The Millenium
For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by.
Key words
- Days are numbered: If someone's days are numbered, they will not exist for much longer
The latest opinion polls suggest that his days as leader are numbered.
- Sentiment: a thought, opinion, or idea based on a feeling about a situation, or a way of thinking about something
There is usually a lot of patriotic sentiment before elections.
- Like a thief in the night: secretly or unexpectedly and without being seen
We know from experience that undemocratic agencies can quietly accumulate power like a thief in the night.
- Abyss: a very deep hole that seems to have no bottom
The country is sinking into an abyss of violence and lawlessness.
- Preceded by: to be or go before something or someone in time or space
This evening's talk will be preceded by a brief introduction from Mr Appleby.
Read the article to find the answers
- How does Moses describe a thousand years in Psalm 90?
- What did the Apostle Peter echo?
- Where in the Bible is Satan thrown down to earth?
- What cannot enter the Kingdom of God?
The Thousand-Year Metaphor
In Psalm 90, Moses describes a thousand years as a very short time for God:
For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
Moses compares man to grass, which grows by day and is cut down by night. Even if a man lives to be 80, his life is short. He asks God to teach the Israelites to number their days so that their hearts will be focused on gaining wisdom.
The Apostle Peter echoed this sentiment when he said:
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
Peter tells Jesus' disciples to read the Scriptures so that they will know how men have forgotten, ignored and ridiculed the Word of God since the beginning of time, and reminds them that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, just as the flood came in Noah's day. He tells them that heaven and earth will give way to new heavens and a new earth, and again tells them to increase their knowledge of the Scriptures to avoid being led astray by wicked men.
The Dragon
War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the great dragon, the ancient serpent called Satan, who leads the whole world astray, and he was thrown down to earth.
The fall of Satan described in chapter 12 of Revelation is mirrored in chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke, where we read how Jesus, after sending his disciples out to preach, heal and cast out demons, saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
The thousand-year reign of Jesus began after the dragon was bound and thrown into the abyss, after the metaphorical thousand years the dragon was released for a short time but eventually faced judgement and was thrown into the lake of fire.
The Millennium
The metaphorical thousand-year reign of Christ, during which Satan is bound, is known as the Millennium. It is preceded by the infamous Mark of the Beast, and the fall of Jerusalem, spiritually known as Babylon, Sodom and Egypt.
Revelation is largely symbolic. It is not entirely chronological, as many events are repeated but presented with different imagery. We don't know the exact dates of the Millennium, but we do know that it began soon after Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven and ended within the lifetime of Jesus' disciples.
In Mark 13, Jesus answers his disciples' questions about when the Kingdom of God will be established:
This generation will not pass away until all these things have happened, but no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
We know that Nero, who died in 68 A.D., was understood to be the Beast and that Jerusalem fell in 70 A.D. We also know from 1 Corinthians 15 that flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God. We know from John 18 that the Kingdom of God is not of this world, and from Luke 17 that the Kingdom of God cannot be seen with the human eye.
Discussion questions
- Do you have any questions about any of the vocabulary or grammar in this article?
- Are you familiar with the Bible passage used in this article?
- How are dragons portrayed in your culture?
- What do you know about alternative interpretations of the Millennium?
- Do you know what else was happening in the first century?
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