When they fasten Satan
The Book of Revelation is full of strange visions. But perhaps one of the most difficult to interpret is, maybe, what appears in Chapter 20, about the “reign of a thousand years.”
This tells us that, at the end of the world, Jesus will come back to earth. Thus, says Revelation. This will result in two phenomena: Satan will be chained, (Rev 20:2) and the dead will rise again (Rev 20:4). But not all, only the good ones, those who lived a good Christian life will rise again.
And here lies the surprising pronouncement of this book: for a thousand years, the good will reign with Christ over the earth. They will reign without worries, enjoying and without any disturbances from the devil.
There comes at this point a question: What will they do during these thousand years? Revelation does not say. But this long length of time has aroused the curiosity and imagination of Christians from the early times.
To complete Revelation
Thus it is that Christians who suffered persecutions and torments to conserve the faith, thought that during the thousand years God would allow them to enjoy life on earth, before they go up to heaven; they would be permitted to enjoy all the joys and pleasures that they were deprived of by being witnesses of the faith.
But what kind of joy will there be during these thousand years? About this topic there are different views. The more conservative believed that during this period they are to enjoy spiritual joys. The more radical ones imagined an epoch when they could do everything without worrying about committing sin. Thus, they envision this epoch with a thousand years of exotic banquets, of wild pleasures and orgies, seasoned with extravagance. For example, they think that at this period they will be allowed to take revenge against their enemies, or that they can abuse any woman they fancy.
Revelation continues to say that after living these thousand years with Christ on earth, those who have not risen with Christ will then rise for the last judgment, and everyone will be sent to the eternal destination that is due to them.
The first Christians who interpreted these thousand years as historical and real, whether they are conservatives or radicals, are now called milleniarists.
Brought by sects
At the beginning of the Christian era, this interpretation from Revelation had a great following. Little by little, the abuses derived from it, and especially the provocative conclusions of the advocates of these wild tendencies had disparaged, thus losing popularity. About the 4th century BCE the Church practically abandoned these interpretations.
Nevertheless, a certain moderate milleniarism has always existed in the Church. Thus, in all the epochs of the history of Christianity there were always Christians who waited for the coming of the end times, who hoped for a resurrection that was solely for the just, and the reign of the thousand years with Christ, with the spiritual joys and happiness and freedom from any form of sufferings. The Church, on July 21, 1944, considered it dangerous and had to prohibit it.
The milleniarist doctrine, nevertheless, still exists and is widespread among us through the preaching of the sects. For instance, we frequently hear the Adventists, the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, through their house visits, preach about the Paradise of a Thousand Years that they await, here on earth at the end times, to their members.
The text in question
Chapter 20 of Revelation is not to be understood literally, that is, as a historical fact! What then does the Reign of a Thousand Years mean?
In order to interpret this better we must first see what the text says: “(An angel) seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” (Rev 20:2). “And threw him into the pit, and shut it and locked it over him, that he should deceive the nations anymore, till the thousand years were ended” (Rev 20:3). “Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast or its image… they came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev 20:4). “The rest of the dead did not come to life until a thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection” (Rev 20:5). “Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years” (Rev 20:6). “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison” (Rev 20:7).
What are the “Thousand Years”?
Any reader of the Bible knows that Revelation is a symbolic book. And among the symbols more frequently used is that of numbers. In no other book in the New Testament do numbers play a more important role than in Revelation.
This is why the bible experts hold that the “Thousand Years” is a symbolic figure and not a specification of a length of time.
And what does the symbol of a Thousand Years mean? To this question the exegetes answer that it does not represent a future epoch, but a symbol that refers to the whole of the life of the Church, it is to say that it is the lapse of time that has been since the first coming of Jesus to the world and extends until his second coming, whatever length of years it may last.
Because of the life of Adam and Eve
But, why did the author symbolize with a thousand years the whole period of the Church’s life? This number must mean something special, as it is mentioned six times in six verses.
It has a meaning. The Jews believed that Adam and Eve lived about a thousand years in the earthly Paradise. Why? Due to a curious interpretation of Genesis. When God placed Adam in Paradise, it is affirmed that God prohibited him to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying: “the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gen 2:17).
But Adam ate of the fruit of the tree, and he did not die that same day. Did God break his promise? Searching through the Bible, the Jews concluded, citing from Psalm 90:4, where it is said that for God “a thousand years were like a day.”
Therefore God did not fail in his promise. The same day that Adam ate of the fruit he died. But this was based on the duration of a “day of God,” which is a thousand years. Thus, it follows that as according to the Jews, Genesis affirms that Adam lived for only 930 years (Gen 5:5), it is to say that he died within what is a day for God.
The “Thousand Years” of the Messiah
Also, the Jewish tradition kept its hope that when the Messiah comes, He will inaugurate a new Paradise. Jesus will again open Paradise for people. This is the reason why many prophets (like Is 11:1-9; 65:22-25 and Am 9:13-15) narrate how at the end times the world will return to its being Paradise.
And how many years will this new Paradise, made possible by the Messiah, last? The Jews’ response: a thousand years. The same as before.
It is understandable, therefore, that John, the author of Revelation, being an heir of the Jewish belief, spoke of the life of the Church as a “thousand years.” Conscious of the prophesies, he wanted to affirm that with the coming of Christ, especially through his death and resurrection, Jesus has inaugurated this new epoch in the world, the definitive one.
And in saying that this present epoch is of the “Thousand Years,” his readers understood well, in symbolic language, the we are already within the times of the new Paradise, and that Jesus is the Messiah for whom the Jews waited.
Satan chained?
But this interpretation of the “Reign of a Thousand Years,” as the duration of the whole of the Church’s history, received various objections. The first objection is that, following Revelation 20:2 for the whole of these thousand years Satan will be chained. Can we actually say that Satan (or the evil in the world) is chained? We say that it cannot be. The evil continues to lurk in our world.
Yes. It can be said that this is our experience. But we should not forget that Revelation tries to show us the real vision of the present time. That is to say, that it is not merely what we can observe around us but what we discover through our eyes of faith. And for John, the coming of Christ in the world signifies the defeat of Satan (that is evil). Satan was chained by someone stronger than he is.
Jesus himself told a parable, included in the Gospels in three places (Mt 12:29; Mk 3:27; Lk 11:21), about a strong man (Satan) on whose house (the world) enters a man that is stronger (Jesus), he tied him up and took his goods from him (the people). Thus, also, Jesus taught that by his coming to the world to redeem the people, he left Satan enchained, that is to say, diminished, with less power than he enjoyed before.
Will the Dead Rise Again?
Another objection is raised. Revelation 20:4 holds that in this Reign of a Thousand Years all the dead will live again, and they will reign a thousand years with Christ. Is this also fulfilled today?
Yes. The same Revelation affirms, several times, that Christians are already living the eternal salvation. They are already judged and thus, they have nothing to fear. In remaining faithful to God every day, they have resurrected. Their future is already assured. They have begun to live the life eternal (that extends beyond death).
Thus, Revelation does not refer to the physical resurrection of the dead, but to their “new life” that they experience at the moment they believe in Christ, and that is a real “resurrection.” It is the same that the Gospel of John says: “he who believes him, who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life” (Jn 5:24; 6:47).
Revelation says that it is the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:5) that we are now enjoying.
Did Judgment Already Happen?
The third difficulty in understanding the Reign of a Thousand Years as the present time is, following Revelation 20:4, that during this time there will be people who will sit on thrones and who are given power to judge others. Who are these judges and when will they begin to judge?
Again, Revelation answers: the Christians who are faithful in persevering in the word of God are themselves judges. And they now give judgment, because with the coming of Christ is also the beginning of the judgment of the world (Rev 11:15, 18).
This “judgment” is not yet the “final judgment,” that comes with the end times. Thus, there is no mention here of any accusation or any verdict. It is about Christians, who by their good conduct, serve as judges to others who live far from God and from the truth. This is the judgment that is brought by Christ (Rev 15:4) and which Christians share.
Will Satan make a comeback?
There is a final difficulty. Revelation 20:7 holds that when the Thousand Years end, Satan will be loosened from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations.
If the Thousand Years were an actual historical period that begun from the resurrection of Christ until the end of the world, does it mean to say that the end of the world signifies the beginning of a new epoch marked by an offensive return of Satan? What happened to the chains? Was Christ’s power not effective?
In order to understand this final detail it is well to do what all exegetes do. The chronology of Revelation is not like the other books. It has been discovered that the visions do not follow an order based on occurrence. Their order should not be taken as they are narrated. We cannot forget that John is in “ecstasy” (Jn 1:10) thus, the past, present and future are all mixed up in his descriptions.
This is to be observed in all the paragraphs. When a vision ends and another vision begins, the reader discovers that it is the same with the one that was before, but is coming from a different point of view and is bringing forth a new richness. The majority of the descriptions in Revelation serve to superimpose ideas. In reiterating the same visions using new words, the author found a way of expressing the immense richness of God’s revelation, even with the limitation of human words.
The same, from another angle
Now we go back to the text. At the end of the Thousand Years Satan will be released. What happens here?
The author simply goes back to the beginning of the narrative. It appears to be the beginning of a new epoch where Satan is let loose. But in reality this is the same stage of the Reign of a Thousand Years, only that it has a different focus. It is a narrative that builds up. With this focus, it now tries to look at the other face of truth and completes it.
It is also real that Satan, the power of evil, will threaten the believers. Satan’s shadow lingers in the world. He is not totally and completely defeated. It is thus that Christians should avoid the angelic stance, the “triumphalistic” attitude. They have to be on guard always.
Revelation 20 presents, seemingly as successive events, two simultaneous realities, the present time as a time of grace and a time of sin, of Satan in chains and at the same time working, of Paradise and of dangers. Therefore, a time of many lights and shadows that has commenced with Easter.
Fulfilling Paradise
The author of Revelation advises us that the coming of Jesus to the world marks the beginning of the Thousand Years in Paradise that was hoped for. We do not see it clearly, but it is possible to discover it with faith, the same faith that helped Him see it.
In this Paradise the forces of Satan are nothing compared to Christ’s power; Christians experience a life that is of those who have risen; and their conduct serves as the paradigm for judging others.
If Jesus Christ has begun Paradise, He did not do it alone. All Christians must work so that it can be what it is, so that it will be noticeable, so that it can be seen. God will not prevent the fulfillment of the joys and enchantments hoped for by the milleniarists. We should go on transforming this world that suffers, cries and falls into great disasters, into the Paradise inaugurated by Christ, but is not yet visible due to the sins of Christians.
For many sects this world is condemned to perdition. No remedies. We are only left with the option of saving oneself: to detach. But for Catholics, the world is still to be transformed. Christ inaugurated a new epoch, and we have to participate in establishing it fully.
We are living the days of the Messiah, the days of God, and the days of Paradise. Whether this becomes a reality or not depends on us.
