Revelation 20:1-6--The Thousand Years

Revelation 20:1-6
English Standard Version

The Thousand Years
20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 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. After that he must be released for a little while.

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped 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 for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

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I've already given away much of what I think about this passage in the previous article, but let me tell you from the beginning that I think the plain, clear meaning of this text is that Christ will return for a literal one-thousand year reign on this earth to set up an earthly kingdom that is primarily to set up the theocratic state of Israel on earth and to fulfill all covenant promises to them that have been partially fulfilled, but have yet to be totally realized (they have received land, but not all of the Land that was promised to them.  They have been able to receive blessings for obedience, but they have not been able to perfectly obey and experience the perfect blessings under the Law.  They have had relative peace and safety, but there were always enemies in every generation looking to annihilate them--for a while, all of their enemies will be destroyed and everyone will want to be friends with them and bring tribute to King Jesus.  However, this earthly kingdom is temporary and even a one-thousand year kingdom is a drop in the bucket compared to the even better Kingdom that is coming in the New Creation in just a few more verses.

Why 1,000 years?  Because that is the time Satan is to spend in the Bottomless Pit (the Abyss) as a sort of pre-trial confinement.  His time in  confinement did not reform him in the least.  In fact, he probably spends every moment of the 1,000 years plotting, planning and scheming how he's going to lead an even larger rebellion when he gets out and trying every way he can to escape from custody.  After his 1,000-year sentence is over, he will be released, but just for a little while--just long enough to turn the hearts of the new generation away from God and lead a final rebellion of the people born during this 1,000-year reign of Christ against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and His people.

There is a limited resurrection of the righteous dead who died during the Tribulation period and we see the establishment of a government of shared authority as Christ establishes thrones with earthly rulers who have authority to judge.  We are told that the unrighteous dead (those who have taken the mark of the beast during the Tribulation period) stay in their graves to await a resurrection of the unrighteous to the Day of Judgment for them.  The unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God with the righteous.

These who are resurrected in this special resurrection will never die again and they will not experience the second death that is the Lake of Fire that is prepared for the unrighteous (their salvation in secure).  John counts them blessed if they get to take part in their first resurrection--the Resurrection of the Righteous Tribulation Saints.  These Tribulation saints are promised that they will serve the Lord forever as priests and they will reign with Him for 1,000 years (notice they are not promised that this is an eternal kingdom--that Kingdom is still coming after Satan and all of the wicked are finally dealt with so that there is no more chance of corruption of the kingdom or people of God).