In undertaking to speak of the "Millennium" it is well to understand at the outset that the subject of our inquiry is a Bible theme. All light and information on this subject therefore must come from the Word of God. To the extent that that Word has anything to say about the Millennium we can know something about it; however, only so much as the Word reveals. But it should also be understood that whatever the Bible does say about it is to be relied upon, and is not to be accounted as worthless or superfluous, but, as all other scripture-teaching, profitable for doctrine or for reproof, or for correction, or for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). Otherwise, surely God would not have given it.

      It has been said that the word "Millennium" is not in the Bible. True, the word is not in our English Bible. But this word "millennium" is simply a transliteration, direct from the Latin Bible, of the term for "a thousand years" (Latin, mille, a thousand, and annus, year). It is an English word meaning exactly the same as "a thousand years"--nothing else, and nothing more or less than that, just as the word "century" means a hundred years.

      It has been said also that the word "immerse" is not in the Bible. But we contend that the Greek word "baptizo" could be translated "immerse" as well as "baptize." In other words, the New Testament translates "mille anni"--"a thousand years"; and it transliterates "baptizo"--"baptize"; while we today, in common speech, translate "baptizo"--"immerse," and transliterate "mille anni"--"Millennium." It would be just as fair (and fairer) to oppose immersion on the ground that the word is not in the Bible as it is to oppose the doctrine of a millennium simply because the exact word is not in our English translation.

      But although this time-measure, "a thousand years" is mentioned only in Revelation 20 (where it appears six times), we must not conclude that Revelation 20 is the only place in the Bible where the Millennium is spoken of.

      A number of passages in the Old Testament, and also some in the New, speak concerning an age to come. Revelation 20, however, is the only passage from which we learn that the length of that period is a thousand years.¹ [3]

      But the duration of that period is only a detail. The essential fact I wish to set forth is that the Scriptures speak of an "age to come" on this earth, following the age in which we now live; and that that age will be ushered in by the personal return from heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ.

      1. In the second recorded sermon of Peter he speaks of "the times of the restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old." These times of restoration will not be until God sends the Christ, who is now in heaven, and who will remain in heaven until "the times of restoration of all things." The entire passage reads as follows:

      "Repent ye therefore and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old." (Acts 3:19-21.)

      We learn from this (1) that there are to be times of restoration (which term obviously means a return to original state of all that was lost and marred by man's sin); (2) that God had foretold these times of restoration by the mouth of his holy prophets; (3) that these times of restoration await the return of our Lord Jesus from heaven. In the words of the venerable David Lipscomb (Queries and Answers,^a page 360):

      "Jesus had been to earth and returned to heaven. Heaven must receive him until 'the times of restoration of all things.' Then the 'times of restoration of all things' must be when Jesus returns again to earth--the restoration of all things to their original relation to God. The relation which the world originally sustained to God was broken when man, the ruler, rebelled against God. That destruction of the world's relation to God was more far-reaching and destructive than we realize. The whole material creation shared in the evil. Briers, thistles, thorns grew in the material world as in the spiritual. Sickness, death, mortality, afflicted the material world. When man rebelled against His maker the under creation rebelled [4] against man. The laws of the natural world were disordered. The germs of vegetation put forth: biting frosts or burning heat destroys them. Disorder in the laws of the material world came as the result of man's sin against his Maker. When Jesus comes again the will of God will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, and all things in the world will be restored to harmonious relations with God, the Supreme Ruler of the universe."

      With a view to the same theme, Paul, in his letter to the Romans (8:18-25) shows that the whole creation groans and travails in pain (even as God's children themselves) and that its deliverance cannot come until "the revealing of the sons of God," by which is meant "our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body"; that is, our resurrection, which (as all concede) takes place at the return of Christ from heaven, when the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible and the living ones changed, and thus, in glory, shall the sons of God be revealed. For that event, therefore, all creation waits in expectancy.

      There comes therefore a time for this earth when its ancient curse will be lifted, when thorns and thistles shall cease, when enmity shall be no more, and the very beasts of field and forest shall dwell together in peace;² when the wilderness shall blossom as the rose, when neither burning desert nor miasmatic swamp shall longer disfigure God's earth. This is the "restoration," and it is synchronous with the "Millennium," the age to come, which is to be ushered in by the return from heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ.³ That God has spoken before of this time and of these things by the mouth of his holy prophets can be seen by such passages as Isa. 55:13; 11:6-9; 35:1-7; 65:25.

      2. In the next place this age to come will be the time when Christ and His saints will exercise the government of the earth. Satan, the "prince of the world," in whose hands until yet is the authority of the kingdoms of the earth (Luke 4:5-7) will then be bound; and not only bound, but removed from the world and safely incarcerated in the abyss during the whole period. (The "abyss" is the prison-house of evil spirits, Luke 8:31; and those who are remanded to that place are thereby removed from the world of mankind, Mark 5:10). Instead of Satan, Christ will then take supreme control. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet the announcement is heard: "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ." (Rev. 11:15). No nation or [5] kingdom (as such) is now consciously and intentionally obedient to Christ, nor will be till then. But then He will take over what is His ("Thou hast taken thy great power and didst reign," Rev. 11:17); and, as the Old Testament prophecy declares, "The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. (Dan. 7:27.) So also in the New Testament. The parable of "the pounds" (Luke 19:11-27) sets this forth; the direct statement of Rev. 20:6--they "shall reign with him a thousand years"; the promise to the faithful church in Thyatira: "And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Father." (Rev. 2:26, 27.) Some, thinking that such passages as Matt. 25:31ff; 2 Thess. 1, et. al., would leave no possibility of surviving nations on earth, have disputed the plain meaning of these passages on that ground. But I believe that a careful and thoughtful consideration of those scriptures will show that there is plenty of room left for the survival of such nations. However, that does not matter one way or another--that difficulty is the Lord's, not ours. If He says that His saints will reign over nations in the age to come, then the nations will be there to be ruled over, we may be sure.

      Under that just, benevolent reign "the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace till the moon be no more." (Ps. 72:7.) It is then that they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and the nations shall learn war no more; then "the meek shall inherit the earth"; then, too, shall the earth be "full of the knowledge of Jehovah as waters that cover the sea." (Isa. 2:4; 11:9.) Whatever application may so far have been made of those scriptures, their real fulfilment will take place then.

      3. Distinctly does the word of God speak of the supremacy of Christ in the age to come, as well as in this present age. The clearness of the statement is somewhat affected by our English translation which often uses the word "world" to represent the Greek word "aion," ("age"). In Eph. 1:21 it is declared that God, when He raised Christ from the dead, made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places: "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world (Greek, age) but also in that which is to come." Thayer (Greek Lexicon of the N. T.) defines the Greek phrase, "ho nun aion" (the present age) mentioned in 1 Tim. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:10; Tit. 2:12, as the "time before the appointed return or truly Messianic advent of Christ (i. e. the parousia, q. v.) the period of instability, weakness, impiety, wickedness, calamity, misery"; and "aion mellon" (the age to come) under which head he cites Eph. 1:21, "the age after the return of Christ in majesty, the period [6] of the consummate establishment of the Divine Kingdom and all its blessings." However anyone may question Thayer's phraseology, we must concede that this is not the effusion of some wild dreamer, but the sober dictum of a recognized scholar and a lexicographer of highest rank. And though we may disregard his comment as of only human authority, yet the statement of Eph. 1:21 speaks for itself, according to which there is an age to come in which Christ's name and dominion will still be supreme. He will not, therefore, when He comes again, "deliver up the kingdom" as yet, to God the Father (according to the mistaken exegesis of 1 Cor. 15:24, which disregards the difference between the word "then" (Greek, tote) meaning "at that time"; and the "then" which means "afterward," or "next in order" (Greek eita) which is used in 1 Cor. 15:24) but will reign supreme, until, at last, all things are completely subdued to Him. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death; and that is at the close of the Millennium. (1 Cor. 15:26; Rev. 20:14).

      It may be that some, having framed their view of the future upon 2 Pet. 3, may contend that there will never be a Millennium, or any age to come for this earth. Here, as elsewhere, it is necessary to take the whole testimony of the word of God. It may be freely granted that if only 2 Pet. 3, and nothing else, had been given us, no one would have thought of any millennium to come. Peter simply passes over everything and speaks of the final destruction of the world and the new heaven and new earth. Just so, for example, does Enoch, "the seventh from Adam" pass over every intervening dispensation and circumstance to foretell the second coming of Christ (Jude 14). Peter is speaking concerning certain scoffers who seem to bank upon the stability of the universe and the unvarying constancy of natural law. (See 2 Pet. 3:4). To them he explains that God has broken into the natural course of things in times past, and will do so again, even to the destruction of things that now are. John in Revelation tells us the same (Rev. 20:11; 21:1)--but John also speaks of a preceding Millennium. We have always interpreted passages of smaller content by those of larger content, never vice versa. When in Mark 16:16, for instance, we read that "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," we do not hesitate to insert repentance, which is taught elsewhere; or when in Luke 24:47 we read of "repentance and remission of sins," we supplement faith and baptism from other passages. Just so, we properly read the teaching of John and Paul and the O. T. prophets into Peter's outline. Many difficulties disappear when we let God have His whole say. We believe that God will do all He has promised and foretold. Many questions may arise in our minds which cannot be answered; but as to the simple facts in the case, as set forth in the Bible, we need have no doubt. [7]

[TM 3-7.]

      The electronic version of R. H. Boll's The Millennium (Hammond, LA: Church of Christ Bible Chair, [1940]) has been produced from a copy of the tract held by the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. The esaay was first published in Christian Leader, 1939, as stated in "News and Notes" in Word and Work 33 (November 1939): 243. The date of publication of the tract can be fixed by an advertisement for it in Word and Work 34 (June 1940): 133.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. In the printed text, footnotes are indicated by printer's devices (asterisks, daggers, etc.); in the electronic text, they are treated as sequentially numbered endnotes. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained; however, corrections have been offered for misspellings and other accidental corruptions. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 4:      interpretation.) [ interpretation.
 p. 7:      Luke 26:47 [ Luke 24:47
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 3 December 2000.
Updated 20 June 2003.