemned to hell for not sharing the prevailing viewpoint! I do not intend to bore you with all of the different positions. But, like the hobo left holding the bottle, or in this case the Bible, let us turn to Revelation Twenty and see what God would have us do with the expectation of His return!

READ: Revelation 1: 1-2 Now in the Greek, the words in the NIV "made it known" would be better transliterated as "signified". The word means just what the syllables say: sign-i-fied. The Greek word means to speak in sign language, to make use of symbols, numerology, figures of speech, and so on. With that in mind, turn to Revelation Twenty! Please appreciate that this passage is the only place in the Bible where this idea of a thousand years is mentioned. Since this whole Revelation of John is figurative language full of symbols, signs, seals, bowels and trumpets we would do well to address this "idea of a millennium" in the same way!

READ: Revelation 20: 1-3 Here John's point of view is from the earth. He reports the binding and imprisonment of Satan. Satan's power is limited. This vision is symbolic of Christ's victory.

READ: Luke 11:14-22 Here Jesus tells us that Satan is the strong man and Christ Himself is the One stronger than he. Now look at verse twenty. If Jesus has indeed overpowered Satan than the Kingdom of God has come. The Apostle John sums it up very well. SEE: 1 John 3: 8 "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work."

We are in the time of the kingdom now, but as our opening passage in Luke brought to our attention, this kingdom is not of this earth. It is not some place we can go to visit, it is not bound by human limits, it is not bound by space, and it is not bound by time. Up until the coming of Christ only some people within Israel and a few others had been called to salvation. But now, with the coming of Christ, Satan is bound and the kingdom of God is established, and all manner of men are called from every nation on earth.

With the establishment of Christ's Kingdom, the age of the Christian Church begins. In our history books we very often hear of the "age of reason", the "age of enlightenment" or some other symbolic term for an era under a specific influence. In this sense we may speak of a "millennic age" which began with the first coming of Jesus Christ. This "church age" in earth's history is not eternal, we see here that at some point in time there will be a brief intermission when Satan is temporarily released.

READ: Revelation 20: 4-6 Here, John's view is from heaven as the detail of the thrones would signify. Another important detail is the presence of souls, not resurrected bodies! If we are going to live in a material world, or a material millennium, we should expect to see material bodies as well. These are the glorified saints present with Christ awaiting the final general resurrection at the end of time. Their condition during this waiting period is blessed and holy. And this intermediate state between death and resurrection is also part of the millennium.

READ: Revelation 20: 7-10 Here John describes what is commonly called "Satan's little season". This follows after the events of verse three. Verses 1-3 and verses 4-6 appear to be concurrent. They occur at the same time. John has described the same time period from both heaven and earth. Now, the final conflict is described. The images here come from the last great battle against Old Testament Israel during the time of Antiochus. The attackers were unholy, their forces were beyond number, the tribulation in Israel was terrible but short. And the defeat of the enemy was sudden and complete. So will be Satan's last attack upon the Church of Jesus Christ. There is love for the Church revealed in verse nine even in the extremity of defeat. Then in the same verse sudden victory accomplished by the Hand of God. Satan and all his creatures are thrown into the lake of fire.

READ: Revelation 20: 11-15 There are two things here. First is described the passing of the present world and age. Second there is the fact of the last judgment when the whole history of every person's life on earth is made public. Every single detail, every secret thought and sin, every action good and bad will come to light.

Notice that one book is separate from the rest. It is the book of life. We should note that judgment was made based upon all the recorded things we have ever thought or done found in the other books. But the book of life has another purpose. It lists by God's grace those who are to be saved from the lake of fire. You see, there is nothing that you or I can do which can be recorded in the other books which could save us. Salvation depends upon God's grace alone. Are we numbered among the elect. Has God's Holy Spirit come into our hearts and called us into His Kingdom. Have we repented from those actions that will one day be made public. We dare not count on our good works or our inflated view of ourselves. We must count upon our Lord Jesus Christ alone!

There is an urgency here in this idea of the millennium which our careless generation badly needs to relearn. We must put behind us speculation about a material age of splendor and concentrate instead upon being ready for the day of judgment to come at any time. To that end we must concentrate upon spiritual values instead of material values. To that end we must look for a spiritual kingdom, and a spiritual millennium because our Father and His Son are spiritual beings who call us into the Kingdom They have prepared, not into a Kingdom that we would make in the image of our expectations. This spiritual Kingdom presently exists side by side with the material world. We as Christians must live temporarily in both. We must also realize that there is an ongoing conflict between the two. In the course of this conflict we must continually concentrate on keeping the Spiritual Kingdom predominate so that as we follow Jesus Christ, we might serve Him alone. Amen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

most helpful and trustworthy & Background history only

Augustine. The City of God. Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible: The Revelation of John. Brooks, Richard. Welwyn Commentary Series: The Lamb is all the Glory. Caird, G.B. Harper's New Testament Commentaries: Revelation of St John. Calvin, John. The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Charles, R.H. International Critical Commentary: Revelation of St John. Cox, William E. Amillennialism Today. Davis, J.J. Christ's Victorious Kingdom. Elliott, Delber H. The Gospel According to Revelation. Ferguson, Sinclair New Dictionary of Theology. Gentry, Kenneth. Before Jerusalem Fell. Hendrickson, William. More Than Conquerors. Hodge, Charles. Systematic Teology. Josephus. Thrones of Blood: A History of the Times of Jesus. Kiddie, Martin. The Moffatt New Testament Commentary: Revelation of St John. Milligan, William. Expositor's Bible: The Book of Revelation. Morris, Leon. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Revelation of St John. Orr, James. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. Payne, J. Barton. Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy. Peake, Arthur. The Revelation of John. Stevens, Paul. Revelation The Triumph of God. Williamson, G.I. The Westminster Confession of Faith. The Holy Bible, New International Version Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society