Introduction
As we read Revelation 20, we come across a prophecy about a thousand-year period in which God will bind Satan and the righteous will reign with Christ. However, the question arises: Are the thousand years of Revelation 20 literal or not? Is this an exact chronological period or a symbolic time within the prophetic language? To answer this question, we need to analyze the biblical context, compare it with other passages, and understand how the prophecy deals with the counting of time. Throughout this study, we will investigate the foundations of this prophecy and how to interpret it correctly.
The Thousand Years Before Jesus’ Return
The Bible presents a period of one thousand years that will occur after Jesus returns to this world. The account of these thousand years is written in a few verses of chapter 20 of Revelation. One of the descriptions we find about this period is that Satan will be imprisoned during this time:
Revelation 20:2 – “He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.“
Another account from the same chapter is that the righteous will receive power to judge and will reign with Christ for a thousand years:
Revelation 20:4 – “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: … and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.“
Literal or Not?!
Although the biblical text is quite clear that it will be a thousand years, some people have questioned whether or not these texts are literal. Some interpret this period of the millennium in a non-literal way, that is, they consider that it is not exactly a thousand years, but a time that may be longer or shorter than indicated. Such people justify this thinking based on the fact that such a description is within a prophetic context, thus altering the way of understanding the declared period.
The justification they present is true. The description of the thousand years is indeed found within a prophetic context. Although God revealed this prophecy, this fact does not justify the idea that we should understand this period in a non-literal way. Thinking this way is nothing more than creating your own interpretation and taking it as truth.
Literal and Symbolic Time Prophecies
In other situations, the Lord God revealed prophetic periods to His people that were not to be understood literally. We can cite as an example the 3 and a half times of Daniel 7 which are equivalent to 1260 years, or the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 which are 490 years. On the other hand, we must not forget that there were occasions when the Lord also announced literal time prophecies, such as the 400 years to Abraham, or the 70 years of captivity in Babylon.
It is necessary to analyze the context
The prophetic time periods that God announces to His people can be either literal or not, and it all depends on the context and a more careful analysis of what is being referred to. Nowhere in the Bible do we find periods of time that do not refer to a fixed time. When a prophetic period is not to be interpreted literally, we need to convert it to another period, following some rule of transformation of biblical time, which determines a fixed duration.
For example, as I mentioned, we have the period of the 3 and a half times of Daniel 7:25. What are these 3 and a half times? The Lord Himself answers us in His Word. The word “time” can refer to a period of one year, as we can read in Daniel 11:13. Therefore, saying 3 and a half times is the same as saying 3 and a half years. Daniel 7:25 mentions a period of three and a half years, but this time is not literal (for the sake of brevity, this will not be discussed in this article), and therefore we must apply the rule for converting prophetic years.
A “Time” Symbolizes 1260 Years
Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6 teach that we should understand one day as equivalent to one year. So, we have to transform the number of days of the 3 and a half years into years, that is, 360 x 3.5 = 1260 days, or 1260 years.
Note that, in the reasoning above, the period of three and a half years should not be interpreted literally. Despite this, it referred to a fixed period of time. To find this period, we had to perform a calculation within the rules presented by the Bible itself. The end result was not an indefinite period of time, but on the contrary, a clear period of 1260 years.
Problems of Non-Literal Interpretation of the Millennium
Those who interpret the thousand years as not being literal fall into the error of leaving the prophetic time as being indefinite, and worst of all, they do so without any biblical basis! If there is no reason to convert this thousand-year period to another period of time, then we should not do it. We must understand the text literally!
Comparing to the 7 Days of Creation
In addition to the analysis demonstrated above, we have another way of concluding that the thousand years will be literal. Let us look at the following biblical texts:
Exodus 20:8-11 – “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.“
Notice that the fourth commandment of God’s law describes how the Lord created our world in 6 literal days and rested on the seventh day. According to the biblical account, the Lord blessed and sanctified this day from the time of Creation (Genesis 2:1-3). Here we have a period of 6 literal days followed by a day of rest.
The 7 Years of Rest of the Earth
Let us read the next biblical text:
Leviticus 25:1-4 – “And the LORD spake unto Moses on mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give unto you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD. Six years shalt thou sow thy land, and six years shalt thou prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof: but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD: thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.“
Here we find a commandment that the Lord gave to the people of Israel. Once they took possession of the land that the Lord would give them, they were to work the land for only 6 years, and in the seventh year they were to let the land rest. They were not to work the land during the seventh year, that is, to do any type of planting or harvesting. Here we also have a period of 6 literal years followed by a literal year of rest. This symbolism will help us understand the thousand years.
The 7 Periods Above Were 7 Literal Periods
Notice that in both biblical accounts, the Lord God determined periods of 7 literal times. In the first case, it was 7 days, and in the second, 7 years. This shows us that God works with defined periods of time. Furthermore, there is a cycle within this period defined by Him, which is a cycle of 7 times. This analysis provides further evidence that the millennium, during which Satan will be bound and the righteous will reign with Christ, also represents a sabbatical period, that is, a period of rest. For God, there is a sabbatical day, a sabbatical year, and a sabbatical millennium. The Lord defined all of these periods of time in a literal way. Just as the sabbatical day and year are literal periods, so will the millennium be.
Conclusion: The Millennium (The Thousand Years)
Therefore, we conclude that the thousand years reported in Revelation 20 represent a well-defined period and not something indefinite or symbolic. It is literally a thousand years that the prophetic text announces to us. Although this is a prophecy, we must understand it literally, and not symbolically.
May God bless the reader.
