It’s been more than 20 years since I visited Jerusalem in a tour group with my church. As we wandered the markets of the old city, tried our hand at haggling, and bought gifts and souvenirs, one thing really surprised me. In many of the stalls were merchandise with US flags, “Israel loves America” logos, and even pictures of American Air Force planes.
Today, many people count themselves among Israel’s most vocal supporters. For many, their investment in Israel is informed by their interpretation of the Bible prophecy about end-time events.
One of the flashiest of these interpretations was made famous by the Left Behind series of books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. These books became New York Times bestsellers and also were made into movies in the early 2000s. The key event in these stories is the “secret rapture,” when all Christians in the world disappear (up to heaven). This view of end-time prophecy is called dispensationalism. It views the restoration of a Jewish state in Israel as one of the dominoes that needed to fall before the rapture, the seven years of tribulation, the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple, the battle of Armageddon, and, finally, the return of Jesus and His believers to reign on earth for a thousand years. Evangelicals feel their role is to work and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Dispensationalists hold a premillennialist view—that is, that Jesus will return before the millennium (1,000 years).
Another view held by a growing number of Evangelicals is what’s called postmillennial reconstructionist theology. They believe that the church will bring in the kingdom of God by reconstructing society through social and political activism. They see the United States, in particular, as key to bringing in a millennium of peace, prosperity, faith, and righteousness prior to the return of Jesus. The Christian reconstruction movement is joined by prosperity-gospel advocates who believe that the “kingdom” (of God) is now and that the prosperity promises of the millennium can be experienced in the present.1
The prosperity gospel comes from Pentecostal tradition, and its adherents tend to be pro-Israel too—but for very different reasons to dispensationalists. They tie support for Israel to their theology, believing that God will bless you to the extent that you bless Israel. This is based on a verse in Genesis 12:3 where God says to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” Because Israel is key in both premillennialist and postmillennialist views, many Christians are drawn to political activism in support of Israel.
the Bible and the millennium
So what does the Bible say about the millennium?
The word millennium is not actually used in the Bible but is a term for the thousand-year period described in Revelation 20. This chapter is the sole descriptor of the biblical millennium. For this reason, any information about the events of the millennium must be derived primarily from this passage. In this chapter, two key things are explained as happening during the thousand years.
Satan is bound and unable to deceive the nations.
Believers who have been resurrected at the first resurrection (at Christ’s second coming) are seated on thrones to judge. They are called “priests” and reign with Christ.
Nowhere does this chapter say that this reign with Christ will happen on earth or in Israel as the dispensationalists believe, nor does it imply that it is spiritually happening on earth in our current age as the postmillennialists believe. It is the resurrection at Jesus’ second coming that brings His followers up to meet Him in the clouds, as the apostle Paul affirms in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
Before Jesus returned to heaven, He reassured His disciples that He would return to take them to be with Him: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2, 3).
These resurrected believers are described in Revelation 20 as those who “came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years” but in heaven, not on earth. It isn’t until after the 1,000 years that God and His people return to earth, Satan is destroyed, and “God makes His dwelling with men” (see Revelation 20:5, 9; 21:2, 3).
At the end of the 1,000 years, Revelation 20:5 tells us the rest of the dead will come to life—that is, those who were not resurrected at Jesus’ second coming. But before they are resurrected to receive their final destruction, Revelation 20:12 describes a courtroom scene. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” This judgment occurs during the millennium while God’s people are reigning with Jesus in heaven as judges and priests. Before the final destruction of sin, sinners, and Satan, there is a judgment period, and it is Jesus and His people doing the judging. It is a process that will allow all to see that God is just and fair in all His dealings. It is a final vindication of God’s character as loving and good.
the millennium is about full transparency
Revelation 20:15 says, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (ESV2), which as the previous verse explains is “the second death” (an ultimate, final death).Seventh-day Adventists are one of the few Christian denominations who believe this particular interpretation of Revelation 20. They hold to a premillennialist view (the millennium takes place after Jesus’ return) but emphasize that the millennium does not take place on earth in Israel. Rather, the millennial reign of God’s people will be in heaven.
This view of the millennium is more concerned with a revelation of God’s loving character and how every human is given the freedom to choose or reject Him. It reveals God’s full transparency in the judgment and allows all to see that He has honored each individual’s free choice and is loving, merciful, and fair in all His dealings with humanity.
Emma Dyer writes from Upper Hutt, New Zealand, where she lives with her husband and two children.
