The term a thousand years is found in the Apocalypse only in this chapter and elsewhere only in three places in Scripture. What does it mean, and how should it affect our understanding here? Through the centuries folks have placed their own interpretations upon the text and established a whole eschatology based upon what they believe the term millennium (the thousand years) means. If they are wrong about the millennium, their whole eschatological house of cards collapses! So much is dependent upon so little and that little is often so vague!
Many futurists[1] believe the millennium is a literal 1000 year period wherein Christ will reign and there will be peace throughout the world. Nevertheless, such an idea cannot be proved with Scripture. Futurism is read into the Apocalypse and contradicts the clear testimony of John that the whole revelation of Jesus will take place in a little while. The time was at hand (Revelation 1:3; 22:10), so the things mentioned in the Apocalypse would shortly come to pass (Revelation 1:1). Trying to say “shortly come to pass” means 2000 years after John wrote the Apocalypse makes all the time indicators look ridiculous. If my understanding of the time statements in the Apocalypse is true and logical, then the period of 1000 years, as mentioned in Revelation 20, cannot be taken literally. The 1000 years must refer to a short period of time within the first century AD.
How can 1000 years refer to a short period of time? The number 10 is the number Scripture uses for perfection of divine order: viz. the Ten Commandments; the Lord’s Prayer (ten clauses); the tithe etc.[2] 1000 = 10 x 10 x 10 i.e. cubed (to the third power), in which the number 3 implies completeness.[3] Time is understood as: past, present and future; God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent; physical creation is three dimensional; man’s activity is summed up in: thought, word and deed; etc. In other words, 1000 years (Revelation 20:4, 6) doesn’t have to be literal to be accurate. In fact, understanding that 1000 years is only a few decades in actual time allows the time indicators within the Apocalypse to occur in the first century AD where they should occur, where a cursory read of the Apocalypse would expect them to occur.
The fact is that 1000 years is mentioned in the Bible ten times, and six of them are in chapter twenty of the Apocalypse.[4] Therefore, it seems to me that drawing conclusions about the so-called millennial period by reading only what John says in the Apocalypse would be a very naïve approach to the word of God. The other occurrences are found in Psalm 90:4; Ecclesiastes 6:6; and 2Peter 3:8. In Psalm 90 a thousand years is compared with yesterday (one day) when it is past, even as a watch in the night (3-4 hours). The fact that 1000 years can refer to a watch in the night should ring a bell for all thoughtful believers. The Lord explained the period of time he would be away as a watch in the night (Matthew 24:43-44). So, 1000 years according to this text can be a single day or just 3 to 4 hours. In other words, the millennium can be a very short period of time.
In Ecclesiastes 6, 1000 years is compared to a man’s life (1000 years, probably put for an ordinary lifetime), and even if a man lives two lives (2 x 1000 years), he is still unprofitable, because his end is no better than that of the animals. So, now we have 1000 years refers to of a man’s life (perhaps 70 years), instead of a single day, or a single watch in the night. The final time a thousand years is found in Scripture outside of the Apocalypses is in 2Peter 3:8, and there it is mentioned twice. First, the text says (according to the Lord’s point of view) a thousand years is **as** a day, and, secondly, a day is **as** a thousand years. So, the 1000 years is used as simile for a day, and a day is used as a simile for a thousand years. In other words the thousand years is a figure of speech, not a literal period of time, at least not in Peter’s epistle, and if not there, that puts Revelation 20 in question, as far as taking 1000 years ‘literally’ is concerned. In fact, the Biblical student would be hard pressed to prove the clause: “thousand years” is used in any other way except as a simile for a shorter period of time.
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[1] That is, premillennialists and dispensationalists.
[2] E.W. Bullinger: Number in Scripture; Kregel Publications (1984); page 243.
[3] Ibid.; page 107.
[4] See Revelation 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
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