He can still perform evil, but he cannot deceive the nations until the final battle. Satan is “bound” in that he is restricted from implementing all his plans. The 1,000 years spoken of in Revelation 20, in which Satan is “bound,” is figurative and fulfilled in a spiritual sense. Christ’s work in this world-His life, death, resurrection, and ascension-greatly hindered the works of Satan so that the message of the gospel could leave Israel and go out to the ends of the earth, just as it has done. In amillennialism, the “1,000 years” is happening right now. This was clearly fulfilled in Matthew 24 when Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to teach what is known as the Olivet Discourse. Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies concerning Him, including, for example, the prophecy that Christ’s feet will touch the Mount of Olives prior to the establishment of His kingdom (Zechariah 14). In light of the words of our Savior, prophetic passages like Daniel 7 and Jeremiah 23 are to be understood as fulfilled in Christ Jesus and His first coming, especially since all of the prophets are talking about the coming Messiah in the first place. Most passages of Scripture used to try to refute the position actually make it more viable, based on the words of our Lord Himself: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Careful hermeneutics (the study of the principles of interpretation), proves the amil position has legitimacy.
There are many arguments against the amillennial position, but they can be refuted through exegesis of Scripture.
With the repeated symbolic use of 1,000, it is difficult to see its use in Revelation as literal, especially in a book as heavily symbolic as Revelation is. Scripture uses the number 1,000 many times as a generic term to mean “immensity,” “fullness of quantity,” or “multitude” (e.g., Psalm 84:10 Job 9:3 1 Chronicles 16:15). John is giving a “replay” of what he saw. However, if we see chapter 20 as a different “angle” for the end of the age, then the 1,000-year reign isn’t necessarily physical/earthly history, but symbolic. For instance, chapter 19 ends with Christ returning to destroy His enemies, making chapter 20 difficult to understand in that enemies arise to attack Him again (what enemies are these, if they’ve already been destroyed?). The amil position sees the book of Revelation as having numerous “camera angle” approaches. John’s mention of 1,000 years thus points to all things that would happen in the church age. Although the prefix a- would typically signify a negation of a word, the amil position sees the millennium as “realized,” or better explained as “millennium now.” To simplify, amillennialism sees the first coming of Christ as the inauguration of the kingdom, and His return as the consummation of the kingdom. Each of the four views differs in the placement, or the timing, of the 1,000-year reign mentioned in Revelation 20.Īn amillennialist sees the 1,000 years as spiritual and non-literal, as opposed to a physical understanding of history. We thought it would be worthwhile to have an article that positively presents amillennialism, as it is always good for our viewpoints to be challenged, motivating us to further search the Scriptures to make sure our beliefs are biblically sound.Īmillennialism is one of four views of the end times regarding the 1,000-year reign of Christ. In no sense is amillennialism heresy and in no sense should amillennialists be shunned as not being brothers and sisters in Christ. However, we believe that amillennialism is a valid viewpoint that a Christian can hold. We truly and fully believe in premillennialism, that Christ will return to establish His kingdom, over which He will reign for 1,000 years. Please note, as a ministry, rejects amillennialism.
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