A Literal Millennium?
How to understand Revelation 20:4-6 and all the millennium options
We read in Revelation 20:4-6:
Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its brand on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years. (NRSVue)
Is this thousand years literal, metaphorical, or a further part of the recapitulation of themes across the Book of Revelation?
There are a few different options:
Post-millennial: The world will eventually be Christianized and experience a period of unprecedented peace and righteousness called the millennium. After such a golden age, Christ will return with the general resurrection, final judgment, and the introduction of heaven and hell.
Amillennial: The church age is the millennium because this is where and when Christ reigns over his people as their Lord.
Dispensational Pre-millennialism: Jesus returns for the church (rapture) and then with the church (second coming) to establish a literal thousand-year reign prior to the final judgment.
Historical Pre-millennialism: After a period of tribulation and persecution upon the church, Jesus returns, establishes a messianic interregnum, for a thousand years (or so), then the final judgment and new heavens and new earth.
But which option is the best?
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