Revelation 20 · a question people ask
"They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (20:4). How do Christians read the thousand years?
Here is what the chapter says. The angel "seized the dragon" (20:2) "and bound him for a thousand years" (20:2). John saw thrones, and souls (20:4), and says, "They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." (20:4). "This is the first resurrection." (20:5). "And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison" (20:7). Christians read the thousand years in three main ways, each resting on the book's own words, and these notes choose none of them. All agree that the dragon is bound "for a thousand years" (20:2); that "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection." (20:6); and that the chapter goes on to "a great white throne" (20:11). These notes give no date, count no years, set out no order of events of their own, and apply none of these readings to any person, nation or time.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Jesus returns before a reign of a thousand years on earth
Those who read it this way hold that Jesus returns before a reign of a thousand years on earth. They point to where the book tells of the rider of 19:11-21, just before the thousand years (20:1-4), and they take the thousand years to follow his coming, in that order. They rest on "They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (20:4), "The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished" (20:5), and the new song's "we will reign on the earth" (5:10).
Revelation 20:4-5 · Revelation 5:10
Jesus returns after a thousand years in which the gospel prevails on earth
Those who read it this way hold that Jesus returns after a thousand years in which the gospel prevails on earth. They take the thousand years as a long time within the present age, in which the gospel prevails among the nations, and they hold that the age ends with his return. They rest on "that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished" (20:3), "an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people" (14:6), and "For all the nations will come and worship before you" (15:4).
Revelation 20:3 · Revelation 14:6 · Revelation 15:4
The thousand years pictures the present reign of Christ, with his return at its end
Those who read it this way hold that the thousand years pictures the present reign of Christ, with his return at its end. They take the thousand years as a picture of the whole present age, in which Christ reigns now. They rest on the souls of 20:4, who "lived and reigned with Christ" (20:4), on "Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come" (12:10), and on "he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father" (1:6).
Revelation 20:4 · Revelation 12:10 · Revelation 1:6
The verses
“He seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years,”
“I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the sky fled away. There was found no place for them.”