Will Jesus Reign On The Earth For a Thousand Years?
Many believe and teach that he will. Nowhere do we find this theory taught in the Bible. The theory that He will do so is called Premillennialism; briefly stated, this theory teaches that Christ will return before the millennium. At Christ’s second coming only the Christian dead will be resurrected. These along with living Christians will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (usually called the “rapture”, a word not found in the Bible, of the church). Following this “first resurrection” the millennium will be be established on earth. This will be a one thousand year period during which Satan is bound, and during which perfect righteousness will prevail and the saints will reign with Christ. He will reign from Jerusalem where he will be seated on the throne of David in a rebuilt temple. This states the general theory, though there are many variations to the teaching.
Such a theory is based on statements in Revelation 20:1-10. This is the only place in the Bible that mentions a one thousand year reign. We do not believe that the Lord is coming back to reign on the earth one thousand years. There are three main reasons why we do not believe such: (1) The nature of the book of Revelation (2) the clear teaching of other scripture relating to the end of the world; and (3) Nowhere does the Bible say Jesus will ever step foot back on the earth again!
It is significant that the only mention in all the word of God of a one thousand year reign is in the most figurative book in the Bible. We believe that the Book of Revelation says symbolically what the rest of the New Testament says in clear language, and nowhere does it ever intimate a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth at some time in the future. The expression “a thousand years” in Rev. 20 needs not mean anything more than a complete period of time known only to God.
We believe in a millennium, but that is the time going on now the period of time between the first and second coming of our Lord, and will end when our Lord returns. The New Testament teaches that Jesus is now reigning on His throne (God’s throne, David’s throne) (Acts 2:30,33, 36) Jesus is now king over His spiritual kingdom the church (I Timothy 6:15; Colossians 1:13; Mark 9:1; Matthew 16:18-19).
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