3 The First Resurrection, Ch. 20:4-6
The resurrection, which is the effective redemption of the body from death, that is necessary for complete victory over sin and for the full consummation of man's life in eternity,[540] is at this point begun,[541] and is marked in the Revelation by two successive stages, the first accompanying the triumph of the messianic kingdom, and the second preparatory to the final judgment. These two parts of the resurrection are separated in the vision by the whole millennial period. The first resurrection is special and compensative (scil. “the resurrection out of the dead”—Gr. ἐκ νεκρῶν—Phil. 3:11), consisting of certain [pg 214] of the saints and martyrs who by reason of their enduring resistance of the forces of evil in their lives and deaths are adjudged worthy to attain unto this resurrection, viz. “of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the Beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand.” The first resurrection which is evidently limited to this particular class, and is compensative in character for evils endured, precedes the second or general resurrection by a thousand years, or the whole duration of the millennium, which is not a definite, numerical thousand years, but in accordance with the general use of numbers in the Apocalypse is a period of vast but indefinite length. The cry of the martyrs (ch. 6:9) has been heard, and they who have part in this resurrection shall live and reign with Christ throughout the whole millennial era, i. e. shall share in his presence and glory as a reward for their superior faithfulness, shall be with him where he is, evidently in heaven, for nothing is said of any new or different relation of Christ or of the saints to those who dwell upon the earth as now begun, or as entered upon at any time during this period. We are simply told that the redeemed saints shall live and reign with Christ, i. e. they shall enter upon the new and fuller life with Christ which follows the resurrection of the body, and they shall share in the triumphant rulership of Christ in heaven. The main thought in the phrase “with Christ”, it will be seen, is not so much that of location, as of association with him in messianic rule.[542] The statement here made that “they shall be priests of God and of Christ” (v. 6) evidently does not mean that they are to exercise the function of mediators for the rest of mankind during that intermediate period,—for no such service in heaven is anywhere taught in Scripture—but only that they are granted familiar access to and fellowship with God and Christ such as the priests had who drew near under the old covenant; they stand in his presence as the priests of old stood in the temple and waited and served and worshipped.
4 The Millennium, Ch. 20.: 2b, 3b, 4b, 5a, 6b and 7a
The millennium is the Latin equivalent of the Greek phrase χίλια ἔιη or a thousand years, which has now attained a permanent place in Christian thought. In the prophetic view of the apocalyptic vision this is the crowning period of the church upon earth so long looked for and foretold, the triumphant realization of messianic prophecy, the dénouement of redemptive history in the world, a time of rest and victory when evil shall be restrained though not extinguished, and righteousness shall rule among men. The millennial reign of the saints with Christ, while Satan is limited in his sphere, as is indicated by his being bound with a great chain, is evidently intended to represent the period of the church's triumph. The length of time implied by the millennium is a period of multiple completeness which is represented by a thousand, the cube of ten, the symbol of a duration that is of great but indefinite extent, covering a long period of time, stretching to untold generations, during which the rule of Christ shall be triumphantly established upon the earth.[543] The chief thought in the thousand years is doubtless that of great and enduring victory. This period, as has been effectively said, “may well be of such an indefinite length as to lead to the salvation of unnumbered multitudes—multitudes so vast and countless that all the lost of all the ages will be but an infinitesimal fraction in comparison.”[544] Such a view serves to lighten in a measure the dark places of Scripture and history with a vision of blessing and hope, though it cannot be said to disperse to any great extent that impenetrable shadow which hangs over God's purpose in the world's long deep night of sin and death.
No other passage in the New Testament has taken a deeper or more permanent hold upon the minds of believing men than this pregnant prophecy of a millennium, in which the thousand years is six times named in as many verses. Unfortunately interpreters have not been agreed concerning the meaning of the passage; in fact no part of the Word of God has, perhaps, been so much in dispute as these verses in the Revelation. It may [pg 216] be worth while, therefore, to say that in the interpretation we should clearly recognize upon the one hand that the promise of a millennium was intended to create in the minds of men a pervasive hope of ultimate divine triumph in the world; while upon the other hand we should avoid making this glorious promise the groundwork of purely human fancy. The blessings of the millennial period here set forth evidently pertain both to the saints in glory and to the kingdom of God in this world. The particular nature of the reign of the saints with Christ during the thousand years is not revealed; but we know assuredly that Christ and his kingdom have prevailed upon the earth. The millennium manifestly presents a natural and complete antithesis to the long period in which the church suffered oppression under domination of the world-powers. The part allotted to the saints in the triumph of the kingdom in which they live and reign with Christ, is set forth in terms of long prevailing and deeply cherished Jewish ideals. To occupy “thrones of judgment” was part of the recognized hope of Israel (Ps. 122:5), and is clearly a human way of conceiving of superhuman relations. That this hope is to be realized in the final spiritual supremacy of God's children, specially promised to the twelve of the inner circle (Mat. 19:28; and Lu. 22:30), and evidently to be shared in a particular degree by all those who have part in the first resurrection, though ultimately in some measure also by all the redeemed, does not admit of serious doubt, but the exact form in which it will be realized is not made plain.
According to the usual premillennial view the first resurrection is interpreted as consisting of all believers who have died previous to that time, and not of those only who share in it by reason of special service and testimony; and the millennial reign of those who rise from their graves in this resurrection is held to be upon the earth, and is to be ushered in by the second coming of Christ who will establish a new dispensation in which he will be personally manifest, and will rule in the world, either from an earthly capital as Jerusalem, or from heaven in close communication with the saints.[545] This view, it will be seen, rests upon Jewish conceptions, and derives its support from a sternly literal interpretation [pg 217] of Old Testament prophecies. But, notwithstanding its natural attractiveness to the minds of men, it fails of adequate confirmation in the text. Upon the other hand most of the symbolical school interpret the first resurrection figuratively, as a resurrection to spiritual life, and regard the millennium as now in progress. The prevalence of this view seems to be largely due to the early influence of Augustine,[546] who identified the millennium with the period of the Christian church on earth, and held that for those who belong to the true church the first resurrection is past already, making it the equivalent of the resurrection to spiritual life spoken of in John's Gospel (Jn. 5:25),—a passage which, though showing that a spiritual resurrection is a distinct Johannine conception, does not serve to break the natural force of these words in their present connection. The usual interpretation of the thousand years given by the symbolical school cannot be considered as satisfactory,[547] viz. that the phrase expresses a quality, i. e. completeness, and not a period of time; and that the meaning of the phrase “bound him for a thousand years” is that Satan was completely bound. The symbolical use of the number one thousand is evident, but that does not deprive it of all quantitative value, it only affects its literal significance; and the denial that the word “years” has any reference to time is without proper exegetical support and must be rejected.[548] According to the current symbolical interpretation the entire passage (ch. 20:1-10) is regarded as an episode which is descriptive of the complete safety and spiritual deliverance of Christ's people throughout the whole period of the age-long conflict;[549] and thus the millennium as a period of triumph and blessedness for the saints on earth, preceding and distinct from the final blessedness of the world to come, fades away into a figure of speech, while the triumph of the gospel is obscured. But this view cannot be sustained except by a sacrifice of the [pg 218] natural, if we may not certainly say the correct exegesis; for the paragraph will not fit a purely figurative interpretation.[550] This view would dispose of the question of a pre- or post-millennial coming by denying that there is any millennium, in the historic sense of the term, taught in the Revelation. But the expedient is a fallacious one, if John spoke as a prophet by the inspiration of the Spirit, for his words incorporated the thought of his time in which the millennium had a definite meaning; and that he foresaw and described it as such is fairly evident, though he manifestly modified its extravagances. The idea of a triumphal period of the Messiah's reign is too deeply inwrought in the Apocalyptic literature which preceded the present Apocalypse to be put aside lightly as a symbol of completeness.[551] The duration of this time was a frequent and favorite subject of Jewish speculation;[552] and according to the general laws of language, the phrase used in the text, “a thousand years”, necessarily carries with it the conception of a period of time, but in accordance with the usage of the author, it loses its definite numerical significance and indicates a period of long but unmeasured duration; it becomes the symbol of a period that is complete.
It will be recognized by the attentive student of the Word of God that this passage and its connections form the crux interpretum of the whole book of Revelation; and it is well, perhaps, not to speak with too much positiveness on a subject so differently understood by many of the most eminent scholars and interpreters. The view presented above seems to be the most natural meaning that can be given to the words of the vision, and seems also to accord more fully than any other with the many promises of God concerning the outcome of all that great and progressive movement among men which we call the Kingdom of Heaven in the earth. For without such a period of victory, the whole evolutionary movement in human life and history, which so manifestly [pg 219] marks the purpose of God and the plan of redemption, would somehow seem to fail of any proper consummation; while in this view the millennium, marking the triumph of the gospel, would vindicate the present method of history and redemption, just as the premillennial view would abandon it and introduce a different order. Indeed, it may be well here to say, what should be clearly seen by every student of the Revelation, that the premillennial view introduces practically three dispensations into the plan of redemption, viz. the first, that of Moses which measurably failed; the second, that of Christ which is also to fail of complete success; and the third, that of the Holy Spirit which shall absolutely triumph. Whether, indeed, such a view is justified by what the Gospels teach and the Epistles indicate, is a question that each interpreter of Scripture must determine for himself; though it must be said that the large majority of Christians in all ages have not so understood the message of the Word. And it would certainly be remarkable if Christ, who was so wonderful a teacher, had intended to predict a premillennial coming to his own, and yet left it in such an indefinite form that the majority of earnest Christians would forever fail to apprehend it. But, in any case, to give up the expectation of the final supremacy of the gospel in the world, whether we look for it to be attained before or after the coming of the Lord, through the method of history or contrary to it, is to empty of its richest content the Christian hope for the world of men, and to contradict the deepest longing of the pious heart.[553]