Premillennialism and the Book of Revelation Explained

Introduction to Millennial Interpretations

The Book of Revelation — the final segment of the New Testament — is a particularly contentious and divisive section of the Bible. Considerable ambiguity exists surrounding whether to interpret the scripture literally or metaphorically, and the episodes described often seem especially fantastical. Moreover, the author's rhetoric leaves room for multiple interpretations, resulting in unverifiable conclusions for the reader. Acknowledging the caveat that there is no available method for arriving at a conclusive meaning for the Book of Revelation, this essay nevertheless adopts the literal, premillennial viewpoint, which states that the second coming of Christ occurs before the millennium. There are multiple reasons for this stance: first, there is no reason to believe that what was written by the Apostle John was written in vain; second, the use of what appears to be metaphorical or symbolic language does not preclude a literal interpretation; and third, premillennialism most strictly coheres with the devout obedience to God promulgated by the earlier books of the Bible.

Interpretations of the millennium section of the Book of Revelation are categorized into three positions. Premillennialism, as described above, holds that Christ's second coming precedes the millennium. Postmillennialism posits that the second coming occurs after the millennium. Amillennialism stipulates that the millennium narrative is a metaphor not to be interpreted literally. The Book of Revelation is alleged to have been written by the Apostle John while he was living in exile toward the end of the first century A.D. A close reading of the context in which it was written, and of the actual language of the millennial segment (Revelation 20:1–6), reveals the efficacy of the premillennial viewpoint.

The Book of Revelation was written at a time of crisis, with war and other turmoil consuming the land, necessitating the second coming of Christ. It is believed that after rectifying the crimes committed in Israel by the Church, Christ turned his attention to spiritual opposition. According to the scripture, after his second coming Christ rules peacefully for a "Golden Millennium" in which Satan is imprisoned and worldwide peace is enjoyed. Afterward, Satan is released and wreaks havoc and warfare throughout the land. Finally, Satan is destroyed, God delivers his judgment, and the eternal state follows.

The millennium episode of the Book of Revelation (20:1–6) opens with the description: "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain" (20:1). Almost certainly, the angel is a servant of Christ; the key symbolizes a transformative event about to take place, while the chain denotes the device used to keep Satan imprisoned. Rather than restricting itself to a specific geographic location, John establishes a geographical ambiguity that universalizes the meaning of the action, making it applicable not just to those in Israel. Meanwhile, the chain represents a device typically associated with warfare and violence — prevalent at the time — but here redirected toward exterminating violence.

Passage 20:2–3 reads: "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent… and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until after the thousand years were ended." This passage similarly avoids geographical specificity. The exact location of the Abyss is never disclosed, lending credibility to the passage and reinforcing the universality of the book as a whole. By emphasizing that the impetus for locking Satan away was to keep him from deceiving the nations, John indicates that Satan did not exist as a physical body but rather as a force compelling his followers toward dishonesty. The embodiment of Satan as a dragon — a fictional species — reinforces the figure's allegorical rather than physical existence. However, while Satan is not a physical being, this should not be used as the basis for claiming that everything written in the Book of Revelation is metaphorical and not to be firmly believed, as the amillennialists declare.

A Literal Reading of Revelation 20:1–6

Critics of the premillennial stance often emphasize the fantastical nature of the millennium passage; however, there is actually nothing in it outrageous enough to be discredited, provided that one subscribes to the doctrines explicated in the other areas of the New Testament.

As Chapter 20 continues, certain claims arise that appear to be in tension with material from other Gospels. In 20:4, the author writes:

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years had ended.)"

This passage is frequently employed by those who seek to discredit premillennialism, largely because other judgments involving Satan also appear elsewhere in the Bible. However, the fact that Satan appears in several episodes within the Bible should not discredit his inclusion in Revelation. Rather, Satan exists as a spiritual — rather than corporeal — threat whose influence affects those residing in the physical world. The fact that the Abyss is never assigned an actual location reinforces how Satan's existence is not physical but a spiritual force.

One additional area in which Revelation withholds specificity is in the meaning of the thrones. Most likely, they symbolize the seats reserved for members of the Christian Church whom Christ displaces upon his arrival. The mention of "those who had been beheaded" is thus significant, suggesting those executed under the malicious rule of that church. Rather than claiming that the rhetoric is too ambiguous to have any basis in truth, it is more accurate to examine which specific objects are likely referred to through such allegedly unclear diction.

To this end, it is important to acknowledge that the Book of Revelation was not written in a vacuum. The author wrote at a time before the novel, when poetic form was the privileged rhetorical style. The recurring use of the first-person pronoun throughout — immediately established in 20:1 with the statement "I saw an angel" — suggests a poetic form that, while not endeavoring to fabricate events, nevertheless adopts a circuitous rhetorical style that can be misunderstood as fiction. In his book The Days of Vengeance, David Chilton discredits the truth value of the Book of Revelation, claiming that the use of the personal pronoun in phrases such as "and I saw" (20:1) suggests that the narrator may be hallucinating or engaging in fictional storytelling.

However, the Book of Revelation was intended to describe a set of events that took place, written prior to the more precise, journalistic prose characterizing modern expository writing. It is unfair to criticize the validity of John the Apostle's account since there is no contemporary storytelling tradition against which to measure it. It is therefore best to accept the account on its own terms, acknowledging that while it is possible the account was fabricated, there is no way of proving such a claim.

Challenges to the Premillennial Position

The specification that Christ reigned for one thousand years is also criticized by those subscribing to amillennialism as an arbitrary figure with no basis in truth — particularly since nowhere else in the Bible does it indicate that Christ ruled on Earth for exactly 1,000 years. Certainly, there is no way of proving that the one thousand years is a correct total or one meant to be taken precisely. However, it is not fair to denigrate the premillennial viewpoint on this basis, since elsewhere in the Book of Revelation numbers do carry specific importance. For example, the seven angels and seven trials in Chapter 21 bear clear numeric significance.

The statement that "They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until after the thousand years had ended" (20:4–5) alludes to two separate resurrections: one for the righteous (particularly the Saints, who are endowed with eternal protection and good fortune) and one for the damned. This passage has met with considerable dissent. Kim Riddlebarger, for instance, argues that the eternal protection granted to the saints upon Jesus' arrival does not conform to the later description in 20:7, in which Satan wreaks havoc on everyone, including those very saints: "If true, this millennial apostasy is to a second fall. Not even resurrected and glorified saints are safe from the future wrath of Satan and the unbelieving nations."

However, the apparent contradiction should not be used to undermine the validity of the passage; rather, it should be viewed as a narrative in which Satan's influence is forever in conflict with the actions of Christ and his religious disciples.

According to Brian Schwertley, who advocates the postmillennial interpretation, the revolt of Satan following the thousand years of peace is not feasible since no one remains capable of assisting Satan in such a rebellion:

"If the wicked receive 'sudden destruction' and the saints are glorified, no one is left to populate the earth during the premillennialists' 1000-year reign. After Christians receive their heavenly, glorified bodies, they do not marry and bear children. Who, then, is there to rebel against Christ at the end of the 1,000-year earthly reign? The glorified saints certainly cannot rebel, and the unbelievers are all suffering torment in the lake of fire."

This argument is commonly issued by those looking to discredit the premillennialist stance. However, Schwertley overlooks the fact that the Day of Judgment does not occur until after the millennium. Additionally, in verse 9 the individuals whom Satan persuades to join his revolt are referred to only as "them," leaving ambiguous whether any saints were persuaded to join Satan. Furthermore, nowhere in the Book of Revelation does it state that Christians do not marry and bear children.

Conclusion: Premillennialism Without a Program

While the Book of Revelation offers a reasonable account of Christ's necessary intervention into the land of Israel and his fight against the injustices of the Christian Church, there is no doubt that many of the events described may not have actually taken place — even if they have not been verifiably overturned. In this regard, the most reasonable millennial theory may be that of Herschel Hobbs, who asserts that it is most appropriate to be "pre without a program" — in other words, to subscribe to premillennialism without absolute belief in each of the specific events described therein. Such a compromise does not assert that Revelation is deceptive, yet it also acknowledges that the book may not be absolute in its validity.