Grace for a millennium and beyond

Gracious church family:  Have you heard of the millennium?  Do you know what it is?  Do you know where to find verses in the Bible that speaks about the millennium?  There are many questions that need to be answered to understand this 1000 year reign of Jesus spoken of here in Revelation 20.  For example, is this is a literal or symbolic 1000 years pointing to a greater spiritual truth?  Is this chronological from chapter 19?  If it is chronological and all the nations were destroyed in 19:17-21, how have they appeared again in chapter 20?  Does the angel from heaven really need a chain and key to bind up the dragon, Satan, who is actually a spirit?  If the pit is bottomless where would this satan spirit be chained?  Jesus has told us repeatedly that He is already reigning on earth in the hearts of men, so why does He need to come back to a temple that He has already fulfilled?  Wouldn’t setting up a temple for worship be a form of blasphemy?  Will Jesus be setting up a literal temple in Jerusalem to sit on a literal throne while Satan is still active on this earth?  What is Satan bound from doing specifically during the millennium?  The Bible only speaks of the present age and the age to come so what age is the millennium?  Church, there are so many questions that we have to address here to try to understand Jesus’ 1000 year reign.  Let us seek to do this together, gracefully.

The millennium is a deeply debated topic within the world-wide Church across every generation.  This can be difficult to understand due to the apocalyptic nature of how Revelation is written.  Historically, there are four main millennial views that the majority of us hold to as a result of studying this difficult chapter.  There are the postmillenialists, premillennialist, dispensational premillennialist and the realized millennialst, also known as the amillennialist.  (click here for definitions of these four views)

You can hold to any of these views and still be my much-loved brother and sister in Christ.  We can disagree about the millennium and both worship together with great sacrificial love for one another as we prepare to spend eternity with one another in the presence of Jesus Christ.  
I really want to make this clear.  Our belief about the millennium is what our church and Christendom calls an opened-handed doctrine vs a closed-handed doctrine.  Let me explain.  Our goal as a church is to be completely, biblically faithful in all that we teach as we form our lives around Scripture.  As we desire to submit our lives under the teaching of Scripture, we divide doctrine into two main categories: closed-handed doctrine and opened-handed doctrine.  Closed-handed doctrines are unchangeable teachings that all Christians should hold true all the time in every generation.  Some of these doctrinal topics include what the Bible teaches about God the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, sin, salvation, the Gospel, eternity, the Trinity.  Basically, you will miss Christ’s offer of salvation if you get these closed-handed doctrines wrong.  We will not manipulate these doctrines.

Next, we also have open-handed doctrines that we teach that are not explicit or essential to true faith in Christ.  As Christians we hold on loosely and accept disagreement gracefully when discussing open-handed doctrines.  Some of these doctrines include adhering to a form of baptism, worship style, and specific end-times eschatology.  These are just a few.  As brothers and sisters in Christ we can discus and debate these issues from the Bible and still love one another greatly as we prepare to spend eternity with one another in the presence of our Savior Jesus Christ.

As we prepare for worship this Sunday, remember, the only chapter in the Bible that speaks directly about the millennium is Revelation 20. The great part of Revelation 20, is that Scripture will never contradict itself.  We can get a very good idea of what this 1000 year reign of Jesus is through simply reading what is present in Revelation 20, and staying away from what is not present in this chapter.  I will see you Sunday as we only look at what is there in this chapter and not what is not there.  To God be the glory!  Jesus reigns today in the heart of His followers today.
 
Revelation 20:2-3 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

I can’t wait to worship with you Sunday, Steve