Trimillennialism: Revelation 20 and the Final Judgment

By Ritchie Way

For the first time in the history of theology, Ritchie Way interprets the prophecy of Revelation 20 using the hermeneutic of inauguration, fulfillment, and consummation.

He reveals that when the millennium is interpreted as having its inauguration in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, then amillennialism and premillennialism are not seen as antagonistic to each other; rather, a tweaked amillennialism provides the fulfillment for the prophecy, and a tweaked premillennialism provides its consummation. This new way of interpreting the millennium is not only soundly based, groundbreaking, and exciting--it also has significant implications for the interpretation of the rest of the book of Revelation.

Trimillennialism also provides fresh insights on original sin, the essential difference between a saved and a lost person, the depth of the sacrifice Christ made on the cross, the nature of the punishment of the unrepentant, and the present location of heaven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490841106

Ritchie Way

Ritchie Way has a BA in Theology and an MA in Religion. He is an ordained minister and serves as an elder at Gracegate Church in Rosedale, Auckland, New Zealand. He is also the Executive Editor of the Good News Unlimited magazine, He lives with his wife Rosemary, in Auckland, New Zealand. They have one daughter and two grandchildren who live nearby, all who are active church members. Ritchie and Rosemary run a food bank for solo parents, the unemployed, and new immigrants who are refugees,

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Copyright © 2014 Ritchie Way.

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Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-4108-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4109-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4110-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014911105

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/30/2014

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1   Revelation: A Book of Bizarre Symbols

Chapter 2   The Kingdom of Heaven

Chapter 3   The Millennium’s Purpose

Chapter 4  The Inauguration of the Millennium

Chapter 5   The Fulfillment of the Millennium

Chapter 6   The Consummation of the Millennium

Chapter 7   Where Will We Spend the Next Millennium?

Chapter 8   Revelation 19–22 and the Millennium

Chapter 9   The Millennium outside Revelation 20

Appendix A   Daniel 2: From Pattern to Consummation

Appendix B   The Nature of Jesus’ Punishment

Appendix C   The Ultimate Fate of the Unrepentant

Bibliography

About the Author

To Rosemary, my best friend, companion, supporter, and the love of my life.

Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all (Proverbs 31:29).

Introduction

For many years, I was an ardent premillennialist believing the millennium would take place after the return of Jesus. I defended this view against amillennialism, which teaches that the millennium is a period of indeterminate length between the first and second advents of Christ.

In the 1980s, however, after an extensive study of the millennium, I came to see that the arguments for amillennialism were just as solid and defensible as were mine for premillennialism. In support of my now enlarged understanding, I wrote a paper entitled The Millennium for a course called theology of the Apocalypse, a required part of my studies in pursuit of a master’s degree.

At that stage, I supported neither premillennialism nor amillennialism as the only correct interpretation of Revelation 20, but held both in tension, recognizing that while they had weaknesses, they also had undeniable strengths to recommend them.

More recently, while teaching the class entitled Inauguration, Fulfillment, and Consummation in the New Testament, using George Eldon Ladd’s Crucial Questions about the Kingdom of God as a textbook, I was internally challenged to apply this same hermeneutic¹ to the millennium. That began a period of intensive study that resulted in this book: Trimillennialism: Revelation 20 and the Final Judgment. I coined the term trimillennialism because it best denotes the millennium’s three layers of accomplishment: its inauguration by Jesus, its fulfillment by the Holy Spirit, and its consummation by the Father.

The subtitle, Revelation 20 and the Final Judgment, points to the book’s thesis that the millennium is essentially about the end-time judgment. Jesus, who chose to be judged and punished for the sins of the whole world, inaugurated this millennial judgment. His death on the cross constituted what God intended to be his final judgment against mankind’s rebellion. Had everyone accepted Christ’s atonement for his or her sins, there would have been no need for another judgment. But because most people are turning their backs on Christ’s offer to be their substitute, another judgment has become necessary.

This judgment, now in session, is dividing the people of every nation into the saved and the lost by their response to the gospel that upholds Jesus as their substitute, the one who died on the cross for their sins. The final verdict on the destiny of every person is their acceptance or rejection of Jesus as their Savior.²

The judgment that begins at Christ’s return will not determine anyone’s destiny; it will only reveal the destiny that each person has chosen. Those who accepted Christ’s atonement for their sins will be raised in the first resurrection and clothed with immortality, while those who rejected Christ’s atonement for their sins will be raised in the second resurrection.

In the period following the second coming there will be a judgment of people’s lives, and everyone will be recompensed for what they have or have not done. Those whose sins have not been forgiven, because they rejected the forgiveness freely offered to them by Jesus, will then be required to pay the penalty that the Lord already paid for them on the cross.

This book reveals how the prophecy of Revelation 20 provides the framework for all three accomplishments of the millennium—its inauguration, its fulfillment, and its consummation.

I have written Trimillennialism in plain English in order to make it readable for as many people as possible. To accomplish this, I have avoided, where possible, the use of theological jargon. Where it has not been possible to avoid theological terms, definitions have been provided in the footnotes.

Chapter 1

Revelation: A Book of Bizarre Symbols

In secular literature, some of the more common genres are history, drama, science fiction, and nursery rhymes. Literary genres in the Bible include historical narrative, Hebrew poetry, letters, doctrine, and parables. The prophecy of the thousand years in Revelation 20 is written in a literary genre³ known as apocalyptic. This genre became popular after the time of Daniel and was employed until about one hundred years after Christ.

The apocalyptic genre uses bizarre symbols to convey a divine message, such as death riding on the decaying corpse of a horse, a man eating a book, an altar that talks, and a dragon with seven heads and ten horns. These symbols are not the reality, but like cartoons, they portray significant truths about the realities they depict.

While the book of Revelation was written for Christians in every age, its primary focus is on events at the very end of time when the whole world will be divided into the saved who will be totally for Christ, and the lost who will be totally against him. It is for this reason that Revelation speaks to the present in terms of the crisis at the close.

Apocalyptic genre, therefore, deals with international issues on a worldwide stage. The gospel will be proclaimed to every nation (Rev. 14:6), all the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast (Rev. 13:8), the whole world will attack the followers of Jesus (Rev. 16:14; 20:8), and all the dead will be summoned to judgment (Rev. 20:12).

Apocalyptic passages also present everything in black and white; there are no grey zones. Everything is presented as being either one hundred percent for Christ or one hundred percent against him. In the visions of Revelation, all are either ideal saints or ideal sinners.⁴ There is no middle ground, no unconquered territory. Christ reigns and Satan is bound. All believers are portrayed as martyrs and as ruling with Christ as judges, etc. All unbelievers are portrayed as worshipping the beast or besieging the faithful, etc.

Apocalyptic portrays the harvests of both good and evil as approaching full maturity. The battle between good and evil is portrayed as advancing rapidly to its conclusion, and the outcome of this great battle for all human beings is either eternal life or eternal death.

Those who fail to understand that this genre portrays every individual either in the climax of faith or in the climax of rebellion against it run into great difficulties when trying to interpret apocalyptic passages in the book of Revelation.

Principles of Interpretation

Before attempting to interpret the prophecy of Revelation 20, it is important that I define the principles of interpretation that have guided my understanding.

1. The Millennium Interpreted by the Rest of the New Testament

A principle of interpretation that is important to the correct understanding of Revelation 20 is that the unknown must always be interpreted by the known. In other words, the plain language of the Gospels and the Epistles must provide the framework for the symbolic prophecy of Revelation. This means that the teaching of Revelation 20 should harmonize with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles and that we should not find any teaching in Revelation 20 that is contrary to what is found elsewhere in the New Testament.

Graeme Goldsworthy says it in words I wish were my own. We must interpret the more obscure passages of Scripture in the light of the clearer ones. Above all the gospel must be our interpretative key: the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and all that it achieves for us.⁵

2. Key Words, Phrases, and Concepts

When interpreting the thousand-year prophecy of Revelation 20, consideration should be given to the key words, phrases, and concepts of this prophecy that are found throughout the rest of the book of Revelation. These key words, etc. point us to other parts of Revelation that will provide us with further insights into the millennium.⁶ Some of these keys are listed below.

Key Words and Phrases for Further Insights

Satan cast into the abyss (20:1–3) 12:9–10

Thrones (20:4) 3:21; 4:2–5; 5:9–10, 11:16

Authority to judge (20:4) 2:26–27

Worship the beast and his image (20:4) 13:8, 15

The mark of the beast (20:4) 13:16–17

Redeemed reign with Christ (20:4, 6) 3:21

The second death (20:6, 14) 2:11; 21:8

Priests of God and of Christ (20:6) 1:6; 5:10

Satan and his agents released from prison (20:3, 7) 9:1–11; 11:7; 17:8

Satan and his agents attack the redeemed (20:8–9) 16:14, 16

The lost are destroyed outside the city (20:9) 14:17–20

The dragon, beast and false prophet (20:10) 16:13–16

Judging the dead (20:11–15) 11:17–3:8

3. Any interpretation of the millennium must be relevant to the seven churches of John’s day.

Just as the letter to the Galatians had a current message for all the churches in Galatia, so the Revelation of Jesus Christ had a current message for seven churches in Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 1:11). To each of these seven churches was given not only a specific message, but also a general message, because the whole of Revelation was sent to all seven.

Both at the beginning and the end of the Revelation, these seven churches were told that the time is near (1:1–3; 22:10–12).⁷ John’s prophecy is of immediate relevance to his contemporaries. It relates … to the situation John himself shares with his contemporaries in the seven churches of Asia.⁸

When Jesus told John that the events presented to him in vision must soon take place (Rev. 1:1; 22:6), the word soon should be understood as the seven churches would have understood it. A correct interpretation of the millennium has to be both applicable and relevant to the time and situation of each of these seven churches of John’s day. That is to say that any interpretation that excludes an application to the early church cannot be a correct one. John emphasizes the nearness of the prophecy’s fulfillment by stating that the time is near (Rev. 1:3; 22:10). The fact that he uses the words soon and near at both the beginning and conclusion of his prophecy should warn us against accepting an interpretation of the millennium that ignores the significance of these two words.

4. Christ’s Kingdom—Both Now and Not Yet

Christ’s kingdom is not only a future reality but also a present reality; it is not only a kingdom that will come but also a kingdom that has come. Jesus became king through his death and resurrection (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20–22). Revelation 20:4