                 Millennial Views - An Overview

                        by John C. Darrow

Millennium is a Latin term meaning "thousand years".

The Old Testament speaks often of the Age to Come, in which a New 
Covenant would be made between God and man, and God's Spirit 
would live in men's hearts. (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-27). 
Messiah is to reign then (Dan. 7:13-14).

In the New Testament, Revelation chapter 20 speaks of Satan being 
bound for "a thousand years", then loosed afterwards. At the 
beginning of this thousand years, the righteous dead are raised 
and reign with Christ. The rest of the dead are raised at the end 
of the 1000 years.

Several approaches are taken to the details. The Amillennial view 
("no millennium") sees the Age to Come and the Millennium as 
present now, with Christ reigning in the hearts of those who are 
saved. The 1000 years is representative of some long period of 
time, the Church Age, just as God's ownership of "the cattle on a 
thousand hills" (Psalm 50:10) is not limited to a literal 1000 
hills. Christians have passed from death to life (Jn. 5:24), and 
are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). The "first 
resurrection" in Rev. 20 is this spiritual resurrection of 
believers, with a physical resurrection of all when Christ 
returns, with judgment and spiritual death the fate of 
unbelievers at that point.

The Postmillennial view ("after the millennium") emphasizes that 
God means the Gospel to be successful in bringing people to Him 
and transforming their lives, and through them, society. At some 
point, earth will be actually to a large degree acknowledging 
Christ as Lord. In this Millennium, Christ rules through the 
Gospel.

Premillennialism ("before the millennium") sees Christ returning 
to set up His Kingdom. Christians are physically raised at that 
point, while unbelievers are not raised until 1000 years later. 
There are various subdivisions within this view, with one of the 
major differences being whether Old Testament believers, such as 
Abraham, are physically raised along with Christians before the 
millennium, or raised at the end of the millennium. The 
theological difference revolves around whether Old Testament and 
New Testament believers are all seen as one people of God, all 
saved by faith in God's provision, or whether Old Testament 
believers are a separate people of God from the Church.

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