Introduction

The word Millenium is made up of two parts. It comes from the Latin: mille and annum. In case you haven't guessed it - mille means '1000' and annum means 'years'.

Primarily when one speaks of the 'Millennium' they are most likely speaking of the passage found in Revelation 20:1-7:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, -- Revelation 20:1-7

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. -- Isaiah 11:1-10

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. -- Isaiah 35:1-10

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. -- Jeremiah 23:5-8

So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion. -- Joel 3:17-21

And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.-- Zech 14:9-21

The Different Views

Now there are three main interpretations to these passages and what the 'Millennium' actually references.

1) Premillennialism sees this as a literal 1,000 year period during which Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of numerous OT prophecies (eg. 2 Sam. 7:12–16; Ps. 2; Is. 11:6–12; 24:23; Hos. 3:4,5; Joel 3:9–21; Amos 9:8–15; Mic. 4:1–8; Zeph. 3:14–20; Zech. 14:1–11; Matt. 24:29–31,36–44), reigns on the earth.

2) Postmillennialism understands the reference to a 1,000 year period as only symbolic of a golden age of righteousness and spiritual prosperity. It will be ushered in by the spread of the gospel during the present church age and brought to completion when Christ returns. According to this view, references to Christ’s reign on earth primarily describe His spiritual reign in the hearts of believers in the church.

3) Amillennialism understands the 1,000 years to be merely symbolic of a long period of time. This view interprets OT prophecies of a Millennium as being fulfilled spiritually now in the church (either on earth or in heaven) or as references to the eternal state. 

As we have stated in other articles published by this ministry, we here at Grace Prophetic Ministries hold to the Premillenial view.

I personally believe that 'millennial' confusion exists in the the modern church in part due to the fact that in Revelation 20:1-7 John states six times that the reign of Christ on earth after the second advent will be 1000 years. However, in other places in scripture it is stated that Christ's kingdom will last forever, such as:

And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. -- Daniel 7:14

And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. -- Daniel 7:27

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. -- Revelation 11:15

This apparent inconsistency has led many to believe that the millennium of Revelation 20 must therefore not be literal. However, one can easily reconcile this apparent conflict with the understanding that both statements are true:

• Christ will reign over his kingdom for 1000 years on this present earth for one thousand years, AND 
• He will reign for ever afterwards.

The future Kingdom has two phases. Phase 1 is the millennial reign of Christ on earth for 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-6), and phase 2 is the eternal state of Revelation 22:5.  Think of it, if you will, that the Millennium is simply the front porch of eternity.

More key reasons for us believing in the Premillenial view are:

1. Using the same general principles of interpretation for both prophetic and non-prophetic passages leads most naturally to Premillennialism. 
2. The precedence of so many biblical prophecies have already been literally fulfilled, strongly suggests that future prophecies will likewise be fulfilled literally.
3. Using the same literal, historical, grammatical principles of interpretation so as to determine the normal sense of language, one is left with the inescapable conclusion that Christ will return and reign in a real kingdom on earth for 1,000 years. 
4. There is nothing in the text to render the conclusion that “a thousand years” is symbolic. Never in Scripture when “year” is used with a number is its meaning not literal.

Through our discussion and the literal reading of the passages above, it can be clearly seen that the descriptions are those of a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on this planet.  To deny this fact would be to deny several different parts of scriptural prophecies, stretching 1000's of years.

We can see in all these passages contain a description of a literal kingdom and none of them, nor the surrounding text, suggests that this kingdom is to be allegoricalized out of a literal existence.  Instead they contain a description of a time that has not yet happened on this earth. If it has not yet happened then one must assume this is a future event and it will one day come to pass in our future. We can assume this because God's word does not lie - the Word is truth - therefore the millennium, the times described in the passages above, can only be interpreted as a real and literal event.

David's Heir

Another facet in understanding Premillenialism is the understanding of Christ's claim to David's throne and the passages of scripture that support it.  Before we start we need to take a look at one very important aspect when analyzing the following scriptures:  

Christ was descended from the line of David (Matt 1:1-25; Luke 1:27; Rev. 5:5; Rev 22:16)

Once we have that in our understanding, we are ready to understand and examine the following:

 "The LORD hath sworn in truth unto david; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore" --Psalm 132:11-12

Who's throne?... DAVID'S

Was David's throne literal? Yes it was.  History assures us of that fact.

So is God referring to a literal or an allegorical throne? Logical progression of the language indicates our only answer is: literal.

Where will this throne be located? 

"For the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation....There will I make the HORN OF DAVID to bud: I have ordained a lamp for Mine anointed -- Psalm 132:13,17

David's throne will be located in Zion (Jerusalem), not in heaven. It is there in Zion, on earth, that an offspring of David will rule.  

"Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the THRONE OF DAVID, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this" -- Isaiah 9:7

It says here that there will be peace under his rule (government) and it will be without end. Has there ever been peace under a descendant of David, who sat on David's throne?   Again, history (both biblical and secular) attest to the fact that the answer is 'no'.  And most definitely we know that there is no current king in Israel and therefore we know that David's rule has ended, and therefore no one in the past could have fulfilled Isaiah 9:7.

Is the throne itself literal or symbolic? 

To answer this question we need to ask the question 'Well how do we get to it?' and search scriptures for the answer.

"Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the THRONE OF DAVID, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of JERUSALEM: and this city shall remain for ever" -- Jeremiah 17:25

Note the words, 'through the gates of this city'.  We already know the city is Jerusalem from prior verses, so the passages would appear to be quite literal in interpretation. It would seem silly to mention the gates of a symbolic city, and people roaming around in a symbolic city with a symbolic gate, and Christ sitting on a symbolic throne.

There's more in Jeremiah 22.

"And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the THRONE OF DAVID, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates: For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the THRONE OF DAVID, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people" -- Jeremiah 22:2,4.

"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His Name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness" --Jeremiah 23:5-6

One king to reign and execute judgment and justice in the earth? Wow... that's quite a kingdom. Israel shall dwell safely and his name is the Lord Our Righteousness?

That has never before occurred in Israel's past.. so we must assume it speaks of a time in Israel's future.

Much like Jeremiah 23:5-6 indicated above, Jeremiah 33:16 continues with the concept.

"In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness" -- Jeremiah 33:16

Here we have Jerusalem mentioned directly.... literally and he that is called Lord our righteousness is there.

You can try to make this passage symbolic, but you cannot when it is read in context with the preceding verse.

"In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness IN THE LAND" -- Jeremiah 33:15.

In the land? Now that doesn't sound very symbolic to me. Actually it is quite literal in translation.

There is more...

"And DAVID My servant shall be KING over them; and they all shall have ONE SHEPHERD: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell IN THE LAND that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and My servant DAVID shall be their PRINCE for ever" -- Ezekiel 37:24-25

All have ONE SHEPHERD? Dwell IN THE LAND? My servant DAVID shall be their PRINCE forever?

This has never happened... it must be a future event. The offspring of David the future king/prince is only mentioned in a millennial, earthly, Jewish context.

There is further proof of this in Hosea.

"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and DAVID their king; and shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days" -- Hosea 3:4-5

Is there a king in Israel today? No, just a prime minister and a democracy. So this passage also must be referring to a future event. The fact that latter days is mentioned seems to line up with the context of Revelation and the other prophecies of the latter days.

Are we sure that Christ is this heir of David?

As I mentioned above, we can be assured that Christ is a descendant from the line of David from Matt 1:1-25; Luke 1:27; Rev. 5:5; Rev 22:16 and the following passage:

"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch DAVID, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ TO SIT ON HIS THRONE; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, UNTIL I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" -- Acts 2:29-36

Contrary to what some may have us believe, this kingdom promised to David does not begin with Christ's ascension to the right hand of God in heaven. The key to this verse is in the word UNTIL.

Here we have Lord say unto the Lord, sit at my right hand... UNTIL I make thy foes thy footstool.

Then shall he rule the kingdom as LITERALLY defined in all of the previous verses.

I simply cannot see the interpretation of these passages any other way but literally. Scripture must align with scripture and all these passages do so perfectly when taken literally.

Conclusion

Christ is coming back to earth to rule for one thousand, literal years from David's Throne.

We have His word on it.

-- J.R. Hall

References:
1. John F. MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible, pg 2021, Dallas: Word Publishing, 1997

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