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The Millennium
by
Adam Maarschalk
This article appeared in the 2023 Fall issue of Fulfilled! Magazine
This article is from a summary handout Adam provided for his 2018 talk at the Blue Point Bible Church Conference listing the main points why he believes the millennium took place between the two great Jewish revolts.
1st Great Revolt: AD 66-73
2nd Great Revolt: AD 132-135
1. Revelation 19 ends with the beast and the false prophet captured and cast into the lake of fire (verse 20) and their followers killed and fed to the birds (verse 21). The next three verses describe Satan being captured and sealed in a pit for 1,000 years (Rev 20:3). I believe Revelation 19:17–20:3 chronologically describes the capture of the beast, the false prophet, and Satan in AD 70-73. This was then followed by the 1,000 years (Rev 20:4-6).
2. Revelation 20:3 states that the purpose for sealing Satan in a pit for 1,000 years was “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.” When Satan was released, he immediately went out to deceive the nations to war (Rev 20:7-9). When the book of Revelation was written (around AD 65), Satan had already been deceiving the whole world for a while (Rev 12:9). He soon gave his power, throne, and authority to the beast (Rev 13:2) who made war (Rev 13:4-7). A survey of the New Testament shows that Satan was not bound prior to AD 66, but rather that he walked around freely like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8; see also Rom 16:20, 1 Cor 5:5, 2 Cor 4:4, 2 Cor 11:13-15, 1 Thess 2:18, 1 Tim 5:15).
So we see that Satan deceived the nations to war before the 1,000 years, and as soon as he was released he did the same thing again. I believe he deceived the nations to war at the time of both great Jewish revolts; and that he gave his power, throne, and authority to the leaders of both great revolts.
3. Besides Revelation 20:4, several other passages state that Jesus would sit on His throne with the saints at the time of His coming in judgment and in His kingdom. These include Daniel 7:7-11 and 7:23-27, Matthew 19:27-28 and 25:31, and Revelation 3:21. These passages show that, before the saints sat on thrones to judge, Christ returned in judgment, the beast was defeated, the resurrection took place, and the saints inherited the kingdom. Sitting on thrones marked the beginning of the 1,000 years, according to Revelation 20:4. This fits the timeline of AD 70, but not the timeline of AD 30.
4. Revelation 20:4 identifies the saints who reigned with Christ for 1,000 years. Special (perhaps exclusive) attention is given to those who “had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.” This description is taken from Revelation 13:11-17, where the second beast works closely with the first beast to make war on the saints for 42 months (AD 66-70).
This is probably the biggest reason why I respectfully disagree with a number of other preterists who teach that the 1,000 years began around AD 30. I feel they would need to demonstrate that the 42-month reign of the beast took place prior to AD 30 (a position I’m not aware of anyone holding). I believe Revelation 20:4 clearly shows the 1,000 years beginning after the beast’s reign, since the participants of the 1,000 year reign are those who refused to worship him and take his mark.
| Comparing Revelation 13:10-17 and Revelation 20:4 | |
| “And I saw the souls of those . . . And they lived and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years.” | |
| AD 66-70 | AD 70-132 |
| “he who kills with the sword” (Rev 13:10); “He was granted power to . . . cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Rev 13:15) | “who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God” (Rev 20:4) |
| “and they worshiped the beast” (Rev 13:4); “and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast” (Rev 13:12; see also verse 15) | “who had not worshiped the beast or his image” (Rev. 20:4) |
| “And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. . . ” (Rev 13:16-17) | “and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands” (Rev 20:4) |
5. Revelation 20:9 says that the deceived nations “surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city,” suggesting a targeting of Christians living in Jerusalem. Justin Martyr (AD 100-165) gave the following account about the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem during the Second Great Revolt:
During the recent Jewish War, Bar Cochba, the leader of the revolt of the Jews, had the order issued against Christians that, if they did not deny and defame Jesus Christ, they would be led away to suffer the most severe punishments” (Apol. 1.31.6; Eusebius, HistEcc 4.8.4; quoted in Martin Hengel, The Zealots, p. 300).
6. Revelation 20:10 says, “And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are…” The language used in this verse strongly suggests that, when Satan was cast into the lake of fire, the beast and the false prophet were already there. This fits well if the beast and false prophet were destroyed in the First Great Revolt (AD 66-73), Satan was sealed in the bottomless pit at that time, he was released “1,000 years” later, and then he was cast into the lake of fire after his final brief reign of deception during the Second Great Revolt.
| Beast and False Prophet | Satan | |
| AD 70-73 | Defeated and cast into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20) | Bound in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:1-3) |
| AD 132 | Released from his prison (Rev 20:7) | |
| AD 132 | “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are” (Rev 20:10) |
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