Revelation | May 7, 2026

Start your day with a short, Scripture-centered devotional from Paul Michael. In about seven minutes, you will hear the Word, reflect on its truth, and be encouraged to live it out in everyday life.

Revelation | The Millennium, Part 1

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Transcript

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Welcome to your daily devotional with me, PMV. You remember in the Lord's Prayer that's found in Matthew chapter 6, as Jesus was praying, a part of that prayer was, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Well, as we come to Revelation chapter 20 today, we will see that there's this thing commonly called the millennial reign of Christ, and it is the fulfillment of, it is the answer to this prayer, the Lord's prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Alright, as we come to Revelation chapter 20 today, uh maybe you ask, what's the deal with the millennial reign? Why a millennium? Well, a thousand-year reign of Christ, just because what God has promised. This even goes back to the book of Luke. One of the places that this is discussed is Luke chapter 1, verses 30 through 33. Luke chapter 1, beginning at verse 30, reads, Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and he shall, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be the Son of the highest, and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And so this reign of Christ, this time of Christ's reign in a special way, fulfilling this covenant with David, is spoken about in multiple places of Scripture. It will be a literal kingdom. And I don't think that we're to spiritualize this away and just apply it to what's going on in our world today. It's a millennium that's promised all the way back to the prophets. If you look at Isaiah chapter 4, verses 2 through 6, multiple places, in fact, Isaiah pictures this millennial reign, where there'll be this time of the reign of the Messiah and great peace on earth. It's also tied to the Davidic covenant, as I just said. That's found in 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 and 13. We also see it in Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7. And so this is not just an isolated thing. It's found, it's a theme in the Old and the New Testaments. In the book of Romans, Paul talks about how believing Israel is not just the Jewish people ethnically, but all who believe in Jesus were grafted in to this Abrahamic covenant. And so those who believe in Christ are going to reign with him in this time of the millennium. It won't just be the Jewish people. It's all who believe in Christ, who are part of Abraham's descendants spiritually. But there's three primary positions regarding the millennium. First, there's the a millennial. That's the all millennial. And part of the belief behind this is that when Israel rejected Christ, that Israel forfeited their rights, and now the promises of God have come to the church. So Satan was bound through the cross, and so the millennium is already happening now. Christ's reign in Revelation 20, which we're beginning to look at today, is supposed to be seen as spiritual in nature, not a literal reign on earth. So that's the all-millennial position. Another is post-millennial. And this believes that the kingdom was established in Christ's time on earth. And so now what it's saying is because Christ established the kingdom now, now things are just going to get better and better and better, and many will be saved, and it will bring in this millennium to which Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead, kind of bring in the end when Jesus returns in this day of the Lord to judge his enemies and to bring us home. So it's that he brought the kingdom and things are just going to keep getting better and better and better and better and will usher in this reign of Christ on the earth. This view really kind of died off during World War I and World War II when things are just getting worse and worse. There are some variations that are trying to make a comeback of this, but we still need to do what we can as believers, right? To make a difference in this world. We don't give up. But I just don't think we're going to create the millennium ourselves. I don't think it's going to happen that way. And then there's the premillennial view, which is what I hold to, pre-meaning before the millennium, which means that only Christ can come and bring about the millennial reign. It's his reign. And I think that this is the view that's most clearly laid out in the book of Revelation. Look at chapter 20, verse 1. It reads, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. Okay, a few things. First of all, it says, An angel. Well, we've seen angels used to execute God's judgments, his will throughout the book of Revelation. So this is not new. And then the bottomless pit. We've seen the bottomless pit in multiple places in Revelation, including chapter 9, verses 1 and 2, verse 11, then chapter 11, verse 7, and then chapter 17, verse 8. But also Revelation 9, 1 and 2 record the opening of another bottomless pit. So we don't want to get confused there. But Revelation 20, verse 2 continues on reading, He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. Okay, here we have four designations for Satan. First, the dragon or serpent. This historical use was associated with demons opposing what is good, right? The dragon or the serpent. This is in opposition to what is good. Second, the serpent of old, or this is a reference to a snake, such as what we saw in Genesis chapter 3, where the snake came and tempted Eve, right? So he's the dragon or serpent. He is the serpent of old. Also he is the devil. This is the Greek diablos. This is the slanderer. This is the accuser of the brethren, like what we saw in Revelation 12, 10. And then fourth, Satan or Satanus. This just simply means adversary or enemy. So these are the four ways Satan is described. But he is bound. He's bound for a thousand years. The chain from verse 1, there is a thousand years he's bound. This is the millennium. Verse 3 reads, And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. Okay, so Satan being bound, this makes the all millennial position, and in my opinion, a little hard to explain because if we're currently in the millennium, Satan obviously is not bound. He's doing some of his best work right now, right? And so he's currently active, he's not bound. And so where it says to deceive the nations, he's gonna be released, or he's gonna be bound to deceive the nations no more. I mean, that's the basis of all he does, his deceit. He's a liar. That's happening now. But why will he be released? Well, again, this is a part of God's plan. He's bringing all things to his end. What we'll see later in Revelation, what is sad, is that even in the millennial reign of Christ, there are still those who will reject him, who will not follow him, who will rebel. It's crazy the rebellion of the human heart. So we'll get to more of that later in our study. But let's continue on with verse 4. It reads, And I saw thrones and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Well, who exactly is on the throne with Christ? Well, we are, per Revelation 321. Remember, he talked about us reigning with him, ruling with him, he's sharing his throne with us. Remember, we talked about in Revelation 3 how amazing that is that Christ would prepare that and plan that for us. But the tribulation saints and martyrs, they seem to have kind of a special place in the millennium. Again, the mark, those who receive the mark, this is something visible. And what's happening here, this is commonly called the first resurrection. There is a resurrection to life, and there is a resurrection to judgment and death. This even points back to Daniel chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. Daniel 12, 1 through 3. But there is a physical resurrection that is coming. Death is not ceasing to exist. It's talking about and they live. So there's still more to come. This is just a beginning of things. And but there's this heretical doctrine of soul sleep that when you die, you just kind of cease to be. But no, as we walk through scripture and as we walk through Revelation, we'll see that both states, whether it's the eternal state with God or an eternal state separated from Him in His judgment, are both eternal. There's no just ceasing to exist. And then what we see is we know that Elijah, against against this annihilationism, was Elijah was taken to heaven. And against this soul sleep, as if we die and we just sleep for a time, Elijah was taken to heaven, then he appears on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so these beliefs of soul sleep or annihilationism, they just don't really line up with Scripture. But the opposite of what Paul said is also true, and that is to be absent from the body apart from Christ is to be eternally separated from God. And so what we find is that to those who reject Christ on this earth will be given what they want. They'll be given in eternity, separated from Him. And that's what we see referred to in Revelation 25. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So again, I'm not going to try to explain all of that today, but it will be explained as we simply walk through the coming days and the rest of Revelation. But there is a second resurrection that is coming, but it's also to judgment. And again, we'll see that in the coming days. So verse six reads, Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priest of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Okay, so this second death, this is a reference to the final judgment of unbelievers. And the priest of God, we are priests because of him and for him. Again, it all points back to Jesus. It's the revelation of Jesus. It's what he's done, it's who he has made us to be. It's him fulfilling his promises to us, and it talks about us reigning. It's all again because of him. All right, so join me next time as we finish Revelation chapter 20. And then what I want to do next time, because we we were just kind of doing some rushing through broad overview stuff, I want to really dial in and give you some more application next time. I'm gonna give you, in fact, four specific points of application from Revelation 20. I hope you've enjoyed this today. I hope you'll join me again next time. Uh for more information, you can go to pmvministries.org. As always, I hope you have a great day.