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The Millennium Unpacked
A 5-part series on the Millennial reign of Christ by Geoff Barnard
Ed foreword:
THE MILLENNIUM is only mentioned in one chapter of one book of the Bible (Revelation ch. 20). Yet it is not only a vitally important subject if the believer is to correctly understand what lies ahead for the body of Christ, but one which attracts a number of different interpretations across what we call the church.
Each individual needs to come to their own view but the following series is predicated on the belief that the Millennium is a future period of 1000 years which will commence immediately after the return to earth of Jesus Christ.
One book entitled 'The Coming Saviour and the World's Crisis' contains a chapter dedicated to the subject.
What follows is the first in a series of five teachings on the Millennium: a period which – inter alia – is much described in Ezekiel chs. 40 - 48.
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The Millennium (Part 1)
Introduction
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Bible passages for Part 1:
Israel and the Gentiles (Eph. 3:4-6); One Flock, One Shepherd (John 10:16); One New Man (Eph. 2:15-16); One Olive Tree with Two Types of Branches (Rom. 11:17-18); One Root - Jesus (Rom. 11:16, Rev. 22:16, Rom. 15:12, Is. 11:10-12).
Click here to download notes for Part 1.
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The Millennium (Part 2)
Ezekiel's Temple
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Click here to download notes for Part 2.
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The Millennium (Part 3)
In His Presence
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Click here to download notes for Part 3.
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The Millennium (Part 4)
Provision and Practice
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Click here to download notes for Part 4 .
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Footnotes:
1. The subsequent parts of this series will (d.v.) be presented on a weekly basis (11.00am on 9,16,23,20 May 2025). Links are available to registered members of the ChristiansTogether website via the Calendar and the Notice Board.
2. Non-members who wish to attend the live sessions should be in touch with the Editor.
3. Site members can log in to access the section below for responses/questions/etc. relating to this series.
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Geoff Barnard, 05/05/2025
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Liz Carr |
16/05/2025 10:31 |
Thank you, Geoff, for unpacking what I find is a very interesting subject. You are answering a number of questions I have had, especially regarding the role of Ezekiel's temple in the millenium. As I believe we are in the foothills of the millenium (See Hosea 6 vs 1-3 regarding Israel's restoration on the 3rd day), and Jesus's return to rule the nations with a rod of iron, there are still many questions to be answered, which I am sure you will be addressing in this series of talks.
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Graham Wood |
18/05/2025 10:34 |
Hi Liz. As other non millennialists have suggested, the key to the book of revelation is "hanging on the door"! That is, the Apostle John in his introduction to the book makes very clear at the outset that its content would be fulfilled within a very short time of his writing, and not in some future period called a millennium.
That is why uses words which are unambiguously clear, such as the events he will describe as being "shortly come to pass" (Rev:1:1) & (22:6,7). The term is also used in 2:16; 3:11; and 12:20.
Likewise he uses the word "near". Rev 1:3. 22:10. The term literally means in our parlance "at hand".
This agrees with the words of Jesus himself in Matt.23:34 "Assuredly I say unto you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place cf. Matt 23:26.
So also in the many other "at hand" references (1:4, 11; and 2:1,8,12, 18 and 3:1,7,14, and 22:16.
John was telling the seven historical churches in his era to expect the events of his prophecy at any moment.
Then this being clear, any future millennium cannot be in prospect, and it is significant that the concept does not appear anywhere in Scripture apart from Revelation 20.
Jesus is outside of time because he is the Alpha & Omega, the First and the Last.
So John did not write his Revelation as advance history of the 21st or any other centuries, and it is not a forecast of specific events. But rather he wrote to comfort Christians in his own time.
As commentator Adrio Konig points out: "Revelation 20 could have offered no consolation whatever to those original readers if the thousand years were meant either literally or symbolically.
How could it have helped the confused and persecuted congregations of ancient Asia Minor to learn that Satan would be bound at some remote, future time?"
So, as R.C. Sproul points out - if the book of Revelation was written before AD70 (the complete destruction of the Temple by Imperial Roman armies, of Jerusalem itself and indeed the nation as a theocracy) then "sweeping revisions must be made in our understanding of this book's content and focus".
But, as already said, Jesus "bound" Satan in Matt.12:29 as the "stronger man armed" !
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Editor |
21/05/2025 19:25 |
As per the Foreward to this series: "Each individual needs to come to their own view but the following series is predicated on the belief that the Millennium is a future period of 1000 years which will commence immediately after the return to earth of Jesus Christ."
It is not the purpose of this series to debate the differing views rather it is offered to those who hold to the pre-millennial position.
For the differing views see - https://www.christianstogether.net/Publisher/file.aspx?id=343947
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Geoff Barnard |
22/05/2025 05:55 |
I am so happy that we are having this discussion. If you give a talk (even a series) on a little discussed subject, you have to expect that there will be very different responses to the material. I appreciate Graham’s comments and he represents a strongly held view that the book of Revelation was fulfilled within the generation that included the first disciples and the emerging church in the first century AD. This eschatological position is technically called Preterism. If you want to know more about this, I recommend the books of Kenneth Gentry. For example, in his book “Navigating the Book of Revelation”, he gives a general introduction to Preterism. It is very interesting to note that the first chapter is entitled “A.D.70 and Redemptive History”. Paradoxically, I do have some sympathy with this approach. For example, I am convinced that the temple described in Revelation chapter 11 was, indeed, Herod’s Temple and the 42 months of “trampling” was fulfilled in the first Jewish Roman war that included the destruction of the Temple in AD70. Another example would be the number 666 (or in some manuscripts 616). Without doubt, this refers to the Emperor Nero, first and foremost. I say this because I also believe in repeating prophetic motifs. Nero was an archetype of the Antichrist but there were many others, including Adolf Hitler. But rigid Preterism of the Gentry kind has a problem. Did Jesus return in AD70? We can argue these points but my main argument would be the 2nd Century AD, which tends to be ignored by both preterists and pre-millennialists. The Temple may have been destroyed in AD70 but the Messianic community remained in Jerusalem into the 2nd Century. The promotion of Bar Kochba as Messiah by Rabbi Akiva was perhaps the final wedge that separated Messianic Judaism from Pharisaic. The coming of the Emperor Hadrian and the final Roman Jewish War led to the total destruction of Jerusalem with the creation of Aelia Capitolina. Jewish people were forbidden entry to this Roman City except on Tisha B’Av. It is possible that Hadrian also built a Temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount, a classic example of the abomination of desolation. But, in closing this comment, it is interesting to me that Graham does not quote one Old Testament passage. What happened? The series on the Millennium is trying to understand nine chapters in the book of Ezekiel and to find consistency between the Old and the New.
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Graham Wood |
25/05/2025 10:30 |
Hi Geoff. As I mention above quoting Adrio Konig. Are you familiar with his book and its intriguing title: 'The Eclipse of Christ in Eschatology'?
In reference to Konig's book I will never forget a fellow Christian 's strong recommendation to me of this work when together we were in a Christian bookstore in York UK some years ago. (Jon Zens) He said in effect: 'buy that, as you will not need anything else on this subject' I was astonished at the time and thought that was a hugely ambitious claim, but believe it was certainly vindicated as its suggestive title and contents place Christ as central to the last days, including his chapter on the millennium. The difference between Professor Konig's approach and that of countless others who have written articles and commentaries on what is called 'the last things' is radical, distinctive, and I believe biblically balanced and sound.
A reviewer commented on this work:
“Adrio Konig makes an impressive case for viewing the entire history of Jesus Christ as the content of eschatology, not simply his resurrection and return in glory. Konig has mastered the best of current biblical and theological scholarship in this field and shows where most of it falls short of a radical Christocentric eschatology. It is a seminal work which will challenge the church and theological world for some time to come.”
The major theme of the book is set out by the author in his Preface where he states, I believe rightly, 'It is remarkable and disconcerting that in many of the most popular expositions, Jesus plays practically no role at all. This is remarkable because, in the New Testament, Jesus is directly associated with the end, the end times, and God's purpose for creation.. . . . In mainline churches and academic theological traditions, most treatments of eschatology relegate it to an appendix, or last chapter on “the last things”, and there the person and message of Jesus Christ play only an incidental role'.
Konig's main theme, and it is a very simple but profound one, is that because Christ is the 'Alpha and Omega then the whole of his ministry, life , death and resurrection must be seen as eschatological. In effect what is called the "end times" finds its expression and consummation in him.
As a matter of interest, do you set an early or late date for the writing of Revelation?
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Geoff Barnard |
26/05/2025 05:45 |
Dear Graham, I do appreciate your input. I have read a very detailed outline the book and I realise that Adrio König holds to a position that accords with yours. In your previous correspondence with Liz, you used the term “non-millennialist”. As far as I understand his theology, König interprets the "thousand years" of Revelation 20 symbolically rather than as a literal future period. It represents the current reign of Christ not a future earthly kingdom. Consequently, he approaches Old Testament prophecies, especially those like Ezekiel 40–48, from a Christocentric and typological perspective, rather than a literal or futurist one. I would like to think that I hold to a Christocentric position but also a literal and future one! For me this is the wonder of the Millennial Temple described by Ezekiel. It’s all about Jesus!
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Graham Wood |
26/05/2025 08:02 |
Thanks for your further comments Geoff. I think the discussion is not only interesting from an exegetical point of view, but also important in order to define the "order of events" accurately and biblically concerning what are termed 'the last days'.
As you infer, on the interpretation of the 1000 years - whether symbolic or literal hangs a good deal - Dispensationalism for a start.
I think there is much internal evidence from the book of Revelation & a wider reading of the New Testament to suggest that the 'millennium' cannot be literal, but rather is figurative and symbolic in line with the rest of the book - (first three chapters excepted).
That being the case, why should we suddenly assume that the Rev. 20 references are not literal but rather symbolic also?
It is suggested (Hendriksen, Konig, Berkouwer and Milton Terry) that the millennium and the references to "a short while", do not indicate time at all, but rather symbolic power. "A thousand years symbolises the absolute defeat, binding, and total subordination of Satan and his forces which are clearly taught by the rest of the New Testament.... it demonstrate the completeness of Christ's victory over Satan. (see: Matt. 12:28. Luke10:18; 11, 22 and Col. 2:15 a frequently repeated New Testament theme)
As for a future, literal millennium - much also hangs on whether one believes in an early or late date for the writing of Revelation
i.e. approx. AD 54-68, or the later view AD 81-96.
I also believe that 1 Thess. chaps 4 & 5 are definitive for a view of the 'last days', but no millennium appears (!) but that is discussion for another time perhaps.
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Geoff Barnard |
26/05/2025 08:02 |
In answer to your question. I definitely hold to an early dating for John's Gospel. In the mid-1990's, I was able to register for a part-time MA in Theology (Southampton University). My dissertation was entitled "Days of Grace: The Significance of the Festivals in the Fourth Gospel". One book that I have on my bookshelf is entitled "The Priority of John" by John Robinson (yes him!). Revelation 17:10 is speaking of the Emperor Nero as the one who is. Thus it is before the destruction of the Temple.
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Liz Carr |
26/05/2025 18:58 |
The whole of scripture is about Jesus, see Colossians 1 vs 15-20. I believe we are in the process of God putting His enemies under his feet, mentioned in various scriptures. This must happen before Jesus can return. With Geoff's insightful teaching I can see that this is a proccess that could well continue into the period referred to as the millenium, which is why his teaching is so helpful, and important.
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Geoff Barnard |
30/05/2025 10:25 |
I am sorry for the confusion in my last comment! I got distracted! I did not answer the question about the dating of the book of Revelation. I hold to an early dating before the destruction of the Temple.
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