REVELATION 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 she 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.
The events in Revelation 20:1-6 take place at the same period, which is referred to as a thousand years.
A survey of scripture reveals the term a thousand years is used elsewhere to denote a sort of eternal time.
This reference to a thousand years in Revelation 20 must be figurative because:
(1) Revelation consistently uses numbers figuratively; 5:11; 7:4-9; 9:16; 14:1; 21:16 which themselves are used in conjunction with figurative language ("chain","abyss", "dragon", "serpent", "locked", "sealed, "beast".
(2) Revelation especially, is a book with tons of allusions to the OT and figurative language riffing from the OT. See Revelation 1:1
(3) The figurative use of one thousand in the OT: figurative non-temporal: Deut: 1:10-11; 32:30; Josh. 23:10; Job 9:3; 32:23; Pss 50:10;68:17; Song Sol. 4:4;Ps. 84:10; Eccl. 6:6; especially 1 Chron 16:15-17 = Ps. 105:8-10 where God's "covenant forever" and "everlasting covenant" are equated with "the word which He commanded to a thousand generations" AND
(4) the use in Jewish writing and Early Christianity of "a thousand years" : as a figurative symbol for the eternal blessing of the redeemed: (2Pe 3.:8; Jubilees 13:27-30; 2 Enoch 25:33: Barnabas 15; Testament of Isaac 6-8)
In light of these examples the millennium should probably be taken figurately. Probably as a general reference to a long period of time as is Psalm 90:4: For a thousand years in They sight are like yesterday when it passes by.
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 she 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.
The events in Revelation 20:1-6 take place at the same period, which is referred to as a thousand years.
A survey of scripture reveals the term a thousand years is used elsewhere to denote a sort of eternal time.
This reference to a thousand years in Revelation 20 must be figurative because:
(1) Revelation consistently uses numbers figuratively; 5:11; 7:4-9; 9:16; 14:1; 21:16 which themselves are used in conjunction with figurative language ("chain","abyss", "dragon", "serpent", "locked", "sealed, "beast".
(2) Revelation especially, is a book with tons of allusions to the OT and figurative language riffing from the OT. See Revelation 1:1
(3) The figurative use of one thousand in the OT: figurative non-temporal: Deut: 1:10-11; 32:30; Josh. 23:10; Job 9:3; 32:23; Pss 50:10;68:17; Song Sol. 4:4;Ps. 84:10; Eccl. 6:6; especially 1 Chron 16:15-17 = Ps. 105:8-10 where God's "covenant forever" and "everlasting covenant" are equated with "the word which He commanded to a thousand generations" AND
(4) the use in Jewish writing and Early Christianity of "a thousand years" : as a figurative symbol for the eternal blessing of the redeemed: (2Pe 3.:8; Jubilees 13:27-30; 2 Enoch 25:33: Barnabas 15; Testament of Isaac 6-8)
In light of these examples the millennium should probably be taken figurately. Probably as a general reference to a long period of time as is Psalm 90:4: For a thousand years in They sight are like yesterday when it passes by.