Revelation 20 mentions a “thousand years” six times in seven verses. Some expect a golden age on earth, others a second chance for sinners. The Bible describes something far more beautiful: a thousand years in heaven, where Jesus and His bride, the Church, finally have their honeymoon, and where the redeemed are given the books to audit every judgment God has made. This study walks through what happens before, during and after the millennium.
A Bible study · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 12 min read
It Begins With The Second Coming
Revelation 19 ends with Jesus riding out of heaven as King of kings. Revelation 20 opens on what comes next. When Jesus returns, two things happen at once. The righteous dead are raised, and they and the living righteous are caught up together to meet Him:
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
And where does He take them? Not to an earthly kingdom, but home to His Father’s house, exactly as He promised:
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
John 14:2-3
The wicked who are alive are destroyed by “the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8), and the wicked dead stay in their graves: “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5). (See King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords on Revelation 19 and So Shall We Ever Be With The Lord on 1 Thessalonians 4.)
Satan Bound On An Empty Earth
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
Revelation 20:1-3
The “bottomless pit” is the Greek word abyssos, the same word the Greek Old Testament uses for “the deep” in Genesis 1:2, when the earth was “without form, and void.” Jeremiah saw the earth returned to that state:
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.”
Jeremiah 4:23-26
“There was no man.” The righteous are in heaven; the wicked are in their graves. Satan is chained, not with iron, but by circumstances. There is no one left to tempt.
“Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Limited to the earth, he will not have access to other worlds to tempt and annoy those who have never fallen. It is in this sense that he is bound: there are none remaining, upon whom he can exercise his power.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 659
This is the scapegoat of the Day of Atonement, sent “unto a land not inhabited” (Leviticus 16:22). (See The Sanctuary And 1844 and Satan Bound For One Thousand Years.)
The Honeymoon
Before Jesus comes out of heaven in Revelation 19, heaven announces a wedding:
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Revelation 19:7-9
The bride is dressed in “the righteousness of saints.” Paul says the same: Christ “loved the church, and gave himself for it… that he might present it to himself a glorious church” (Ephesians 5:25, 27), and “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2). The Church is the bride. The New Jerusalem is the home the Bridegroom has been preparing for her, and it comes down “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2) because it is filled with her.
After six thousand years of engagement, of letters, promises and a long separation, the Bridegroom finally brings His bride home. The millennium is their honeymoon. God’s law for Israel even gives us a picture of it:
“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.”
Deuteronomy 24:5
No war, no business, only time together, to cheer up the one He loves. For a thousand years there is no battle to fight, no enemy at the door. Jesus Himself will wipe the tears from His bride’s eyes:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
“To the mind of Jesus the gladness of the wedding festivities pointed forward to the rejoicing of that day when He shall bring home His bride to the Father’s house, and the redeemed with the Redeemer shall sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He says, ‘As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.’”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 151
(See The Marriage Of The Lamb, The Third Coming Of Jesus And The New Jerusalem and All About Heaven!)
The Audit Of God’s Judgments
The millennium is not only a honeymoon. It is also an audit. John saw thrones in heaven, and the redeemed sitting on them:
“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.”
Revelation 20:4
“Judgment was given unto them.” Paul said the same thing, and went further:
“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”
1 Corinthians 6:2-3
Why would the saved need to judge anyone, if God has already decided every case? Because God does not ask His people to take His decisions on blind trust for eternity. Someone will look for a husband, a mother or a friend who is not there. Someone will wonder why a person they thought was lost is standing beside them. For a thousand years the books are open, and the redeemed are invited to examine every record, like auditors going through the accounts after the verdict, until every question is answered and every heart can say that God was right.
“In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked must suffer is meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded against their names in the book of death.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 660
This is the second of three phases of God’s judgment. The investigative judgment before Jesus comes decides who is His (see The Sanctuary And 1844). The millennial audit lets the redeemed see for themselves that every decision was just. And the executive judgment at the end carries out the sentence. Paul told us to wait for it: “judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness” (1 Corinthians 4:5).
“All the perplexities of life’s experience will then be made plain. Where to us have appeared only confusion and disappointment, broken purposes and thwarted plans, will be seen a grand, overruling, victorious purpose, a divine harmony.”
Ellen G. White · Education, p. 305
And the redeemed do this work as a royal priesthood: “they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). They are the “kings and priests” of Revelation 1:6, the order of Melchizedek with Christ at its head. (See Melchizedek Message and Know Ye Not That The Saints Shall Judge The World.)
The Third Coming
At the end of the thousand years Jesus returns to the earth a third time, now with His bride and the holy city. Zechariah saw where His feet will stand:
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
Zechariah 14:4
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Revelation 21:2
Then the wicked dead are raised, “the rest of the dead,” and Satan is loosed for “a little season” (Revelation 20:3). He does what he has always done:
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”
Revelation 20:7-9
Before the fire falls, every being who has ever lived sees the whole story of the great controversy, and every knee bows (Philippians 2:10-11). Even Satan confesses that God has been fair:
“And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 670
“With all the facts of the great controversy in view, the whole universe, both loyal and rebellious, with one accord declare: ‘Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.’”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 670
That is the purpose of the audit. When sin is finally destroyed, not one voice in the universe will be left to say that God was unjust. And because every question has been answered, sin will never rise again:
“What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
Nahum 1:9
The fire that ends sin is “the second death” (Revelation 20:14), final and complete, not endless torment. (See The Most Damaging Doctrine! and The State Of The Dead.)
Home At Last
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”
Revelation 21:1
The honeymoon ends, and the marriage begins, for ever. The bride and her Bridegroom make their home on a new earth, and the God who audited every account with His people now lives with them face to face.
“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 678
Common Questions
Will Jesus Reign On Earth During The Millennium?
No. The saints “reigned with Christ” (Revelation 20:4), and Christ took them to His Father’s house (John 14:2-3). The earth is empty: “there was no man” (Jeremiah 4:25). The earthly reign comes after the millennium, on the new earth.
Is There A Second Chance During The Thousand Years?
No. Probation closes before Jesus comes (Revelation 22:11-12). The wicked are raised at the end of the millennium to receive their sentence, not a new opportunity, and they immediately show that nothing in their hearts has changed (Revelation 20:8-9).
Is There A Secret Rapture Before The Millennium?
No. The coming that begins the millennium is loud and visible: a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and “every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7). (See So Shall We Ever Be With The Lord.)
Keep Studying
- Satan Bound For One Thousand Years: Revelation 20
- The Third Coming Of Jesus And The New Jerusalem: Revelation 21
- The Bride Comes Home: Revelation 22
- The Marriage Of The Lamb
- The Sanctuary And 1844: the judgment before the millennium
- Melchizedek Message: kings and priests with Christ
- All About Heaven!
