The Return
The book of Revelation was penned by the apostle John because of a revelation from Jesus Christ. It deals with Christian eschatology, the study of end times. Its mysterious, using symbology and numbers, and yet it has stood the test of time and stayed with the biblical canon. Merely talking about it raises eyebrows. This shouldn’t be the case. Why should we not want to understand the last book of the bible that looks forward to Jesus return.
Maybe we should briefly consider the why this is the case. But really what I want to do is take a bit of the mystery away.
We can take one of three positions:
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Fixed: Knowing what it all means – not wanting to change a point of view
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Flexible: Knowing some of what it all means but not totally sure because a lot of it is mysterious
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Postpone: Unsure what it all means, but willing to wait until the end for final clarity
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The healthy option is to be flexible, weighing up the pros and cons of different points of view.
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The crux of the uncertainty seems to be around the, Millennium, referring to the 1000-year reign of Christ. The understanding of the Millennium splits into three main camps about when Jesus will Rapture Christians:
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Premillennialism – Before the Millennium reign on earth
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Pre-tribulation – Before the Great Tribulation
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Post-tribulation – After the Great Tribulation
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Postmillennialism – After the Millennium reign on earth
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Amillennialism – A spiritual Millennial reign is that of the Church and then the general resurrection will come.
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Where the Rapture needs to be defined as clearly Christians are ‘caught up in the air’ – Jesus will be seen arriving the same way that he departed i.e. in the clouds. It describes the moment when Christians are suddenly changed to have a body like Jesus, one that will last.
The end point is also clear. That there will be a new heaven and new earth, a new Jerusalem (the prepared Bride /the Church) will come down to the new earth where Lord God Almighty and the Lamb would be with them. Where the new Jerusalem represents the Church made new, we must also describe the same transformation for heaven and earth.
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I highly recommend the Bible Projects Revelation Part 1 and 2 videos to bring across the figurative nature of the book of Revelation. They are short and help get a great overview to keep you track.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nvVVcYD-0w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpnIrbq2bKo
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Then you can have a look at Wikipedia’s crack at describing the various beliefs (useful for describing the various elements).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_eschatology
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And lastly I would recommend David Pawson’s book ‘When Jesus Returns’ for added insight.
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Taking all this on board I cannot think for any reason why there cannot be a middle way between Premillennialism and Postmillennialism with a pinch of Amillennialism. Let’s call it Medimillennialism (the ‘medi’ prefix stands for middle). Sometimes when you can’t get two sides to agree you have to start in the middle. What would this look like?
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Well before I start, I’d like to make one observation about the two end time books of the bible.
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The book of Daniel focused mainly on the centuries up to Christ, which at the same time shone light into the end times (Jesus referred to Daniel’s prophecy about the abomination that causes desolation).
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The book of Revelation is focused on the end times in light of the what was happening in John’s time and figuratively mashed with the Old Testament imagery. Jesus I am statement bear witness to this:
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I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Rev 22:13).
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I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star Rev (22:16). The morning star is Venus, it was present and his conception and birth (see the ‘Jesus’ page)
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Time, Times and Half a Time
Key to understanding the end times is in the phrase ‘time, times and half a time’. It is linked to the Tribulation. We ought to understand this before we look to the 1000 years. The following highlights that the ‘time, times and half a time’ pattern is God’s way of rebalancing his justice.
In Jesus ministry true justice was established once and for all (see the ‘Jesus Minstry.pdf’ at the bottom of the ‘Return’ page), showing that it fitted with the Father’s timetable (in the ‘time, times and half a time’ pattern.)
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This phrase (‘time, times and half a time’) comes from the book of Daniel (Daniel 7:25, 12:7) and the book of Revelation (12:14) where it is linked to 1260 days (Revelation 12:6).
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Through Daniel 12:11 ‘time, times and half a time’ is associated with a period of 1290 days, where sacrifices are stopped and the time ‘abomination of desolation’ is set up. This seems to be a clear reference to Antiochus Epiphanes and yet Jesus points to the end times when this would happen in Matt 24. It seems therefore that the ‘abomination of desolation’ refers to tyrants, agents of Satan’s evil cause and thus ties into different periods of ‘time, times and half a time’ of evil rampage (as the above pdf shows.)
And so we come to have a closer look at the setting of the 1260 days in Revelation 12.
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days,
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Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. Rev 12:1-8
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This passage is very figurative, almost story book like. So on the surface it is simple, but the details are harder to tease out.
A child being born to a virgin, the child narrowly escaping Satan’s attempt to kill him, the child was to rule nations with strength, the child was caught up to God and the woman was taken care of for ‘1260 days’ in the wilderness. With it is the mention that Satan is then hurled out of heaven to earth.
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There are clear elements that relate to the gospels. Already, I’ve shown that the virgin was identified with the incarnation of Jesus, the stars of around the head in the constellation of Virgo marked the time of his conception (see the ‘Jesus’ page). Soon he was being hunted, and angel had to tell Joseph by way of a dream that they had to go to Egypt. Jesus was soon taken up to heaven. The fledgling Church, the woman would also have to do the same for ‘1260 days’. And then it says a war broke out in heaven to describe the victory the Church has in taking authority.
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Rev 12:9
This a reference to when Jesus said he saw this happen (Luke 10:18) when he sent out his disciples. It happens when the authority is commanded in Jesus Name – in the authority that the early Church wielded.
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Rev 12:11
Notice this this takes us in to the realm of the early Christian martyrs. But then comes the sting in the tail.
But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. Rev 12:12
There is a tendency to attribute the 1260 days to a later Great Tribulation with this last verse - especially when joined Rev 11:3 that speaks of a great city being trampled for 1260 days. When you come to the later verses of Rev 20 the story seems to be portrayed again, but this time the extra details seems to extend time out a bit more.
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The woman was given two wings of a eagle to fly into the wilderness
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For time, times and half a time (1260 days)
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The earth helps the woman avoid the torrent from the dragon
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The dragon turns his attention to the woman's offspring
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Here we can make a distinction between the woman, by drawing on Paul's insight into the 2 groups of believers among the Jews and Gentiles in regards to the natural and wild tree branches (Romans 11). The former are the Jews spread (as on eagles wings) to avoid persecution by spreading out in the world, Whilst Jews are in a wilderness state the Gentile believers get much more of the devil's attention.
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And it is with this extension of time that another understanding of what the 'time, times and half a time' or 1260 days can now constitute.
Also we need to keep in mind the early Church's powerful demonstration of the kingdom of God in taking authority away from the devil (when the war in heaven raged). The Greek the conjunction used for the word 'kai' translated as 'then' in verse Revelation 12:7 can be translated to 'and' or 'also'. Therefore the the war in heaven (Rev 12v7) could preceed the wilderness period (Rev 12v6) - we know Jesus was already seeing Satan fall and John here is separating sets of events. Note the child's sceptre (to yield authority) is brought to our attention before the mention of being taken into heaven. He would rule with an 'iron' sceptre once he had come before the throne of God in heaven (Daniel 7:13-14).
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She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
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Also, war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
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We need now to consider 'Day to Year Principle' that understands the 1260 days as 1260 years. Note, there is no reason that both the 1260 years and 1260 days of the great tribulation are meant (like the way that Jesus spoke of his death & resurrection and the destruction of the temple in the same sentence).
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The best reason behind this principle is I guess is to suggest there are 'wilderness years', extenuating periods of hardship where God contends with his people because of their stubborn nature of sinning. The extended period is intended to put across the strain sin has on the relationship with God at a time when they ought to be walking in God's promises. In this period they will toil still because they know there is a reward, yet if they knew the love of the Father time would fly.
You can see where the fascination comes in with the ‘time, times and half a time’. It seems simple to think of this as a formula, i.e. 1+2+0.5=3.5 multiplied by a 360-day year to give the 1,260 days in the book of Revelation and then convert that to 1260 years. There seems to be a correlation between the ‘time, times and half a time’ and a great dark swathe of time when God’s people at the mercy of Satan himself. May be that is why the words to Daniel seem to carry much more weight that poor Daniel could bear.
“He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’
“This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”
Daniel 7:25-28
It seems fitting to imagine a period of 1260 years of God’s people where they were in a wilderness where Satan is successfully deceiving the Church and their authority in heaven wanes. No age of the Church would ever want to admit to this! Though there may be some indication that Jews were aware that they had endured a ‘time’ (360 years) of persecution in 617 AD, and some may have pre-emptively latched on to anticipate the coming of the Messiah.
The 1000 years
So, imagine then a period of where Satan had deceived the nations for 1260 years (a ‘time, times and half a time’), before the ‘Millennium’ as recorded in Revelation:
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. Revelation 20:1-3
Then we read that in the next sentence we read that the court was convened, as it was in Daniel.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Revelation 20:4
Clearly, this takes place in heaven and it makes perfect sense that the ability of Satan to deceive nations contributed to the martyrdom of saints. But that they are brought to life is no reason to pray to them.
Also ‘came to life’ makes no reference to a new body, though they could have one like Elijah, Moses (at the mount of Transfiguration) and of course Jesus has.
Revelation 6 puts it another way – that they were dressed in a white robe (signifying righteousness that comes by way of the blood of the Lamb Revelation 7:14). This puts the stress on the spiritual state more than the physical state.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. Revelation 6:9-11
Remember the S.O.S Pattern from the 'Whom Will You Serve' (under the 'Kings' tab) - S.O.S. standing for understandably "Save Our Souls" or alternatively "Separation Of Sin" - Well it seems that this 5th seal seems to correspond with point E. The general Wilderness of 1260 years is accompanied by Aggression, Bloodshed, Catastrophe, Disease and Deficiency. Things come to a breaking point and repentance follows, paving the way for grace. With grace, comes the good fight of faith.
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1) Chaos - Creation Harmed; Aggravation Of Sin
A) Aggression
B) Bloodshed
C) Catastrophe
D) Disease and Deficiency
2) Repentance - The Last Chance To Choose Who To Serve
E) Evil - Persecution and Oppression - Darkness
F) Faith - Prayer, Petition and Perseverance - Light
3) The Day Of The Lord - The Battle Is The Lord's
G) God Rescues - Retribution for the Enemy - Severe Earthquake
Revelation 6:9-11 gives the image that the 1000 years is a short time.
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In this scenario, when the 1260 years is over when Satan had deceived the nations, something momentous shifts as Satan is put in the Abyss for 1000 years: souls given a new zest of life in heaven (clothed in white robes) and Christians reigning in the life of Christ down on earth.
Note, the story doesn't end here for even though Satan was put in the Abyss, some of his angels are still on earth (Rev 12:9). The deceived populations can quite easily carry on without Satan quashing the message of grace, and some of his minions are at work on earth. The 'Rapture' is still on the cards to happen suddenly, but the Church would be led by knowing Christ's Parousia (presence), Epiphaneia (appearing like Paul on the Damascus Road), before the sudden Apocalypsis (unveiling). God is gracious so that in this the ‘full number of the Gentiles’ come in (Romans 11:25) and they overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony.
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But we shouldn't rush the visible return of Jesus. Jesus gave the Church his body on earth the great commission to complete in all its fullness through the help of the Holy Spirit with complete clarity of the message. It is his joy that we share the joy of salvation. Who knows how long this will carry on from 1, 5, 10, 20 years etc before Jesus physically returns. What we see now is a turning point where clarity and vision is now opening up a new way, we are turning a corner, a new era/new door of opportunity is here for the bride of Christ. This aligns as I have shown to the opportunity that Esther had in 473 BC and Zion grew. We have a chance to re-write history because as the story ended in the Old Testament with the book of Malachi (around 424 BC) as it disappeared within the Greek empire, the kingdom of God can now be stretched out as the restored tent of David in all the earth.
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At some point in the future the enemies of God's people will band together for one last attack. But that may be far off or it may be near. What we know now is that we are passing into new promising territory and there we will start to have a clearer view of the what lays ahead as our Father reveals it to us.
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As I put in my opening to this website:
The sun had not yet made an appearance from behind the horizon to dispel the mist, but its brilliance lit up the sky in a multitude of ways. A few clouds were high enough to behold the glory the rising sun; some had gold hues, others orange, but there were also those ominous red clouds warning of a storm approaching.
The moment we have Christ is the moment we have life and can reign with Christ. This is true of anywhere throughout the 1000 years (though which many of God’s people were brought to life, out of ‘stasis’ as it were, at the start of the 1000 years).
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Revelation 20 continues:
(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.. Revelation 20:5-6
Every born-again Christian has the deposit of Holy Spirit inside them, ‘the second death has no power over them’. We are a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) and we can reign in life (Romans 5:17). Death has lost its sting, which shrinks into insignificance to the second death (Matthew 10:28), which no longer has power. All are part of the ‘first resurrection’ or the book of Life which follows.
The remainder Revelation 20 is quite simple. The 1000 years end, Satan is released for one last rant as he gathers deceived nations for Armageddon against God’s people. Satan and his compatriots are thrown into the lake of sulphur for eternal torment, the second death. Though not mentioned it is realistic to see Jesus second Coming as the time of intervention to rescue his people (the Rapture), Revelation 19 captures this decisive moment.
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Heaven and Earth are renewed as the dead are judged according to what they had done, only the book of Life would save those from the second death.
Is the 1000 years literal?
There is no reason why the 1000 years cannot be seen as a spiritual awakening growing over the centuries until the polarisation between those who are God's and those who are not becomes increasingly evident. We will definitely be in the end times then.
We need to be really careful when dealing with the 1000 years now labelled as the 'Millennium' for several reasons:
A) If we mark off 1000 years far off into the future when there will be a final judgement, it gives the impression that we have time to spare and lessens the hopeful expectation for Christ's physical return.
B) The '1000 years' could be figurative of David's kingdom in the OT (e.g. David's tent Amos 9:11). And we ought to be more attentive to the place Zion has in respect to the New Jerusalem. In one sense King David's kingdom's reign didn't last 1000 years and finished when they were ruled by the empires of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Yet in another sense King David's kingdom would last forever (2 Samuel 7:16).
C) History has witnessed a fair degree of birth pains were nation has risen against nation, and there have numerous earthquakes and famines Mark 13:8. Add to that the acceleration of world affairs that modern times bring (to politics, economics, population, social interactivity etc).
D) Church history also bears witness to the proliferation of the gospel propelled by revivals to fulfil the great commission.
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E) The number one thousand (1000) symbolizes “immensity,” “fullness of quantity” or “multitude.” [1]
All these things should make us aware that we ought not get hooked up on the Millennium labelling ('post', 'pre' or even 'medi'). But rather, seeing that the kingdom of Heaven is here, that David's tent is being restored. I have already shown how David's kingdom correlates with world and Church events when we tie the dates 977 BC (David's Sin) to 1517 (Martin Luther's Grace). In this way it can be seen that David's kingdom would last forever.
1517 AD was a pivotal point when the deception was exposed, and the floodgate of grace were flung open far and wide for all. Through doctrine of grace, Martin Luther found the authority to reign in Christ on earth. The position is best described in the title of the widely acclaimed expert on Martin Luther, Heiko Oberman – 'Man between God and the Devil'. Satan would want to sell Christians short and so allow Satan to take a higher authority. Just think of disciples’ joy when they exclaimed ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” (to which Jesus replied - "rejoice your names are written in heaven"). This was the spark that help the gospel spread like wildfire.
1260 years
The 1260 days on the other hand is not figurative (figurative in the sense where the magnitude of time is unspecified). No, it is a very measurable period in the bible (time, times and half a time). So, there is no reason not to think of it as 1260 years as already noted.
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Measuring from that definitive point in history when the doctrine of grace was published, the 1260 years last from 257 AD to 1517 AD. We could simply label them the ‘Dark Ages’. In reality, the Light of the World carried by the gospels was battling against Satan's ability to deceive the nations during this age.
But why start the 1260 years in 257 AD?
Let's review. In the whole scheme of things we have to go back to statue of empires (Daniel 2). The empires came crashing down when the Kingdom of God came in contact with the foot of the statue (the Roman empire).
The kingdom of God comes not by might. No, it comes through submission to the Spirit. But something happened and the early Church lost its power. I suspect it was man's fault again, not follow the instruction Jesus gave:
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Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant," Matthew 20:25-26
This gave Satan an opportunity, he would not stand idly by, he had some deceiving to do! And so 257 AD ushered in a new season.
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We could perhaps even divide the 1260 years into the ‘time, times and half a time’ as follows:
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Time (257 – 617 AD)
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Times (617 -1337 AD)
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Half a time (1337 – 1517 AD)
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These periods provide a useful lens to see just how the Church became more and more divided. These times are perhaps best referred to as 'Wilderness Years' that the Church has been through. The division of the times should not be considered points where there is a sudden shift in circumstance, but to illustrate the gradual decline in the state of the growing Church (remembering how subtle Satan can be).
With so much bloodshed, division and violence during the Dark Ages, the doctrine of grace in 1517 AD came as a breath of fresh air into the Church once again, rediscovered by Martin Luther. It is the reason why there were sparks of revivals and the eternal Kingdom of David began to be restored (See the ‘The Breakthrough’ on the ‘Into’ page).
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Grace offers the opportunity to realise your true authority in Christ. No longer to be pushed down. That why the expert of Martin Luther, Heiko Oberman, called Martin Luther (in the title of his book) 'The Man between God and the Devil'. The sad thing however about Martin Luther was his small mindedness in respect to his view of the Jewish people. But slowly this view in the Church has changed for the better.
Revelation - needs adaptive thinking
Perhaps the hardest challenge of all is to see how the book of Revelation can be envisaged with this placement of 1260 years and the '1000' years - does it bring more clarity? The wise would know that there can be no absolute understanding of the book of Revelation ('I shall fully know as I am fully known', 1 Cor 13:12). We should therefore be wise to use adaptive thinking that is always challenging what we think we know, so that we may be alert to what may be unfolding. For it is our road map that is getting constantly updated showing us the way to go.
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I therefore have put this view of Revelation in Draft form with some interesting areas not yet seen clearly. Here are some points for consideration that can be drawn out.
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Cohesion with the book of Daniel (in particular) in describing the beasts with Satan shown working behind the scenes
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The breadth of time covered and the recapitulations that bring us to the final confrontation and victory with Jesus when he comes again. The acceleration to this point is captured in the sequence of seals, trumpets and bowls
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There are two final destinations
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God's people with God on the New Earth​
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The lake of sulphur
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Who God's people are: Israel (12 tribes) -> Jews -> Jewish Christians -> Gentiles being included until full number -> Jewish Inclusion -> All Israel (12 tribes)
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Understanding how much of the imagery is playing in the spiritual realm which is metaphorical for the what is playing out in the hearts and minds and events earth. If we don't pick up on the 'wonders in heaven and the signs on the earth below', we may have a rude awakening
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The setting of revivals fit with a period of growth following the wilderness period (Rev 12:6 where the day-to-year principle is applied on 1260 days from a heavenly point of view, e.g. Numbers 14:34). Whereas Rev 11:3 is focused on an actual 1260 days (mentioning 42 months reinforces this), the great tribulation - though it could also be imagined here also the witnesses spoken of in Rev 11 refer to the combined witness of Jews and Christians (God's people).
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If tempo and length of Jesus ministry on earth is anything to go by, we should expect three and half years (about 1260 days) where it starts with a perception and preparation of God's people moving on to a period of intensity where Jesus spent most of his time around Jerusalem at the end, before his death and resurrection. Didn't he say he would arrive the way he left.
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Can we find a link with plagues of Revelation - I think yes. This and other tantalising clues unfold to make the picture clearer, So be alert and watchful! One to watch out for is the event of Covid-19 - is it in the book of Revelation?
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Footnotes:
[1] The meaning of numbers - the number 1000
http://www.scripturerevealed.com/bible-studies/the-meaning-of-numbers-the-number-1000/