Protestant Christianity teaches us that the Messiah Yeshua (or ‘Jesus’) will return to earth at the start of a thousand year period of time popularly known as, ‘The Millennium.’ According to this doctrine of a ‘Pre-Millennial’ Return, the Messiah Yeshua was supposed to return to earth in or around the year 2000, to rule and reign over the earth for a thousand years.

 

There are many different versions of Pre-Millennial Return Theory. A few of the more popular versions of this theory are called:

 

 

 

While all of these different versions have some slight differences with each other, most of them share certain fundamental core beliefs. Among these core beliefs are the ideas that the Messiah will:

 

 

 

It is clear that Pre-Millennial Return Theory is based on certain passages of Scripture; however, this book will show how Pre-Millennial Return Theory takes these passages out of context, and thus leads its adherents to the wrong conclusions.

 

For example, Pre-Millennial Return Theory teaches that the Book of the Revelation is a simple, straight-forward chronicle of events that will take place in the end times. However, Revelation is not such a straight-forward chronicle of events. Rather, it is a vision that speaks in highly symboliclanguage.

 

 

 

The expression “in the Spirit” is used in prophecy to alert the reader that he is reading pure symbolism, and that he should be careful not to take what he is reading literally. Since the very first chapter of Revelation tells us that it is speaking in purely symbolic language, then it makes no real sense to assume that we are reading about literal events that will play out on earth just exactly as they are depicted in the vision.

Four chapters later, Revelation 4:1-2 tells us that we are still “in the Spirit,” and that we are still reading about a vision that takes place “in heaven” (and not on earth). Thus, Revelation is speaking about symbolic events that will look much different when they play out on earth, than they appeared in the vision.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This vision was not given to warn Nebuchadnezzar of a real stone that would fly out of a real mountain, and smash a real statue on earth. Rather, it was a highly symbolic vision that foretold the succession of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman and then Islamic Empires, as well as how they would ultimately be broken by Yeshua, who is here symbolized as a “stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands.”

 

Was Yeshua literally part of a stone mountain? And was He literally cut out of a mountain (without hands)? The thought is absurd; but that is what one would effectively have to believe, if one was to believe that visions must always be fulfilled exactly as they are depicted.

 

So if prophecies do not have to be fulfilled literally in order to be fulfilled completely, then why do the pre-millennial return theorists tell us that the Book of the Revelation will be fulfilled literally, when Revelation itself tells us that it is a spiritual vision?

Why indeed? By the time we reach Revelation Chapter Seventeen, we are told that we are still “in the Spirit;” and then the text even comes right out and tells us that the things we read about are symbolic of other things.

 

 

Notice the messenger (angel) tells us the meanings behind the symbolism we have just been shown.

 

Verse nine tells us that “the seven heads are the seven mountains upon which the woman sits.” In other words, the seven heads are symbolic of the Seven Hills of Rome, and the Beast is symbolic of the replacement-theology Church system (i.e., the Roman Catholic Church and her daughters, the Protestant Churches.)

Next we are told that the ten ‘horns’ are symbolic of ten Roman-style economic-imperialist kingships (the latest of which, many scholars feel, is a United Europe).

So symbolic is the language contained in Revelation that water does not even represent water!

 

 

The ‘woman’ is a city, the ‘waters’ are peoples, the ten ‘horns’ are ten kingdoms, and nothing will ever play out on earth just as it is seen in the vision, because it is not supposed to. The phrase “in the Spirit” appears only in Revelation and in the ‘Dry Bones’ prophecy in Ezekiel 37, and in both places it alerts us to the fact that we are reading a highly symbolic vision.

By the time we get to Revelation 20:1-3, we should be able to see that we are still reading about purely symbolic events, because the language describes things that do not exist here on earth.

 

 

 

Verse one tells us about a messenger that comes down from heaven, “having the key to the bottomless pit” in his hand. We should be able to recognize this as symbolic language, because there is no bottomless pit here on earth. When I have confronted pre-millennial theorists with the fact that there is no bottomless pit, I have been given all sorts of explanations, including the following:

 

1.      While there is presently no bottomless pit, YHWH plans bend the space-time-continuum, in order to make one.

2.      The ‘bottomless pit’ is actually the Marianas Trench (which is not bottomless).

3.      The earth is hollow; and therefore what will happen is that the messenger (angel) will carry Satan up to the North Pole, because that is where the entrance to the molten-lava core of the hollow-earth is.

 

 

These are real stories. However, while YHWH can and does work wonders, is it good to resort to magical thinking when explaining prophecy?

 

We can see another proof of how Revelation speaks in symbolic language, in that Revelation 20:2 (above) tells us that Satan is a dragon. This stands in direct opposition to Isaiah 14:16, which tells us that Satan is a man.

 

 

 

How do we reconcile Revelation 20:2, which tells us that Satan is a dragon, compared to Isaiah 14:16-17, which tells us that Satan a man? Or is Satan perhaps maybe a serpent, as is in the Garden of Eden?

 

 

 

The truth is that Satan can be anything YHWH wants him to be, so that Israel can have a whetstone to be sharpened against. Satan can be a man, a dragon, a serpent, a perfect covering cherub (Ezekiel 28:14-15), or whatever other thing that YHWH wants him to be at the moment. The language of Revelation 20:2 just so happens to portray Satan as a dragon, which works fine because the entire Book of the Revelation is a highly symbolic vision that depicts events that take place in the heavenly realms. 

 

For example, in Genesis 39:2-3, we read that YHWH was “with” Joseph (even while Joseph was in prison).

 

 

YHWH was also “with” the prophet Samuel.

 

 

 

First Samuel Eighteen tells us that YHWH was “with” David (even before he was anointed king).

 

 

 

YHWH was “with” Hezekiah.

 

If we need more examples, YHWH was “with” Pinchas, the son of Eleazar.

 

 

 

This phenomenon is not solely restricted to the Tanach (the ‘Old’ Covenant) either, for we read that the hand of YHWH would be “with” Yeshua.

 

 

 

Further, in the Great Commission, Yeshua tells us that He will be “with” us, even until the end of the world. [Let us note that the word ‘world’ in Hebrew would be עוֹלָם (‘olam’).]

 

Isaiah tells us that Elohim (G-d) is always “with” Israel:

 

 

 

Indeed, in the previous chapter, in Isaiah 7:14 we are told that one of the Messiah’s Names is ‘Immanuel,’ meaning, “Elohim with us.”

 

 

 

Scripture shows that YHWH has been “with” His people all along. For Him to be “with” His people is not new. To prove this, please consider a simple question:

 

Is YHWH with you?

 

So, if YHWH is “with” us even now (even though He may not be physically present), then what does Revelation 20:4-6 mean when it says that the saints will reign “with” Messiah for a thousand years?

 

 

 

YHWH sometimes inspires prophecy in riddles, to keep the meaning sealed up until the end times. Revelation 20:4-6 is one of those riddles. The emphasis is not that Israel will reign with Yeshua physically present, but that Israel will reign with Yeshua (because they have not reigned for thousands of years). That is, for the first time in thousands of years, all twelve tribes of Israel will reunite in the Land. And, for the first time ever, Israel will rule over the nations in the Spirit of Yeshua, because this time, Yeshua will be “with” them.

 

When Satan is bound in the Pit, all twelve tribes of Israel will be reunited, and together they will reign over the kingdoms of the earth in a way they have not reigned since the days of Kings David and Solomon. However, notice that Yeshua cannot be physically present during that time, because Scripture tells us that the saints will rule and reign in Yeshua’s stead, with His rod of iron. This is seen by the interplay of Psalms 2:7-9, where Yeshua is given power over the nations, and Revelation 2:26-27, where Israel is given this power.

 

 

In this Psalm, Yeshua tells us that His Father has given Him authority to rule over the nations with a rod of iron; and that He will dash them to pieces, like a potter’s vessel. However, now let us look at Revelation 2:26-27, where Yeshua tells us that He plans to do this ruling and reigning vicariously (through us).

 

 

 

In Psalm 2:7-9 (above), Yeshua told us that YHWH the Father gave Him the authority to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Then in Revelation 2:27 (immediately above), Yeshua tells us that His people Israel will do this ruling for Him (in His stead). This is fits perfectly with how the vision depicts Yeshua ruling over the nations; and yet when the vision plays out on earth, it is Yeshua’s body (Israel) that is doing the ruling.

In this way, Yeshua will be ‘with’ His people Israel for a thousand years, as they rule over the nations, with His rod of iron.

 

The four verses following Revelation 20:4-6 are also written in symbolic language, and we can be fairly certain that these events will probably not play out on earth just exactly as they are depicted in the vision, because they speak of things that do not exist on earth.

 

 

 

The events depicted here cannot be literal, because the Beast depicted here is not a literal beast, but is the Roman system. Also, there is no literal Lake of Fire and Brimstone here on earth. When I have asked my pre-millennialist friends where this alleged earthly Lake of Fire and Brimstone is, I have been told that:

 

[Note: Salt is non-combustible, and does not burn.]

 

Surely, the Devil, the Beast, the False Prophet and the Lake of Fire are symbolic of something that exists here on earth. However, the point is that they are symbols. We almost certainly cannot expect to see a literal Lake of Fire and Brimstone, or a literal Bottomless Pit, or a literal dragon. For this reason, we also should not insist that Yeshua will be physically present during the Millennium, when 2^nd Peter 3:8 tells us that the earth will be destroyed when Yeshua returns.