Is the Millennium, 1,000 years of Revelation literal or symbolic?
The passage that typically comes to mind when discussing Christ’s millennial reign is Revelation 20: 1–10. As explained throughout this work, most of the information regarding the conditions of the millennial kingdom have already been anticipated and explained in prior Scripture, especially the Old Testament. Yet, Revelation 20: 1–10 provides an important detail since it is the only passage that specifies the kingdom’s duration of one thousand years. Here, John makes six references to the kingdom’s one-thousand year length. Many commentators attach little significance to the expression “thousand years” on the grounds that this number should be interpreted nonliterally. Their thinking is that since Revelation is a symbolic book, the number “one thousand” should also be rendered nonliterally. Postmillennialist Kenneth L. Gentry is typical among these allegorical commentators: “The proper understanding of the thousand year time frame in Revelation 20 is that it is representative of a long and glorious era and is not limited to a literal three hundred and sixty-five thousand days. This figure represents a perfect cube of ten which is the number of quantitative perfection.”[1]
Yet, there are valid textual reasons for taking the number “one thousand” literally. At least four come to mind.
First, John knows how to use indefinite concepts when he wants to. In verse 8, John uses the simile “like the sand of the seashore” to describe the number of those involved in the final rebellion. Yet such a conspicuous figurative expression is absent in any of John’s six uses of “thousand years.” Moreover, John, in Revelation 20: 3 says Satan will be released for “a short time” (mikros chronos). Had John wanted to indicate the Millennium will last “a long time” it would have been very easy for him to do so. In fact, other biblical writers use the expression “long time” (polys chronos). For example, Matthew employs it in order to depict the lengthy yet chronologically undefined period of time between Christ’s advents (Matt. 25: 19). Here, however, John does not employ this expression but instead provides a specific number.
Second, in the rest of the Greek New Testament, when a number is associated with the word “year” or “years,” this linguistic combination always refers to a literal duration of time. Why should the six-fold repetition of the thousand years found in Revelation 20: 1–10 be the sole interpretive exception to this rule?
Third, if the number “one thousand” here is not literal, how then do we interpret all of the other numbers in the Book of Revelation? What do we do with two witnesses (11: 3), seven thousand people (11: 13), four angels (7: 1), seven angels (8: 6), one hundred and forty-four thousand Jews (7: 4), twelve thousand from each tribe (7: 5–8), twenty-four elders (4: 4), forty-two months (11: 2), and one thousand two hundred and sixty days (11: 3)?[2] Thus, not taking “thousand” literally in Revelation 20: 1–10 casts suspicion upon every other number in the Apocalypse, thereby rendering them nonsensical and meaningless.
Fourth, while Revelation is a symbolic book, not everything in the book is a symbol. Generally, when the author wants us to take something symbolically he tells the reader to do so. For example, we should not take the woman in Revelation 17 literally, because the last verse in the chapter tells us that the woman represents a city (Rev. 17: 18). Thus, an overt clue is given to alert the reader to the fact that a nonliteral interpretation of the woman is intended. The same can be said of the dragon or the serpent, who represents Satan according to the immediate context (Rev. 20: 2). However, in Revelation 20, the number “one thousand” is mentioned six times with nothing in the text telling us that anything but a literal number is in view.
Sometimes, allegorical interpreters appeal to Psalm 50: 10 as a justification for taking the number thousand in Revelation 20: 1–10 nonliterally.[3] Psalm 50: 10 says, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” The “logic” of the nonliteralist is as follows: since this verse indicates that God owns everything, then “thousand” in this same passage is obviously a symbolic number. Certainly God owns the cattle on the thousand and first hill as well since He owns it all. Because “thousand” is nonliteral in Psalm 50: 10, it must also be nonliteral in Revelation 20: 1–10. However, not only does this argument ignore the four aforementioned reasons for taking “thousand” literally in Revelation 20: 1–10, but it also ignores the reality of Hebrew poetry. Unlike the poetry that Westerners are accustomed to, Jewish poetry rhymed ideas rather than sounds. Therefore, the Jews employed parallelism in their poetry. Thus, both clauses in any given verse must be understood together or in harmony with one another. Psalm 50: 10 represents an example of synonymous Hebrew parallelism where the first line restates the same idea found in the second line but in different words. In such a context, “thousand” is obviously symbolic and nonliteral since it is restating the notion that every beast of the forest belongs to the Lord through the figurative use of “thousand.” In other words, we know that “thousand” in Psalm 50: 10 is nonliteral since the context, or synonymous Hebrew parallelism, demands it.
However, there is no similar synonymous Hebrew parallelism in any of John’s uses of “thousand” in Revelation 20: 1–10. Rather, John simply uses the number “thousand” in a straightforward way. Thus, any attempt to symbolize “thousand” in Revelation 20: 1–10 on the basis of the same term’s symbolic expression in Psalm 50: 10 is tantamount to mixing apples and oranges. The genre, or category of literature, in Psalm 50: 10 is completely different from the genre of Revelation 20: 1–10. To summarize, although most of the information concerning the Millennium’s conditions are already revealed in prior Scripture, Revelation 20: 1–10 provides the kingdom’s one-thousand year duration, and it is best to understand this number in its normal sense. Thus, the Apocalypse also furnishes the important detail of the Messianic kingdom’s duration, namely, one thousand years (Rev. 20: 1–10).
In sum, in the future Tribulation period, the offer of the kingdom will be re-extended to the nation of Israel (Matt. 24: 14). Once accepted, the kingdom of this world will be removed from Satan’s grasp and transferred back to their rightful owner, who is Jesus Christ or the last Adam (Rev. 11: 15b). The long awaited earthly kingdom will then be established upon planet earth (Rev. 5: 10). The duration of Christ’s earthly reign will be one thousand years (Rev. 20: 1–10).
[1] Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, p 347.
[2] Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation, 244-45.
[3] Ibid, Gentry.
