The only place in Bible where there is mention of a 1000 year reign is Revelation 20:1-6. First, remember what we spoke of in the previous question concerning the context of the book of Revelation. The message was revealed in signs and symbols and the fulfillment would come to pass shortly after the revealing of the book. Now to Revelation 20. There are at least seven things that are not mentioned in Revelation 20 that are the key tenets of the Premillennial view of the 1000 year reign:
- A bodily resurrection
- The second coming of Christ
- A reign of Christ on earth
- The literal throne of David
- Jerusalem of Palestine
- The conversion of the Jews
- The church on earth
How can a theory be true when it rests on a text in which not one of its peculiar tenets can be found?
This text speaks of the cause of the saints who were martyred (6:9-11) being resurrected while Satan’s power is restricted so that he can no longer “deceive the nations” into wholesale persecution of the saints as he had done during the Roman persecution.
I Corinthians 15:20-28 confirms the absence of a literal 1000 year reign on the earth.
- First, when Christ returns, “then comes the end.” There is not another 1000 years.
- Secondly, when Christ returns He “delivers the kingdom to God,” He does not receive the kingdom.
- Thirdly, Christ reigns “till all enemies are put under His feet.” He does not begin His reign after His enemies are destroyed as in Premillennialism.
- Fourthly, death is the last enemy to be destroyed and when it is destroyed (at his coming), Jesus delivers the kingdom to God. Premillennialism has every one of these principles reversed.