Millennium
The millennium is the prophetic horizon in which the throne of Yahweh, long promised to David and announced by the prophets, is openly set up over the earth. It begins with a day of visitation, runs through a thousand-year reign of Christ with his risen saints, and issues in a new heavens and a new earth. The picture is consistent across the prophets, the gospels, the apostles, and Revelation: a king who is just and lowly, a city that does not pass away, a remnant who fears no one, and nations that come up year after year to worship the King.
A Throne Promised, A Kingdom That Stands Forever
The umbrella opens on the throne. To David Yahweh promised, "He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (2 Sam 7:13), and "to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba" (2 Sam 3:10). The dynastic word continues in 1 Kgs 2:4 — "there will not fail you (he said) a man on the throne of Israel" — and reaches its first earthly fulfillment in Solomon, who "sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father, and prospered" (1 Chr 29:23). Sirach summarizes the promise: "And he gave him the decree of the kingdom, And established his throne over Israel" (Sir 47:11).
Daniel sees the same throne lifted out of human time. "I looked until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, [and] its wheels burning fire" (Dan 7:9). And "in the days of those kings will the God of heaven set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever" (Dan 2:44). Hebrews places the Son on this throne: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; And the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom" (Heb 1:8).
The King Who Comes Lowly
Isaiah names him: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulder: and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isa 9:6). Zechariah pictures his arrival: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: look, your king comes to you; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt the son of a donkey" (Zech 9:9). The same oracle states the policy of his reign: "And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth" (Zech 9:10).
Christ's own statements confirm both the present hiddenness and the future openness of this kingdom. "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then my attendants would fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36). The kingdom is announced (Mark 1:14; Luke 4:43; Luke 8:1; Luke 9:2; Luke 16:16); it has come near (Luke 21:31); it is "inside you⁺" (Luke 17:21); it cannot be entered without new birth (John 3:3; John 3:5). Yet it is also still to "come with power" (Mark 9:1), and the apostles will eat and drink at Christ's table "in my kingdom" and "sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Luke 22:30). Christ defers the cup to that day: "I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God" (Mark 14:25).
The Spiritual Kingdom Now
The kingdom Christ preached is not first a geography but a power. "The law and the prophets [were] until John: from that time the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man enters violently into it" (Luke 16:16). It belongs to the poor — "Blessed [are] you⁺ poor: For yours⁺ is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20) — and its inheritance is for those whom God has chosen "rich in faith" (Jas 2:5). Its content is moral and pneumatic: "the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17), and "not in word, but in power" (1 Cor 4:20). It cannot be entered by flesh and blood as such (1 Cor 15:50), nor by anyone "having put his hand to the plow, and looking back" (Luke 9:62). Suffering for it is the credential — "to the end that you⁺ may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you⁺ also suffer" (2 Thess 1:5). Its growth is hidden, like seed cast on the earth (Mark 4:26; Luke 13:18).
A Purified People in the Holy Mountain
The prophets describe what the king's people will be in his day. Zephaniah names them as a remnant who have been emptied of their pride: "for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh. The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they will feed and lie down, and none will make them afraid" (Zeph 3:11-13). Hebrews extends the same promise to the universal knowledge of God: "they will not teach every man his fellow-citizen, And every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: For all will know me, From the least to the greatest of them" (Heb 8:11).
Restoration of Israel and Healing of the Land
Behind the millennial vision stands a long line of restoration promises. Yahweh will "restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you will be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town" (Isa 1:26). He "will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa 11:12); "a great trumpet will be blown; and they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem" (Isa 27:13). Jerusalem will be "a quiet habitation, a tent that will not be removed" (Isa 33:20); her warfare "is accomplished" and her iniquity "is pardoned" (Isa 40:2); foreigners "will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you" (Isa 60:10).
The healing is bodily and moral together. "I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners" (Isa 57:18). "Return, you⁺ backsliding sons, I will heal your⁺ backslidings" (Jer 3:22). "For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says Yahweh; because they have called you an outcast, [saying,] It is Zion, whom no man seeks after" (Jer 30:17). "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him" (Hos 14:4). Iniquity itself is removed: "[His Speech] will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic 7:19). Ezekiel sees the people back on the land — "in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel … there will all the house of Israel, all of them, serve me in the land" (Ezek 20:40) — and the land itself responding: "But you⁺, O mountains of Israel, you⁺ will shoot forth your⁺ branches, and yield your⁺ fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come" (Ezek 36:8). Zechariah pronounces the result: "My cities will yet overflow with prosperity; and Yahweh will yet comfort Zion, and will yet choose Jerusalem" (Zech 1:17); "And men will dwell in her, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely" (Zech 14:11). Malachi adds, "Then will the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years" (Mal 3:4). Sirach voices the same prayer: "Gather all the tribes of Jacob, That they may receive their inheritance, as in days of old" (Sir 36:11), and looks forward to the Elijah figure "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And to restore the tribes of Israel" (Sir 48:10). Paul reads the long arc the same way: "and so all Israel will be saved: even as it is written, There will come out of Zion the Deliverer; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom 11:26).
Zion, Where the King Reigns
Zion is the locus of the kingdom in both the historical and prophetic registers. Historically it is taken as a stronghold — "Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David" (2 Sam 5:7) — and made the seat of the ark (1 Kgs 8:1). "Yahweh loves the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps 87:2). Sirach speaks of Wisdom established "in Zion" (Sir 24:10) and prays, "Fill Zion with your majesty, And your temple with your glory" (Sir 36:14). The Maccabean record shows the same Zion fortified, defended, profaned, and reclaimed: the army "went up into Mount Zion" (1 Macc 4:37); they "built up also at that time Mount Zion, with high walls, and strong towers round about, otherwise the nations should at any time come, and tread it down as they did before" (1 Macc 4:60); they "went up to Mount Zion with joy and gladness, and offered burnt-offerings, because not one of them was slain, until they had returned in peace" (1 Macc 5:54); enemy armies "pitched their tents against Judea and Mount Zion" (1 Macc 6:48); Antiochus "entered into Mount Zion, and saw the strength of the place: and he broke the oath that he had taken, and gave commandment to throw down the wall round about" (1 Macc 6:62); and Nicanor in turn "went up into Mount Zion: and some of the priests came out from the holy places, and the elders of the people, to salute him peacefully" (1 Macc 7:33). Sirach remembers Sennacherib who "stretched forth his hand against Zion, And blasphemed God in his pride" (Sir 48:18), and Isaiah who "comforted the mourners of Zion" (Sir 48:24).
In the millennial vision, Zion is the place where the King is openly worshipped. The Lamb stands "on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads" (Rev 14:1). And the believers' present approach already runs to that mountain: "you⁺ have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels in a festive gathering" (Heb 12:22).
The Nations Come Up to Worship the King
Zechariah specifies how the nations will relate to the kingdom. "And it will come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it will be, that whoever of [all] the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, on them there will be no rain. And if the family of Egypt does not go up, and does not come, will this not happen to them? This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, HOLY TO YAHWEH; and the pots in Yahweh's house will be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and boil in them: and in that day there will be no more a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts" (Zech 14:16-21). Isaiah anticipates this universal traffic: "Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders" (Isa 49:22). Revelation widens the proclamation that gathers them: "And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having eternal good news to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people" (Rev 14:6).
The reign reaches a doxology in heaven before its full earthly disclosure: "The kingdom of the world has become [the kingdom] of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he will reign forever and ever" (Rev 11:15); "We give you thanks, O Yahweh, the God of hosts, who are and who were; because you have taken your great power, and you have begun to reign" (Rev 11:17); "Now has come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ" (Rev 12:10); "Hallelujah: for Yahweh our God, the Almighty, has begun to reign" (Rev 19:6). Of him "every knee should bow, of [those] in heaven and [those] on earth and [those] under the earth" (Phil 2:10); the Lamb is "Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they who are with him are called and chosen and faithful" (Rev 17:14).
The Day of the Lord
Before the kingdom's open phase comes the Day of the Lord — a day of judgment that breaks both on the wicked world and on those who have set themselves against the king. Joel announces it: "Yahweh utters [his Speech] before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executes his word; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome; and who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11); "The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes" (Joel 2:31). Zephaniah: "The great day of Yahweh is near, it is near and hurries greatly, [even] the voice of the day of Yahweh; the mighty man cries there bitterly" (Zeph 1:14). Malachi: "the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble" (Mal 4:1); "Look, I will send you⁺ Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes" (Mal 4:5). Isaiah and Hosea call it the day of visitation (Isa 10:3; Hos 9:7); Jeremiah uses it of a calamity coming on hostile peoples (Jer 10:15; Jer 46:21); Micah says of it, "the day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now will be their perplexity" (Mic 7:4). The Epistle to Diognetus echoes the same expectation: "For he will send him judging; and who will endure his coming?" (Gr 7:6).
Christ assigns the same day to himself: "He who rejects me, and does not receive my sayings, has one who judges him: the speech that I spoke, the same will judge him in the last day" (John 12:48); the destruction of Jerusalem is itself a "time of your visitation" (Luke 19:44). Paul: it is a "day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Rom 2:5); discipline now is so "the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord" (1 Cor 5:5); believers will be one another's glorying "in the day of our Lord Jesus" (2 Cor 1:14). "The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night" (1 Thess 5:2); a deposit is kept "against that day" (2 Tim 1:12); the church is to exhort one another the more "as you⁺ see the day drawing near" (Heb 10:25); the Gentiles are to glorify God "in the day of visitation" (1 Pet 2:12). Peter sets the cosmic edge: "the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will not be found" (2 Pet 3:10). Jude reserves the rebel angels "to the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6). The cry from the throne is "for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?" (Rev 6:17).
Antichrist and the Last Hour
Across this stretch of prophetic time the world is also disturbed by the antichrist. "Little children, it is the last hour: and as you⁺ heard that antichrist comes, even now have there arisen many antichrists; therefore we know that it is the last hour" (1 John 2:18). The mark is christological: "every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not of God: and this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, of which you⁺ have heard that it comes; and now it is in the world already" (1 John 4:3); "many deceivers have gone forth into the world: those who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist" (2 John 1:7).
The Thousand Years
Revelation 20 supplies the eponymous picture. An angel "having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand" lays hold on "the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut [it], and sealed [it] over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time" (Rev 20:1-3). The companion vision is of thrones: "I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them: and [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Speech of God, and such as did not worship the beast, neither his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Rev 20:4). "The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: over these the second death has no power; but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him [for] the thousand years" (Rev 20:5-6).
When the thousand years end, Satan is "loosed out of his prison" and goes "to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war" (Rev 20:7-8). The assault on "the camp of the saints, and the beloved city" is broken from above: "fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20:9-10). Then "a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away" (Rev 20:11). The dead are gathered: "books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the Book] of Life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev 20:12); "the sea gave up the dead who were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them" (Rev 20:13); "death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, [even] the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev 20:14-15).
A New Heavens and a New Earth
The umbrella ends where Isaiah began it, but now beyond the judgment. "For, look, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind" (Isa 65:17). What follows describes the life of that creation: "But be⁺ glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, look, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there will be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying. There will be no more from there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old will be accursed. And they will build houses, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They will not build, and another inhabit; they will not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree will be the days of my people, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them. And it will come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will be shepherded together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says Yahweh" (Isa 65:18-25). The promise carries forward: "as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me, says Yahweh, so will your⁺ seed and your⁺ name remain" (Isa 66:22).
The apostles take this up directly. "But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet 3:13). And John sees it: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and the sea is no more" (Rev 21:1). The city descends: "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. … And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Rev 21:2-10). Its blessing is access: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right [to come] to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city" (Rev 22:14). The patriarchs had already looked toward this: "he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose craftsman and builder is God" (Heb 11:10); "they desire a better [country], that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city" (Heb 11:16); "we do not have a city that stays here, but we seek after [the city] which is to come" (Heb 13:14).
This is the millennium's terminus. The throne of David, the lowly king on the donkey, the spiritual kingdom hidden in the present age, the purified remnant in the holy mountain, the nations going up to Jerusalem, the binding of Satan, the thousand years of priestly reign with Christ, the white throne, the lake of fire, and the new Jerusalem coming down — all of it converges on a single picture: a kingdom set up by the God of heaven that "will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever" (Dan 2:44).