There has been much ink spilled over “The Millennium” mentioned in Revelation 20: Who is the angel with the key and the chain? When does this 1000-year period take place? How can there be more than one resurrection?

Well, just as we have learned that the Revelation is a series of discrete visions of future events, and just as we know that these visions are expressed primarily in Old Testament symbols and images, we also need to remember where John received these visions – in Heaven, a place outside of both time and space (4:1). And since it is very likely that time is perceived in a radically different way there, why couldn’t the 1000 years of the Millennium actually be divided up into discrete eras of the Church’s dominance, scattered over all of human history? Maybe Constantine and Charlemagne thus both ruled during the Millennium, and maybe the last 200 years of American history have also been part of that same overall vision of safety and security for Christians. Since all time is the present in Heaven, maybe the 1000 years of the Millennium are a total, not one discrete period of human history.

But instead of getting down into the weeds, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture – what is the essential truth this vision is trying to communicate to us? At the very least that God has absolute power over Satan – God can bind him and God is the One Who allows him to be active only for the time that God specifies. That’s good news for us, no matter how we understand the particulars of this passage. For ultimately, we do not need to fear Satan or anyone that works for him.

That’s important because of a second obvious truth: if the Church has had “millennial periods” of peace and security throughout human history, at the end of each of those times Satan has managed to deceive people and cause lots of trouble for the Church. Verse 4 says that some Christians will in fact be killed because of their faith, and that sort of opposition to the Church has gone on from time to time ever since the crucifixion of Christ.

When you put these two truths together, we reach the third and most important teaching of this passage, indeed of the whole of the Revelation: whatever persecution the Church is called to endure will only be temporary. The good news is that eventually, those who trust in Christ will live and reign with Him, not only during the 1000 years described in this passage, but forever and ever. And whatever the second death means, those who trust in Christ will have no need to fear it.

So, no matter what opposition the world and the devil may bring our way, let us rejoice in the victory of Christ over sin and death, a victory that all who trust in Him share. And let us live in that victory, remaining faithful to the One Who has gained that victory at the cost of His own life.

Revelation 20:1-6 (NASB)

And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
3 and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and 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 completed. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.