Unfulfilled Revelation › Final Events

Millennial Reign of Christ

Martyrs and saints reign with Christ 1,000 years; first resurrection.

Key Hebrew Terms

שָׁלוֹם (shalom, H7965); צֶדֶק (tsedek, H6664)

Key Greek Terms

χίλια (chilia, G5507); ἀνάστασις (anastasis, G386); βασιλεύω (basilevo, G936)

Linked Verses (20)

Isaiah 11:1 source
KJV

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

Isaiah 11:2 source
KJV

And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Isaiah 11:3 source
KJV

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

Isaiah 11:4 source
KJV

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Isaiah 11:5 source
KJV

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Isaiah 11:6 source
KJV

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:7 source
KJV

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah 11:8 source
KJV

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.

Isaiah 11:9 source
KJV

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:10 source
KJV

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

Isaiah 11:11 source
KJV

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Isaiah 11:12 source
KJV

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11:13 source
KJV

The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

Isaiah 11:14 source
KJV

But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

Isaiah 11:15 source
KJV

And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

Isaiah 11:16 source
KJV

And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

KJV

And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

KJV

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

KJV

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

KJV

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Church Fathers

Early patristic consensus was chiliastic (literal millennium). Papias (quoted in Irenaeus, Against Heresies V.33), Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 80-81), Irenaeus (Against Heresies V.32-36), and Tertullian (Against Marcion III.24) all taught a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on earth following the resurrection of the saints. Justin explicitly distinguishes his millennial view from Christians 'of pure and pious faith' who disagreed. By the 4th century, Origen's allegorical method (On First Principles II.11.2) and Augustine's amillennialism (City of God XX.7-9) became dominant in the Latin West. Augustine argues the millennium is the current Church age, with Satan 'bound' from deceiving the nations by the gospel.

Ancient Text Cross-References

1 Enoch 1
1 Enoch 48:1-5
And at that hour that Son of Man was named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, and his name before the Head of Days. Yea, before the sun and the signs were created, before the stars of the heaven were made, his name was named before the Lord of Spirits.
Pre-existent Messiah tradition; foundational for the Johannine 'In the beginning was the Word' Christology.
Jubilees 1
Jubilees 23:26-29
And in those days the children shall begin to study the laws, and to seek the commandments, and to return to the path of righteousness. And the days shall begin to grow many and increase amongst those children of men till their days draw nigh to one thousand years.
Anticipates a messianic age of righteousness and extended lifespan; echoes Isaiah 65:20 and frames the literal thousand-year language of Revelation 20.
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 1
Testament of Judah 24:1-3
And after these things shall a star arise to you from Jacob in peace, and a man shall arise from my seed, like the sun of righteousness, walking with the sons of men in meekness and righteousness. And no sin shall be found in him.
Star-from-Jacob (Numbers 24:17) and Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2) messianic imagery combined; a foundational text for the early Christian two-advent framework.