Revelation 20:4–6
Bible verses · Also called: Revelation 20:4-6, Reigned with Christ a thousand years, Millennium, Millennial kingdom, First resurrection, Second death
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4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
A passage describing how the martyrs and those who had not worshiped the beast "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." It is the only text in Scripture that directly mentions the millennium, and it stands at the center of the eschatological debate among premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism.
Context
Chapter 19 of Revelation ends with the rider on the white horse defeating the beast and the false prophet. In 20:1–3 an angel binds the dragon, that is, Satan, and shuts him in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Verses 4–6 describe that period: thrones appear, along with those given authority to judge and the souls of those beheaded for their witness to Jesus, who come to life and reign with Christ. This is called "the first resurrection." In verses 7–10, when the thousand years are expired, Satan is loosed for a little season and then finally destroyed, and in verses 11–15 the judgment of the great white throne follows.
Interpretations
- Premillennialism: Holds that Christ will return before the thousand years and establish a literal millennial kingdom on earth. Many of the early church fathers held this view. It divides into "historic premillennialism," which holds that the church will pass through the great tribulation, and "dispensational premillennialism," which distinguishes Israel from the church and teaches a pre-tribulation rapture.
- Amillennialism: The mainstream view of the Western church since Augustine, it holds that the thousand years symbolize the church age, extending from Christ's first coming to His second coming. The first resurrection is interpreted as spiritual regeneration or as the state of believers who are with Christ after death, and the binding of Satan as the victory won at the cross. The Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and most Reformed churches hold this view.
- Postmillennialism: Holds that the Second Coming will occur after a golden age in which the gospel spreads widely and the world gradually comes under the rule of Christ. It was highly influential in the Anglo-American revival and missionary movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Debates and Issues
The central questions are whether the "thousand years," like other numbers in Revelation, is symbolic, and whether the first resurrection is a bodily resurrection. In the Korean church, premillennialism spread widely through the influence of early missionaries, and figures such as Park Hyung-ryong, who laid the foundations of conservative Presbyterian theology in Korea, are known to have taught historic premillennialism. Dispensationalism also exerted considerable influence through revival meetings and preaching. Today the confessions of the major denominations generally do not make any particular millennial view a condition of orthodoxy.
Related Passages
- Revelation 20:1–3
- Revelation 20:7–15
- 1 Corinthians 15:22–26
- John 5:25–29
See also 6
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